Ecuadorian Architecture

Ecuador is a country often ignored by travellers, mistakenly believing it has little to offer. They can’t be more wrong. In a country of relatively small territory you can find an incredible variety of landscapes and natural environments.  The Andes mountain range, densely punctuated by extremely high peaks and active volcanoes, splits the country in two, leaving the dense rain forest of the Amazon separated from the coastal region along the Pacific and the unique archipelago of the Galápagos.

In the current context the country is going through difficult economic and political times, creating a challenging environment for the development of a national contemporary architecture style, though there is a robust spread of architects working to demonstrate that good quality architecture can be produced within all budgets and can be aimed at improving everyone’s lives in Ecuador, from the under-privileged to the wealthy.

This situation has led to the creation of new architecture that references the vernacular, re-utilising traditional construction techniques and materials, distilled into modern designs whilst directly involving the commissioners or local communities in the process.

This photographic research aims to create a series narrating the contemporary architecture produced in Ecuador looking at selected architectures representing the country's inherent characteristics, specific construction techniques, indigenous and modern materials and diverse regional environments.