Abuela's House
location: oaxaca, méxico
status: to be built
In the village of Escobilla, Mexico, the community generates income from selling sea turtle eggs, which might cause environmental imbalance. In addition, there is a malnutrition scenario among the children. Being aware of the urgency of changes both socially and environmentally, the grandmothers purpose cultural immersions and promote the rights of the indigenous community. This is the reason why Maria Luisa - a 75 years old woman of Totonaca origin living in the city, social fighter and scenic oral narrator -, together with her neighbor Maricarmen, urge to build a place where they can share their knowledge while they still have conditions to do it.
We believe that a long-term social, environmental and economic change in large-scale starts by reaching the most vulnerable and least visible parts of a system. According to UNDP, more than 70% of the world's poor population are women, due to lower income, unpaid domestic work and disproportionately deposited child care. The poverty scenario creates a more exposed condition to climate change and few or no tools to deal with it. Despite and on account of this vulnerability, women have the most sustainable routines and, in rural areas, the most efficient actions to restore balance in soil regeneration. The logic practiced by fundamental role played by these women can teach us a lot about important values ​​to be included in the reflection thinking about on how to conceive a built environment.
Maria Luisa and Maricarmen, community leaders in Escobilla, Mexico, promote indigenous rights through sharing their 75 years of knowledge. They are capable of talking about breeding animals, protection of fauna and flora, nutrition, myths, and stories, as well as promoting Temazcal and other spiritual practices and sharing some deep-seated beliefs of honesty, respect and connection with nature. The impact of such experiences are manifold: through ecological tourism, they bring income to the community, which provide better conditions for the indigenous children and therefore may educate both local and foreign people to respect and keep their culture alive, without impacting the sea turtle life nearby. By focusing and directly impacting the grandmothers of a community, we expect to regenerate and transform the whole ecosystem in which they are inserted.
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The project was designed based on 3 pilars:
Nurture the earth and take care of the waters - The house seeks for sustainability in all phases. It will be built with bio construction, using the soil and wood as the main materials. It was also planned to have a sustainable use: a well, rainwater cistern and eco treatment of the sewage. It was designed to be pleasant in the hot weather due to the soil walls and crossed ventilation.
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Collective building - It is important that the project has techniques that embraces people with no building skills on the site, so that everyone can learn and share. Bahareque is a technique already used in the region, which children and elders can join. On top of that, the wood structure was designed to be simple to build, such as the geometry of the house plan.
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Abuela’s needs - for Maria Luisa it was important to have 3 different spaces: her room, where she can write, sleep, and accommodate her son whenever he is over. A room for receiving people, so that she can share her voice over indigenous, women, and environmental rights. And a kitchen that could be shared with everyone, the center of the house.
Video about Abuela's story.
screenplay: Maria Luisa Grijalva
images by: Denisse Amairany Mjia Gonzales, Luiza Tripoli and Mariana Montag
editing: Luisa Marinho
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Online meeting with Abuela Cuentacuentos
This meeting happened on April 19th, international day of the indigenous people and tradicional communities. On the beginning we tell a bit about the project and then Abuela share with us her story, some tales and singing.
