Marie Combette and Daniel Moreno Flores founded La Cabina de la Curiosidad in 2019, a studio focused on architecture and territory based in Quito, Ecuador. Their architectural approach is based on extensive fieldwork, with an urban and territorial perspective that prioritizes the use of available resources, water management, and recycling. They use drawing and mapping as essential tools to materialize their ideas and transform them into spaces. The name of the studio evokes a "trunk" turned into a cabin full of curiosities that invite exploration of various possibilities. This trunk is nourished by everyday experiences, derived from simple interactions with the city or the environment, which triggers a creative process continually fed by experimentation and daily discovery, unafraid of the unknown.
The works of La Cabina de la Curiosidad reflect an architecture deeply connected with its environment and territory, maintaining absolute respect for the environment in the choice of materials, construction methods, and the functions it performs. Furthermore, their projects actively involve users, creating spaces open to multiple possibilities and ways of inhabiting.
Throughout their trajectory, Marie Combette and Daniel Moreno Flores have structured their work through a series of manifestos that define their approach. The first manifesto is 'community', which understands collaborative work, involving all participants – colleagues, collaborators, communities, users, builders, and clients – as an essential part of the realization of their projects. The other two key manifestos are 'exploration and immersion in the territory', which involves meticulous research work. Based on this testing and data collection, architecture is projected and delivered that is embodied in the 'territory and landscape'. The latter is another fundamental axis in the studio's practice. This approach is complemented by their manifesto on 'recycling', which values both urban and natural resources as well as ancestral knowledge in vernacular territories.
From this research arises the manifesto of 'systems', adaptable responses at various scales according to the project's needs. They also highlight 'poetic acts', which manifest in the way of inhabiting and traversing spaces, and finally, 'devices', meaning other actors that also define architecture. All of this essentially summarizes the working methodology of La Cabina de la Curiosidad.
One of their latest projects is Chaki Wasi, a crafts center located in the community of Shalalá, in the Ecuadorian Andes. This project aims to promote sustainable and respectful economic development with its surroundings, inviting tourists and visitors to engage with the community. From a thorough understanding of the territory, its inhabitants, and their culture, to the construction process and the symbolism and functionality of the center, all the principles of La Cabina de la Curiosidad manifest. We spoke with the architects about the history and the materialization process of Chaki Wasi.
ArchDaily (Paula Pintos): Where is Chaki Wasi geographically located and what is the context of the Shalalá community?
Daniel Moreno Flores and Marie Combette (DM): With the Chaki Wasi project, we are operating in the Andes, in a mountainous and high area, surrounded by very beautiful landscapes. There are mountains exceeding 4,000 meters, in rocky paramo terrain. To reach the community of Shalalá, one ascends almost to cloud level, encountering impressive views. Then, one enters an Andean world, of cold climate, agriculture, and small-scale livestock, where there are small constructions. It is an indigenous world, where people wear their traditional clothing. In these areas, Quechua is spoken, which is very important and representative. Ancestral knowledge is also fundamental, containing numerous symbolisms: worship of the land, Pachamama, certain animals, along with ancestral rites, festivals, and celebrations. There are many beliefs and prayers dedicated to the mountains and the sun. It is a living and strong culture, imbued in this context of beautiful landscapes.
The community of Shalalá is at the foot of an impressive lagoon, which is also one of the most visited points in Ecuador. At the top of the crater is the community, which has focused on sustainable and conscious development, with respectful constructions. It is not about massive economic development, but rather something more artisanal, with a life centered on agriculture and small-scale livestock. The paved road only reaches a certain point, and then to reach the community, one must travel 7 kilometers on a dirt road, which requires extra effort. The viewpoint and the crafts center aim to attract more visitors, becoming an architecture that invites engagement. The community, which primarily lives off agriculture, has sought to complement its economy through tourism, making it important to have tools that strengthen this aspect.
AD: What was the main intention behind the development of the Chaki Wasi project?
DM: The idea of the Chaki Wasi crafts center is to complement the tourist infrastructure that the community has developed over the years. In 2012 and 2013, the El Quilotoa viewpoint was built in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, which has become a symbol of the place. The crafts center seeks to add value through the appreciation of ancestral techniques, turning crafts into architecture. Furthermore, the crafts center is a landmark that attracts national and international tourism, promoting and showcasing these techniques.
Chaki Wasi becomes a means of communicating culture through architecture, crafts, and people, allowing the community to share its legacy.
AD: The circular floor plan of the center is a key aspect of the project. How does this configuration contribute to the functionality of the space and its uses?
DM: The floor plan is circular from a design standpoint, which gives all the stalls the same opportunity. There are two entrances for the user to enter and cross the space to exit. This route generates equal opportunities for everyone and facilitates the visitor's experience. The paving is designed like the chakana, an Andean cross that has the orientation of the cardinal points and symbolizes the four elements. In the center, this also gives the space a ritual and festive character. Inside, events, theatrical representations of legends, dances, and rituals can be held. This circular configuration offers a wide variety of possibilities, beyond its specific use or function. The diversity of functions makes it extremely flexible. The shape acts as a corridor that can be crossed or surrounded. It embraces you and is surprising, as from the outside it presents itself as something monumental, but inside the experience is completely different.
AD: The collective work and the way it was built encompass many of the principles you promote with your architecture. How was this process particularly in the community of Shalalá?
DM: Chaki Wasi was built collectively with the inhabitants of the community. The labor of the community was a fundamental contribution to making the project a reality. After months and months of working voluntarily, a decision of the community as part of the culture: the minga, a collective constructive work, through which this construction process also rescued the culture. In the past, if you wanted to build your house, you would call for the minga, the neighbors, and families, to help you make the adobe and the wasi. They would come to support you, and you would go to support others. Thus, one would provide the land, another the wood. Similarly, the entire construction was carried out thanks to a continuous minga of six people who took turns each week. There were also key moments of general minga in which the entire community participated.
In total, 24 families were benefiting from the Crafts Center. For example, they came when the stones were placed, and also when we installed all the trusses. When we made the knots of the connections with the rope, and at one point, when the whole house was roofed, that was when most families from the same community came. This allowed the transmission of knowledge from the elders to the youth, encompassing all ages of the community. It was incredible because the generations that are maybe 50 years old are very happy to pass on those traditions to their children or grandchildren, especially in a world that is globalizing everywhere. Thus, they feel proud to preserve their culture and be able to transmit it through a tangible element.
AD: What characteristics and materials define the construction of the Chaki Wasi center?
DM: The Chaki Wasi center has the shape of the traditional Andean storage cabin, built with stone and straw. All the materials used are those that the community regularly uses for their constructions. For the construction, young eucalyptus wood was used, which serves to cover and make the blocks and the joints. The rope is made from the penco of cactus, whose leaves are used to make cabuya and ropes. River stones and straws are also used. The only non-natural element is a small rod that links the truss with the stone, as well as a curved rod and some nails.
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