In this episode, Sandra and Jean Pierre discuss several key positions on sustainable design for Peru.
Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse are directly involved in the design of each of their projects.
© Barclay & Crousse
First, a building must judiciously use what is available, including climate as resource. Parts of the country experience benign seasons when the outdoors is comfortable. Working with climate, they minimise reliance on electro-mechanical systems that would consume energy for indoor comfort.
They also actively seek out materials that align with local skillsets and tap on availability. In Peru, for instance, the question of timber versus concrete favours the latter because it has a lower environmental impact, is durable and supports the economy.
Second, the section of a building — at the drawing board — is as important as its plan. The intelligence of a solution depends on connectivity. And this starts by understanding the human experience of scale, the porosity of form, access to views, daylight and natural air flows, all of which, together, increase the possibility of social interactions.
Universidad de Piura’s Edificio E promotes informal learning through the casual exchange of ideas between students and teachers in a soothing microclimatic condition.
© Cristóbal Palma / Barclay & Crousse
Universidad de Piura’s Edificio E (Piura, Peru), for instance, was designed as a network of social spaces between classrooms to enhance students’ engagement with teachers. To make this possible, these spaces offer a microclimate with pockets of shade, coolness and fresh air.
The facades of Edificio E are equipped with vertical louvers and prefab trellis depending on the orientation in the tropical setting.
© Cristóbal Palma / Barclay & Crousse
The monolithic building is a group of interconnected spaces with varying heights and cantilevered roofs.
© Cristóbal Palma / Barclay & Crousse
Third, architecture must seek to heal. And healing starts with the act of remembering (say, past social trauma or damage to ecosystems) and continues with awareness and reflection. Here, architecture offers an opportunity to rethink one’s place in time, through movement, pause and release.
This approach is seen in projects such as Place of Remembrance (Lima, Peru). The building is conceived as a procession. Inside, visitors encounter exhibitions explaining a difficult period of societal trauma; outside, the journey culminates in an open space where they witness the spectacle of nature.
Harmoniously inserted into the terrain, Place of Remembrance offers a public plaza overlooking the Pacific.
© Cristóbal Palma /Barclay & Crousse
The building has simple architectural strategies for acoustic and visual comfort. It also achieves efficiency in the consumption of water and energy.
© Cristóbal Palma / Barclay & Crousse
Sandra and Jean Pierre describe their office as a laboratory of sorts where ideas are prototyped and tested. Many of their bigger projects emerge from early experiments in private houses.
Vedoble Houses in Cañete (Peru) experimented with “indoor exteriors”: how to reconcile domestic intimacy with the vastness of nature.
© Cristóbal Palma / Barclay & Crousse
This conversation with Barclay and Crousse upends assumptions about what sustainability means, how it looks and what it is made of. In presenting what works for/in Peru, Sandra and Jean Pierre make a case for a regionalist, context-specific approach, one that acknowledges global goals, but nonetheless chooses its own pathway and measures of success.