the INCREMENTAL house

When I first arrived back in La Paz , I was haggling with some cab drivers about the price to take me into the city. One finally offered me a lower price and I took him. As we were talking, I told him I was planning on staying in Senkata, and he told me he was building a house in there and he invited me to come and see it. It is on the outskirts of the city, right at the edge where the city buts up against the countryside. His lot is on a big plaza, but looking over the wall at the back of the lot, the country extends out in front, giving way to magnificent views of Illimani . The wind was strong and whipping through their lot, as there were few other buildings around to shield it. Leon and his wife, Adriana, bought their lot for $3,400 six month ago. They have one child and another one died three years ago. The three of them were living in one room with Leon ’s parents before they were able to find this space. Once they got the land, they built a small one room adobe...

I met another architect in Senkata the one day A guy was working on his bus in the middle of the street and I said hello. He said hello back and seemed pretty nice. We started talking a bit, I figured he was just another mechanic. But, he got really excited when I told him I was an architecture student. He said he was studying architecture at Universidad Publica de El Alto (UPEA). I didn’t even know they had a program there. I ran into him later and we shared pictures and designs and he showed me around his place. It had a nice intimacy and scale to it, things of which people here don’t really care that much about. But, I liked it. They had built an oven to make bread, but the competition increased and they aren’t able to keep up. Now that space essentially functions as storage. They have built half the wall on the front to eventually open up a new store. The bus that his father uses to earn money is just parked out in the street at night. It block...

The front of my home Fearless guard dogs Courtyard space Front Entry Second floor which will eventually become a restaurant I rented a room from a wonderful woman named Benigna. While the public space outside it is pretty dead and very little public/private interaction, it is much more complex and interesting once you get past the exterior walls. As Benigna was showing me around and introducing me to the neighbors (in her own plot), it was clear there was like a mini community there. Beniqna stays next to me with her daughter. Below her stays Casta. And on the bottom floor of the new building is Remejio with well, he couldn’t really tell me. Benigua said 10, as I looked through the crack and saw at least 4 kids peaking through, getting a peak at the gringo. Remejio said they had a squadron, and he never quite knew how many. Building at the back of the lot where my room was My building was on the back of a lot. This is where Beniqna stays next to me...

One of the areas that is much more interesting architecturally are the ‘laderas’ of La Paz, the hillsides where people have been building like crazy, often illegally. This is basically the interstitial zone between the main commercial district of La Paz and the city of El Alto . The implications are tremendous as not only are people destroying valuable vegetation, but the buildings are slowly getting taller and taller. Unfortunately, the place where density is increasing on the hillsides, is just where it shouldn’t be. La Paz ’s hillsides are almost like gravel. When vegetation is destroyed, much of the rainwater permeates and then filters out lower down the hills, often causing collapses and destruction in mudslides and such. At the very least, the majority of people have water entering into their homes when it rains. I must say, the hillsides are pretty extraordinary, and again, the majority of the houses are built on inclines over 45 degrees! But, ...

I was able to link up with an NGO called Red Habitat doing housing work in both La Paz and El Alto. In El Alto, they are doing much more technical assistance, both in design and also microcredit. Once people come and ask for assistance with money, they can also get the assistance of an architect to help with layout issues, material issues, and labor issues. Sometimes people want it, sometimes they don’t. Almost 70% of people in El Alto build their homes themselves. The other third use some sort of professional help. Often, this help is in the form of ‘albaniles’, or craftsmen. They can be masons, painters, plumber, or electricians, or all of the above. One of the challenges Red Habitat has in improving the quality of housing here is that the status quo stays the same. People don’t really know any other way, so that is how things get done. Plus, most of the albaniles are pretty proud and don’t really like to be told how to do things, especially from an architect. ...

The hills of La Paz The place is defined by topography as much as any place I have seen. And the geography or altitude dictates the strict and deep divisions in class. The wealthy live in Zona Sur, 1000-1500 feet below the rim of El Alto, where the poorest of this metropolitan area live. In the middle is La Paz , the commercial center of this part of the country. Zona Sur resembles many American or European suburbs with large, gated, and protected single family homes. The climate is much less harsh, and as much of the water drains to this area, and it is much greener and lush with vegetation. The heart of the city is provides most of the commercial opportunities and somewhat modern skyscrapers of banks, hotels, and apartments dot the landscape. But, as you move up the hillsides, the housing becomes informal, and at times, it almost becomes difficult to distinguish between the dull brown hillsides, and the extensive self built brick and adobe houses ringing the rim of the city....