Modos de habitar en la vivienda en torno ai agua en el territorio Chocoano

Abstract

This research explores the ways of living developed by the communities of Chocó in close relation to water, understood not only as a natural element, but as the primary structuring force of daily life, culture, economy, and the configuration of the territory. Located in one of the rainiest regions on the planet, where rain is part of daily life and accompanies it practically every day of the year, Chocó has built a unique relationship with water. Rivers, streams, estuaries, wetlands, and coastlines are not merely geographical features, but settings where particular ways of settling, building, moving, and inhabiting have been woven. The research arises from the need to understand, document, and make visible a territory that has historically remained on the margins of national architectural narratives. Although Chocó has been extensively studied in terms of its biodiversity, conflicts, and social problems, there is a significant gap regarding the architectural and spatial knowledge that its communities have built over generations to coexist with the dynamics of water. This work seeks to fill this gap by recognizing the value of local knowledge and solutions developed within the territory to respond to complex environmental conditions. Based on a study of the municipalities of Lloró, Bajo Baudó, and Medio San Juan, the ways in which communities organize their lives around water cycles were analyzed, identifying daily practices, intergenerational knowledge, subsistence strategies, and housing typologies adapted to riverine, coastal, and amphibious contexts. Through fieldwork, interviews, direct observation, and photographic documentation, a comprehensive understanding of life in the Chocó region was constructed, revealing how water conditions, but also enhances, the ways of life and architectural expressions of its inhabitants. Beyond documenting dwellings, this research highlights a cultural and territorial heritage that is rarely recognized. Stilt houses, settlements along riverbanks, adaptations to flooding and rising water levels, and knowledge passed down through generations demonstrate an architecture built from experience, deeply connected to the environment, and capable of responding to the challenges of climate and territory. These ways of living represent knowledge accumulated over centuries, which today faces transformations stemming from modernization, the loss of traditional knowledge, and the effects of climate change. In this sense, the project not only seeks to document a little-studied territorial reality but also to contribute to the recognition of the Chocó region as a living laboratory of adaptation and resilience. The communities of Chocó have learned to live with water, to understand its cycles, to build with it, not against it. Making these experiences visible means recognizing that there are other ways of producing architectural knowledge and other ways of thinking about the relationship between housing, landscape, and territory. Faced with contemporary challenges associated with climate change and the growing vulnerability of settlements located near water, this research proposes looking towards knowledge built from local experience as a valuable source of learning for architecture and urbanism of the present and future.