From Option A, we continued to develop and refine the design using more precise dimensioning and site data.  The village is split into two areas because the community preferred to have larger lots per house (Option A) instead of keeping all the lots clustered into one area (Option B).  In the site analysis, we saw that the steep slopes and agriculture infrastructure restricted the layout growth in Area A.  In response we placed the additional lots along the existing road to the west, creating Area B.   Don’t worry though—it’s only a five minute walk between the two areas.

For the village layout of this project, we pulled strongly from the exercises and input we received on site in El Ojoche (now named La Benedicion.) As we’re sure you read in the previous post the community had differing opinions on the relationship between civic buildings and their placement in the village layout. There were also differences between the men and women in the proportion of the lot sizes.

While our plans and the rendering below show the full development of La Benedicion, there are many steps between then and now.  To help visualize the process of growth, we created a three phased development plan that starts with lot division, basic health block construction and play fields.  The play field location plants a seed in the collective memory of the village, connecting the space to a feeling of gathering and communion. 

After we completed our series of games and exercised with the community we were faced with a wonderful problem... we have a lot of information to dig through. We had SD cards full of pictures of lot diagrams. We had pages of notes and gigs of movies. Thankfully, we also had Chris.

Site analysis allows the architect to look for design opportunities and understand what concerns to address when developing a project.

Christopher Perrodin is the latest addition to The Global Studio roster. Over the next couple of months, Chris is going to be helping us out on the new Agros village master plans and also driving the blog for a while. Here he is introducing us to the project....

Having a site selection process is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it prevents you from buying an unsuitable site for your work and a curse because it prevents you from buying a site quickly. Actually, that is also a blessing in the long run. After vetting countless pieces of property and moving from one country to another, Agros has selected two pieces of property to begin thier next projects with. 

What have we been up to? Glad you asked.

While we haven't posted anything in a while that doesn't mean we haven't been busy...... so here is a quick rundown of the fun stuff we have been up to in the last couple of months.

We are starting on the next chapter of our work with Agros International. For a while we have been talking about making a best practice manual tailored to Agros’s development model. We are happy to announce that we have just started that work with the first chapter of that manual. We are beginning with the chapter focused on site selection as it is naturally the first step in developing a new village.