Chaki Wasi, Shalalá community handicrafts center

Description:
Chaki Wasi, Shalalá community handicrafts center. It is a town located in the Quilotoa Lagoon, in a volcanic crater with turquoise water, the indigenous community of Shalalá promotes sustainable tourism, in symbiosis with nature, valuing and magnifying it. They have a wooden lookout point (2013) that intensifies the experience with the lagoon, tourist infrastructure and now a handicrafts Center.  The handicraft center is called Chaki Wasi, which in Kichwa means house made of straw from the floor to the roof.  Innovation: The aspiration of the center is the representation of Andean culture through traditional vernacular techniques and is an educational support to publicize a way of living in the Andean landscape. It is a construction with foundations in river stones, the structure is made of Eucalyptus wood tied with cabuya (fiber that comes from the penco) and supported with large chaklla dowels (small wood of young eucalyptus). The hammer to nail the dowels was a large wooden mallet, all the closures are made of chakllas repeated intensely and the great mantle of the roof is made of straw. There is a vision of regeneration of the community land, there is a life in harmony with nature, the carbon is positive and the waste is returned to the land. The vision of the future is based on the wisdom and territorial knowledge of the past. Emancipation: It is a construction with community logics; those in charge rotated week by week. Permanent mingas were held between women, men and young people. In order to obtain wood and straw, there were interesting links between communities. Everything was built by hand, with small tools, and the placement and raising of the structural modules was done with the strength of everyone, thanks to ropes and collective communion. At the time of laying the thatch there was a transmission of vernacular knowledge and we celebrated each stage according to the Andean culture and cosmovision. Adaptability: There is an intergenerational transmission of knowledge and culture, in ways of proceeding, in rites and customs. Culture is sustained by co-designing, co-constructing and democratizing architecture as a fundamental good for human development and the environment. Process  LA CABINA DE LA CURIOSIDAD: https://youtu.be/37pgmbadCEU?si=Xo6opnLT45JxT60H Inauguration  INPC (INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE PATRIMONIO CULTURAL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxhi5vejHfs Samanta Martínez: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3BhiwwuRUp/?igsh=MTNnOWZhNWY1cGFj Credits Design, management and construction: La Cabina de la Curiosidad - Marie Combette / Daniel Moreno Flores Internship: Samuel Dano / Marianne Letessier  Photographers: Marie Combette / Jag Studio Illustrations: Marie Combette / Sergio Calderon (Pinxcel) / Oscar Velasco Construction: Community of Shalalá + La Cabina de la Curiosidad Structural consulting: Patricio Cevallos  

more