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A new Ngobe-style "chukín" home. Photo courtesy of the Presidencia

In the vernacular...

In recent days President Torrijos has announced various measures to address the pressing housing needs of people at the lower end of Panama's economic scale. One of these was to spend $473,880 to build homes for 219 families in the nation's most impoverished region, the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca. An example one type of home that the government is building is shown above.

For years there has been a group of architects in this country advocating "vernacular architecture," that is, the greater use of traditional techniques and materials in construction. (For an excellent upscale example of this school's work, go to the Equestrian Club in Coronado.) Vernacular architects don't advocate a complete return to old designs, but the incorporation of modern materials and facilities into buildings that are based in Panama's several construction traditions. They promote the use of bamboo, quincha and wood as practical and often cheaper alternatives to cinderblock, concrete and rebar when finding housings solutions for the poor, particularly in rural areas. Allied with the vernacular architecture movement is the advocacy of better forest management to ensure that Panama has a sufficient supply of bamboo and wood to meet the needs of this sort of construction.

Here we see an example of traditional Ngobe architecture, made primarily of bamboo and wood but with concrete footings and a metal roof. According to the Presidencia a number of these houses are serving as a sample for observers from the European Union. For many years now European foreign aid agencies have been important patrons of Panama's vernacular architecture movement.