Latin American Architectural Collectives in the 21st Century: Re-evaluating Professional Approaches

Abstract

In Latin America the first decades of the 21st century have witnessed the emergence of teams that work in direct contact with communities, suggesting in the process new approaches to the traditional role of the architect that have tended to blur the figure of the author and privilege processes over the finished work. Against this background, the article characterizes Latin American architectural collectives with the aim of determining their professional roles and responsibilities. It has the further aim of establishing the current state of the art in order to set them within the context of a new professional profile. This exercise is intended to establish a starting point for understanding what we believe to be a rupture in the recent production, management and teaching of architecture in Latin America.

Keywords

• architectural collectives
• latin american architecture
• community participation
• vulnerable territories
• architecture as a profession
• activist architects