Tropical vernacular living system architectural framework and strategy to configure safe, comfortable, and appropriate landscapes in the context of the housing and climate crises in marginal environments.

Abstract

The project focuses on the housing crisis and climatic vulnerability in marginal built environments in tropical and subtropical regions. It argues that existing mechanisms will be unable to respond to the scale, urgency, and exponential growth of organic settlements. An alternative design approach based on understanding vernacular habitats as open, adaptive systems is proposed. A conceptual project framework -An Organic Habitat- which redefines the management, design, and construction of sustainable habitats is proposed, emphasizing, among other things, progressive development and user appropriation as key dimensions of spatial production. Alongside this, a practical architectural tool -Tropical Vernacular Living Systems- is developed as a graphic, accessible, step-by-step manual to inform and support the development of housing and landscape projects. The theoretical-practical model addresses the landscape scale as the support of tropical habitat and offers urban design criteria for its sustainable development. It then defines the Lifestructures as a framework that guarantees stability, accessibility, and service networks, and sets initial conditions for organic growth; as well as the Lifepods, which are adaptable housing units that evolve through addition, adjacency, stacking, and subdivision, responding to the changing demographic and productive needs of families.The methodology is tested through case studies at the margins of the Pacific, in the Philippines and Colombia, applying the system in contexts of diverse densities, microclimates, and cultures.