Community-Centered Architecture: Redefining the Role of Architects in South America

"Across South America, architecture is increasingly being understood as a collective act. Rather than imposing external views, many studios and designers are building with and for communities, learning from their local practices, materials, and ways of inhabiting. These projects are repositioning the architect's role from an author to a facilitator, transforming design into a participatory process that centers collaboration, care, and mutual respect."

"What unites these efforts is not style or scale, but a shared belief: architecture emerges from collective dialogue, not imposition. From rural Ecuador to the urban peripheries of Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay, these projects reveal how social engagement and local making produce spaces that are sustainable not only environmentally but also socially. They respond to inequality not through top-down solutions, but through co-authorship, offering spaces that reflect the needs, knowledge, and agency of the people who use them."

Architecture across South America is increasingly practiced as a collective act, with studios and designers building with and for communities and learning from local practices, materials, and ways of inhabiting. Architects are shifting roles from authors to facilitators, turning design into participatory processes that center collaboration, care, and mutual respect. Projects span rural Ecuador to urban peripheries in Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay, demonstrating that social engagement and local making generate spaces that are environmentally and socially sustainable. Responses to inequality prioritize co-authorship over top-down solutions, producing places that reflect users’ needs, knowledge, and agency.

Read at ArchDaily