Construir Colectivo
CONSTRUIR COLECTIVO
Projects: Plaza del Renacer Vidilfo Monges Reyes / Community Space Rincón de Lucha / Savio Popular Canteen and High School / FOB Central Headquarters Somellera / Merendero Los Peques / Participation in the Urban Planning Committee in Guernica
Members: Barrionuevo, Fuad Federico; Copello, Verónica Luciana; Diaz, Agustín Hernán; Filippini, María Cecilia; González Gattoni, Ailén; Maffei, Gabriel Alejandro; Montero, Ramiro; Mullen, Ailin Sabrina; Orzabal, Lucas; Paroldi Algranati, Ludmila Jael; Peart, Sofía; Spangenberg, Nicolás
Years active: 2020 to present
Location: Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA)
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://construircolectivo.substack.com/
Instagram: @construir.colectivo
Description, concept, objectives
Our collective project was born from the need to organize ourselves as professionals entering the labor field during the pandemic, with the goal of developing two fundamental axes: architectural practice and a commitment to popular habitat.
Through our experience in community-based architecture as a collective practice, we aim to respond to the shortage of territorial technical teams able to meet the needs of popular grassroots organizations. To this end, we developed alternative forms of professional practice, working in small teams of two or three people to ensure more comprehensive follow-up.
We define ourselves as a dynamic space that adapts to the context, prioritizing practice as the starting point for building theory. This approach allowed us to quickly engage in significant processes, such as our participation in the urban planning committee of the Guernica land occupation. Together with other organizations, we developed a housing proposal. Though this experience was short-lived due to state intervention, it allowed us to forge new alliances and become part of ongoing territorial processes that lacked technical support.
To move forward collectively, we established preliminary agreements that define our involvement and help build solid relationships with organizations and their territories. Each partnership is part of a broader territorial strategy, and every project we support acts as a tactical entry point into the specific realities of these territories.
While many of our projects are notable for their scale and territorial impact across the northern AMBA region, we highlight the Community Space Rincón de Lucha, which we accompanied from beginning to end. This territory is located in a continental wetland belonging to the Paraná Delta and Islands ecoregion—a low-lying, flood-prone area with intermittent lagoons that allow river overflow during rising tides.
Since 2020, under a collaboration agreement with the FAR (Frente Arde Rojo) and FOB (Federation of Grassroots Organizations), we have planned and provided technical support for at least eight different spaces—ranging from popular high schools to cultural centers and canteens for all age groups.
Over three years, we worked alongside the organization to build classrooms and infrastructure, supporting the group throughout their growth process. Given the ecological sensitivity of the area, designing a wastewater system posed a major challenge. The lack of sewage infrastructure and the environmental risks of conventional systems led us to develop low-cost, non-industrial biodigesters—allowing the community to create its own sustainable waste management system.
Since 2022, driven by urban integration policies, we’ve collaborated with the MTE (Movement of Excluded Workers) on projects such as the Plaza del Renacer Vidilfo Monges Reyes in Esteban Echeverría and Merendero Los Pekes in 9 de Abril.
The Plaza del Renacer, located in the San Ignacio neighborhood of Esteban Echeverría, is part of a larger effort to heal the divide between two communities separated by the Ortega Stream. Its main objective was to transform an existing dumpsite into a space for gathering and coexistence—becoming a collective achievement that extended beyond the construction itself.
A common thread across all our projects is the demand for synthesis and creativity in the face of scarcity, and a strong commitment to sustainable, regenerative, and holistic solutions tailored to each territory.
Activities
To carry out our processes, we begin by establishing preliminary agreements with community organizations, acknowledging their unique contexts and perspectives. Based on these, we develop roadmaps that guide discussion, consensus-building, and implementation.
We rely on participatory methodologies—such as assemblies and collective workdays—and collaborate with public and private institutions and professionals from other disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach enriches our work and enables an integrated design and execution process.
In the Rincón de Lucha Community Space, one key strategy was a communal construction day that offered practical skills and created space for sharing knowledge—especially in the development of the biodigester. These infrastructures serve as tools for critical reflection on our environmental impact and what we can do about it.
The system is currently part of a biotechnological research initiative involving local actors and the INTA (National Agricultural Technology Institute), with the aim of adapting the technology to the wetland context and testing water quality outputs.
Through these experiences, we aim not only to contribute to debates about how and for whom architecture is produced, but also to explore how alternative infrastructure systems can foster popular technoscientific autonomy. Their physical realization strengthens collaboration networks and builds sustainability from an integrated and ecofeminist perspective.
As for Plaza del Renacer and Merendero Los Pekes, both projects were carried out through participatory design processes involving neighborhood assemblies and public presentations of the project and its progress.
Difficulties
The main obstacle in our work with popular habitat is the lack of consistent funding to improve living conditions in the neighborhoods. This creates instability and unpredictability for project development.
We are committed to placing our knowledge at the service of popular needs, but these efforts are constantly threatened by political decisions that cut or eliminate support channels. Added to this is the precarity faced by many young professionals today, who must juggle multiple jobs, leading to exhaustion and limited capacity to engage deeply with the urgent issues of popular habitat.
The instability of public funding—often subject to political shifts—has halted many of our planned projects. In response, we have developed alternative funding strategies. In Maquinista Savio and Somellera, for example, we incorporated recycled materials and bio-construction techniques, and organized raffles to raise donations for the community spaces.
Future Challenges
We face interconnected challenges on two levels. On one hand, we cannot ignore the extreme complexity of the current national context. It requires us to mobilize tools that help us face a crisis affecting every dimension of our lives—both professional and personal. In this scenario, the collective becomes a space of support, critical reflection, and constant redefinition in the face of an ever-changing reality. This demands sensitivity, commitment, and adaptability without sacrificing our core values.
Simultaneously, we are building a long-term strategy aimed at securing stable funding sources that will allow us to merge professional practice with transformative social action. We aim to strengthen the collective and transformative nature of our profession, raise awareness, and bring together others committed to the right to housing and social justice.
We believe it is essential to challenge dominant meanings and practices in all arenas—academic, public, and private—by constructing alternative ways of inhabiting architecture through a situated, critical, and transformative practice. In this spirit, we strive to build an organizational structure that functions as a collaborative network for young architects dedicated to equitable and sustainable habitat.
