The Floating Neighborhood of Las Balsas / Natura Futura

Developed along the banks of the Babahoyo River in Ecuador. Two hundred years ago, the river was home to more than 250 floating houses; by 2010, over 80 families had been displaced to municipal housing developments located six kilometers away, disconnecting them from their commercial, social, and cultural ties, as well as from their traditional ways of life. Today, barely twenty-five homes remain afloat on the river, under conditions inadequate for community development. Given this situation, the project proposes a public and private space (for local inhabitants) that revalues the floating ecosystem by recovering traditional building techniques for the preservation of the river’s social and natural habitat.