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Architects: Enrique Mora
- Area: 830 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:JAG Studio, Enrique Mora, ONG Fuegos, Daniel Portilla
The Icte ecosystem. Iche was born after the earthquake of April 2016, as a space whose main goal is to make food a powerful tool to transform society. With Manabita food as its center, Iche is an ecosystem that is made up of training, R&D, and incubation units that value traditions and integrates innovation into the different processes. As part of the territorial development, Iche forms together with other institutions the joint route of tourism and gastronomy in Manabí and is part of the International Network of Culinary Innovation Laboratory.
A Center of Culinary Innovation. The project is located in the rural and coastal area of Manabí, in the canton of San Vicente, some four kilometers away from the urban center. The Iche Ecosystem is made up of four pillars that generate a hybrid program developed on the ground floor that merges a school, a restaurant, a culinary innovation laboratory, an incubator for gastronomic ventures, and an apartment that is located on the top floor. The spaces are configured in such a way that they generate two enclosures: an intimate rear one where the orchards of local products are located, and a more public front one that opens onto the surrounding landscape and views of the sea. The first pillar is The School, whose mission is to generate a connection between the students and the deepest roots of the Manabita identity and its innovation capacities. It is developed in an open floor plan, opening up on three sides, using mobile furniture that allows different configurations of space for the workshops. The Restaurant is a demonstrative plot, where visitors live a gastronomic experience that connects tradition and innovation, while students apply what they have learned in the classroom under the approach of "learning by doing". The restaurant is an open and continuous space, connecting the orchard area with the front space, opening the views to the sea and the mountainous area. The third pillar, the Culinary Innovation Laboratory, is a space for technological innovation in the kitchen that works to add value to local products, catalyze gastronomic ventures, and value agricultural and culinary heritage.
The fourth pillar is focused on entrepreneurship; The Gastronomic Entrepreneurship Incubator supports the students of the school and gastronomic entrepreneurs to advance towards sustainability and generation of shared prosperity. The objective is to support ideas that seek to make food a catalyst for the conservation of ecosystems, economic reactivation, and improvements in the health of individuals and society. The construction was carried out with a main steel structure, which has a rigorous modulation that allows for generating a rhythm in the development of solids and voids. We decided to use materials from the sector such as handmade clay brick so that the cost of the work was reduced while allowing the incorporation of local labor. Teak wood extracted from neighboring farms was used in the envelopes. The gabled roof evokes local and traditional Manabita constructions and allows the project to be protected from the sun with large eaves. Finally, the proposal also incorporates bioclimatic criteria such as the use of open spaces to allow cross ventilation and materials with low environmental impact. In addition, there is a biodigester, to recover gray water to use it to irrigate the orchards, as well as a space for composting, which is later used in the restaurant's orchard.
