The Three Hopes/

1.

In 2007, in a small cabin of no more than 12 m², the Escuela Nueva Esperanza was founded in Manabí, Ecuador. This educational project is an initiative managed by the community of Puerto Cabuyal, in response to the problem caused by the distance to the nearest one-teacher public school.

The project employs a teaching methodology aimed at motivating autonomous, exploratory, and creative learning. This methodology enhances the students’ interests and abilities rather than forcing them to comply with imposed tasks and schedules.

In 2009, when the cabin became too small, we were invited to join the project. The “new” Nueva Esperanza, measuring 36 m², was built with a budget of only $200.00 USD, which was primarily spent on hardware. The architectural design focused on enhancing local construction techniques and taking advantage of the community’s contribution of materials and labour.

Creating a space that matched the educational model proposed by the school and building it with local knowledge initiated a collaborative process that neither the community nor we had anticipated. In 2010, the jurors of the VII BIAU – Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism – described the work in Puerto Cabuyal as: “… a new way of imagining not only architecture with its tectonic and sustainability themes, but also presenting new paths for finding architecture that is true to the place, without excesses.” The school was awarded the Panorama Iberoamericano de Obras prize.

In 2011, the community contacted us again, as the school needed to be expanded once more. A space was required for the older children and a community centre. As a continuation of the Escuela Nueva Esperanza, we decided to play on the words “Esperanza-dos” (Hope-two) to highlight the transformation taking place in the community.

This time, with a better understanding of the territory, more experience in participatory processes, and aware of the community’s capacity to get involved, we designed a construction and growth logic that allowed us to make decisions with the community regarding the configuration of the space on-site.

In 2012, the community identified the need to build a library and create an area for teenagers. The community replicated the construction system from the first phase of Esperanza-dos to expand the school once again. The construction system was adopted by the community to such an extent that our presence during the construction process was no longer necessary.

Meanwhile, the local residents who had actively participated in the construction processes and had to rebuild their own houses began experimenting with forms and geometries different from the local vernacular housing typology.

Jimmy is one of the most interesting cases. His house is decagonal in shape and features double-height spaces. He not only rethought the form of the space but also its habitability. He never finished primary school. The knowledge of materials and construction techniques that Jimmy gained from rebuilding his house several times guided an uncommon spatial search.

In 2013, the community’s needs grew. On one hand, it was necessary to expand the school by building a kindergarten and housing for visiting teachers. On the other, the community sought to create new public and productive spaces, such as a chapel and areas for community-based tourism. Seeing the enthusiasm and organisation of the community, as well as the formal and structural experimentation taking place in the construction of their homes, we felt it was natural to create an architecture school within the community, which we named “La Última Esperanza” (The Last Hope).

It was a leap into the unknown for everyone; after each workshop, the results always surprised us. In 2014, after several months of workshops, the kindergarten designed by the Puerto Cabuyal community was inaugurated. A year later, in 2015, La Última Esperanza, alongside monumental buildings from the star system, was selected as a finalist for the Design of the Year award organised by the Design Museum in London.

2.

The architectural project beats to the same rhythm as the community. When the community is well, the school is well, its maintenance is impeccable, and its use is intense. When the social fabric weakens, the architecture suffers the same effect.

After working with the community of Puerto Cabuyal for so long, we came to understand that their constructions are not made to last forever. Materials have a lifespan. The builders in the area know that to avoid pests, wood must be cut during the waning moon, and they are aware that salinity and time corrode materials. When a piece rots, they replace it, and when the entire house needs to be torn down, they rebuild a new one.

In 2016, after 7 years of use, the materials of the Nueva Esperanza had reached the end of their life. The community decided it was better to dismantle it and build a new one that would serve the same purpose. It made no sense to propose a new design, so we constructed an identical one next to the original. This way of thinking, which preserves the construction tradition and passes it down from generation to generation, can be found in other cultures: The Ise Shrine, the most important Shintō temple in Japan, is rebuilt every 20 years next to the old one, which serves as a reference before being dismantled.

In 2018, the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) launched a call for applications to select the most innovative schools in pedagogy and infrastructure in Latin America. The school was chosen as one of the 60 Schools of the 21st Century.

The last time we visited Puerto Cabuyal was in 2019, when we joined a maintenance day. There is no long-term intervention plan for the community, only the shared will to be part of something greater, where everyone feels capable of contributing.

3.

We call the project “Las Tres Esperanzas” (The Three Hopes). These three construction actions form the educational space where not only children and adolescents have been educated, but where we, too, have been shaped.

The growth of this project is connected to the growth of our professional practice. It is a reference space that has always accompanied us, to which we constantly return. Revisiting the lessons learned in Puerto Cabuyal confronts us with our most primal and essential selves.

• Architects: Al Borde
•  Structural Design: Al Borde
• Construction: New Hope School 2009, Hope_two 2011, Auditorium Extention Hope_two 2011, Teenagers Area Extention Hope_two 2012, Last Hope 2013 – 2014, Kitchen Extention Hope_two 2019.
• Construction: Al Borde, Puerto Cabuyal Community & Voluntiers
• Hand Drawings: Marie Combette
• Photography: JAG Studio

Video Esperanzas – [Entre-Temps en Amérique du Sud #07]: https://vimeo.com/111908559