Generative opponents : a new architecture for native soil

Abstract

A design of an Ecological Visitor Center for the Central American country of Guatemala was carried out based on a series of explorations with analogue and digital design techniques. The theses addresses a possibility of how traditional methods of design and construction can be employed in conjunction with digital design strategies, in order to develop a new kind of architecture in the natural ravines that form part of the city's fabric. The architecture of the project explores a possible use in the utilization of locally available materials in design, both natural and industrial, suggesting innovative architectural possibilities beyond the handcrafted vernacular language of conventional practice and the synthetic perfection of contemporary digital design. Using bamboo as the main construction material, the building was designed from a series of studies that were developed to solve the building's complex geometry with locally available methods.