La vivienda rural tradicional ambateña

La arquitectura doméstica como elemento articulador del territorio y el paisaje

Abstract

This research seeks to determine the relationship between traditional domestic rural architecture, territory and landscape, in Ambato, at the Ecuadorian central highlands. Through the analysis of both the architectural elements and their location in the space, it has been possible to identify constructive and formal patterns that characterize rural housing, built during the 20th century until the 1970s, when globalization and modernity aesthetics reached the country, replacing the criteria of sustainability, adaptability and austerity, typical of vernacular architecture. The production of traditional domestic space responds to particular ethics and aesthetics, that are absolutely consistent with the availability of materials and resources, incorporating knowledge and wisdom socially transmitted from one generation to another. Traditional domestic architecture is a coherent response to the need for protection and shelter that arises from the same territory and therefore forms part of the landscape as a logical manifestation of its own production.