The Common Pot: an architectural ethnography.

Abstract

In a context of crisis characterized by the global pandemic and the State of Exception, a spatial practice of historical basis and associative tradition among popular communities in Chile resurfaced: la Olla Común (Common Pot). Using a framework defined from the methodological cross between architecture and ethnography, the students of the research studio, developed an exploration in these organizations, from the realization of fieldwork for a period of 12 weeks, which allowed them to participate in the everyday life of the people. In this instance, various techniques were applied such as: participant observation, interviews and surveys, which were complemented with the tools of our discipline, such as architectural representation systems. This approach sought to retake a tradition of working with actors, communities and neighborhoods, but this experience also introduced students to qualitative research in architecture.