Pathology in crude earth, research on constructions in the Ecuadorian Andean area

Abstract

The dynamism of the construction on land in the Ecuadorian Andean area is reflected in the richness of its discrete formal configuration, site materiality and adaptability to a primary rural landscape, where such construction has been affected by the passage of time, atmospheric agents and periodic lack of maintenance. The investigation tries to catalog some of the constructive pathologies product of the construction on raw earth in the Ecuadorian Andean area, since the land is the constructive element of easy access and employment, its reduced cost of execution and adaptability allows the construction on raw earth to develop in our geography. The methodology was based on the application of the SVE method (Systematic Visual Evaluation), together with the systematization of the building diagnosis supported by the site visit, technical sheet, graphic schemes and photographs, where the pathologic status of the real state is described with the particularities of the constructive system applied be this adobe, tapial or bahareque; fifty cases of construction located in rural areas of five provinces of the central highlands of Ecuador where studied. The results allowed to elaborate a pathological pattern of the building, finding causes and effects as a common factor that allowed to generate common typologies and thus elaborate the guidelines for a better intervention as well as the characteristic of the mixture that allows to delay the damages of the buildings.