El Cauce: Adapting the Camphill Ideal in Argentina

The Camphill Movement began in Scotland in 1939 when Austrian pediatrician Karl König applied curative education principles in a residential setting for children with disabilities. Inspired by anthroposophical values, Camphill communities provide an opportunity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live alongside short- and long-term co-workers in life-sharing homes. These communities also engage in biodynamic agriculture, fostering a deep connection with the land. Today, there are more than 100 Camphill villages across 20 countries.

A New Chapter in Latin America

“Respirar Comunidad” is a non-profit foundation based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its current project, “El Cauce,” is the first large-scale Camphill community in Latin America, adapting this way of life to the local culture and context.

©Ana de Andrés

One of the first challenges that was encountered, was acquiring land for the project. Argentina has an unstable economy, and resorting to a bank loan is not usually a viable option. Even less for an incipient non-profit foundation. In this context, the founders organized a small group of supporters that loaned the funds necessary to purchase the land. To repay these loans, the foundation devised an innovative solution: subdividing a portion of the land into residential plots that could be sold to individuals interested in supporting the project. These neighboring residents would build homes and integrate socially into the Camphill community. Moreover, this approach positions the foundation as an active participant in local governance, advocating for a way of life aligned with Camphill principles.

©Ana de Andrés

A Vision for Sustainable Living

The property spans nearly 40 hectares, with 11 hectares designated for the real estate trust. The project was developed with two primary objectives: preserving existing trees and creating public spaces to serve as natural borders and gathering points for the Camphill’s residents, neighbors, and nearby citizens.

The urban design reflects these goals. Curved streets were introduced to slow traffic, prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists. The layout preserves a one hectare forest, integrates boulevards, and includes a scenic pathway along a small stream that flows through the community. Additionally, a dual-access system was implemented for perimeter lots, ensuring controlled neighborhood entry while maintaining accessibility from internal streets. Currently, the project has secured approval from the local government for this urban model and is awaiting final provincial authorization.

©Ana de Andrés

Building Community

El Cauce is already fostering a vibrant community through seasonal celebrations, biodynamic agriculture seminars, and camping events for adults with intellectual differences. In terms of infrastructure, an existing building has been remodeled to accommodate volunteers, and a multipurpose building has been constructed using a pre-existing foundation.

The first building mentioned has several bedrooms and bathrooms. Some are small in order to be used individually and if necessary on a more permanent basis and one larger room for events of a couple of nights where sharing space is even part of the experience. There is a communal kitchen with its gallery to enjoy the mild climate of these latitudes where eating outside can be an option even in winter. All these spaces look out onto a central courtyard which was the major intervention made as it used to be an enclosed space with very little ventilation. It then became a dry courtyard with a perimeter gallery to reach all the spaces without getting wet in case of rain. Similar to a cloister but directly communicate with the surroundings.

©Ana de Andrés

The multipurpose building is based on the need for a large main space and a secondary one for smaller events. The existing platform had two semicircles that led to imagine this central space as a regular geometric figure. Thus, appeared the octagon with a wooden floor for activities as eurhythmy. On the other side a smaller space with independent access, thought for activities where tables are needed as painting or clay. The two are connected by the hall, which also serves as a support for expansion. And before the main entrance to this hall, a deep gallery so that when the weather is good, activities may take place in this area. Behind these spaces is the service area with bathrooms and kitchen. They are connected by another hall which is crossed from side to side by an exterior circulation in order to have access to the building from all four sides of it. This flexibility of spaces that can be expanded and access from different points are the main characteristic of this multipurpose space.

©Ana de Andrés

Recently, work began on the first co-living home. The design, like the urban plan, respects the natural landscape. Situated in a forest clearing, the house integrates with existing trees and optimizes solar orientation. Searching for a fluid dialogue with the surrounding landscape is that the accesses and the first morphological gestures appeared.

From the internal functional point of view, its layout balances communal and private spaces, with a central hall. Immediately upon entering it has a visual connection with the outside and offers connection in three directions. To the right to the private area of the bedrooms, upstairs to a second-floor suite for house coordinators, and left the shared living areas centered around a rocket stove for heating and cooking.

For the bedrooms area, the morphological movement is done by block to avoid breaking the 90 internal angles so the furniture design is more efficient. On the other hand, the common spaces show more dynamism, each one taking the size and orientation of the windows that best fit them. Kitchen, dining room and living room, are centered around a rocket stove for heating and cooking made with clay techniques not only for thermic efficiency reasons but also so that more curved forms can be reached.

©Ana de Andrés

The Role of Architecture in Community Building

In projects like El Cauce, the architect plays a crucial role that extends beyond designing physical spaces. The architect is part of a group that seeks strategies that will be sustainable over time taking into account anthroposophical ideals, the needs of the local community, legal requirements, among other variables. This is a creative, formal process that reaches far beyond construction – it is about designing the intangible elements of a developing social organism.

El Cauce stands as a pioneering example of how the Camphill model can be reinterpreted in Latin America, blending tradition with local innovation to create an inclusive and sustainable community.

About El Cauce: https://respirarcomunidad.org/

Architectural Studio: @damarquitectura

The building is located in the city of Berlin, very close to the train station of Gesundbrunnen in Wedding. It overlooks a quiet street on one side and the S-Bahn railways on the other side. The architect Arno Brandlhuber and Muck Petzet built this commercial and residential five-story building, named Terrassenhaus, between 2014 and 2018. The name Terrassenhaus would be translated into English as „Terrace House“.

A friend of the editorial board Nathalia Kharkova and I visited the site and collected observations.

When we first walked down the street and saw the building, we noticed that it paticularly stands out because of its geometrical shape: the monotone gray facade is not aligned with the other ones. The floors increasingly recede from the frontfacades of the street, leaving room for a square below, to be used by pedestrians as well. The house is attached only on its left side to the neighbouring house and it is independent on the right side. 

The raw concrete structure is extremely clear and the glass windows on every floor allow people to look through the building. There is almost no opaque surface that blocks your curious eye from seeing what is going on inside and in the courtyard behind.

As we further walked down the street, we saw that the other side of the house, which is sitting in a trapezoidal piece of land, has an opposite character. This front is totally blind: a rough concrete wall folded like paper and a very thin staircase on top are the only visible things. In such a way the building is only open towards the north-south axis and locked on the east-west axis. What at first seemed to be an amorphous composition turns out to be more similar to an irregular mineral.

The shape of the building cannot still be fully understood before having a look at the backside. From this inner courtyard the system of the whole project becomes clear: every floor has a single horizontal glass facade and a wide six-meter-deep non-overlapping terrace, which is shared by the two apartments on every floor. 

Furthermore from south to north a staircase runs on both sides of the perimeter of the building. In such a way all the terraces are accessible from the east as well as from the west side and everyone is free to step on every corner of the property. In such a manner the private and and the public spaces are connected to a point where they are no longer distinguishable. 

After having briefly described the overall shape, I would like to point out a couple of objective-subjective observations starting from the backside.

When we now focus on these terraces and their proportions and how they were „sculpted“, some elements stand out over others. These volumes and its surfaces confluence into particular directions which may suggest a certain quality of movement. 

We notice that the concrete slabs and the metal handrails are strong elements that create a firm and tight horizontal, rythmic succession. This „tempo“, increased by the incident perspective lines that the staircases on both sides of the building convey (the building has trapezoidal plan), favours an accelerated and troubled look over the terraces. This movement the eye is driven to stops suddenly reaching the common roof top and then the sky. This interrupted climax is caused by the lack of a clear end or, as I like to call it „head of the building“. The shape suggests actually that the structure or pattern slab-handrail could be reproduced endlessly. The project suggests a process suddenly stopped.

The only element that tries to unify the ensemble is the staircase which encloses the perimeter. Such circular, boundary-less circulation brings a fundamental sence of playfullness and lightness to the project, even if in a fragile and bare way. That manages to elevate the mass of the whole built body.

The dynamic just mentioned, rules indeed the whole north-south axis and can be experienced also from the outside. 

On this axis the profile given on one side by the retractive facade and the ziggurat like on the other side marks a clear diagonal. It seems if the entire building could stretch and reach out over the street. However, as noticed before, the direction the eye instinctively follows is leading into nowhere. The whole ensemble looks like the base of a bridge which has not been built to an end, and could actually still grow and extend, suggesting a sence of firminess that it is not yet to be fulfilled.

The quality of the architecture that generally preveys is the overall layout strongly determining the life of the residents and challenging our current living manner. Though the project recreates a small ecosystem that embodies a global world without boundaries, provides a generous space, where meeting people and exercising a communal life is possible which is a crucial part for our individual well-being and development.

Nevertheless the few aspects mentioned in the text also affect the outcome of the project, even if they are less tangible, but still have a strong impact on the human being. 

The architecture expresses a severe, cool and gloomy language which, on our way home, reminded me of the colour „The Cursed Poets“ used in their poems.

Dear friends,

Here are some news about our past events and others to come:

TRAINING

« The human dimension of architecture »

The last training session we organised in Chatou from 8 to 13 April was a resounding success, generating a great deal of enthusiasm among participants and instructors alike.

The aim was to design a personal residence, taking into account the elements of the site, the climate and the needs of the individual, in order to create a living space that is in harmony with people and nature.

Everyone left with their drawings and models, happy to have gone through a process of creation and self-building.

The course, which was open to everyone – architects, designers, specialists and ordinary residents keen to take part in this kind of construction – was enjoyed by all.

Some of them were able to receive funding from a training fund.

We’re looking into the possibility of building more in-depth training programm modules that could be spread over weekends.

EDUCATING PEOPLE ABOUT ARCHITECTURE

« For a pedagogy of living and inhabiting ».

This year, there will be no summer academy at Cantercel, but we plan to meet in small groups to share our experiences and reflect together on the theme of education in architecture.

We also want to establish contacts with teachers or former teachers from architecture schools to enrich our thinking and forge links and even partnerships.

The first meeting will take place in Cantercel on the 21 and 22 of August 2024.

The second will take place in Paris on 10th November. This will provide an opportunity to invite other speakers who are closer to the Paris region.

SYMPOSIUM ON IMRE MAKOVECZ

Saturday 9 November 2024 at the Phare Lighthouse – Paris

We have invited Nathalie Grekofski from Budapest to talk to us about the great Hungarian architect Makovecz, whom she had the good fortune to meet during the last years of his life.

For this event, we invite you to book the day, which will be devoted to a workshop, a presentation and discussion.

It will take place at the Phare Lighthouse, 11 Rue Neuve Popincourt 75011 Paris.

BACK – SYMPOSIUM ON RICARDO PORRO

On Saturday the 06 April, Isabelle Val de Flor presented several works from the Cuban architect, sculptor and painter Ricardo PORRO. A rhythmic slide show took us on a tour of the architect’s works in the Paris region.

This was followed by an excellent open discussion with the participation of Katherine Fiumani and Gilles Jacquemot, who knew him well. Véronique Lours shared her experience as a architect student with the man she describes as the ‘Diva of architecture’.

A colourful, sometimes exuberant character, Porro, the Cuban exile who ‘succeeded in emancipating himself from the rigours of teaching’, expressed his intention to ‘give a poetic framework to architecture’.