Semillas para el Desarrollo Sostenible

Founded by Marta Maccaglia in 2014, the organization is made up of an interdisciplinary team of national and international professional architects, specialists in cooperation projects, builders, artisans, and young professionals. Semillas is involved in people-centered processes through participatory methods, guiding self-sustainable management mechanisms, which are, in their opinion, the only way to empower the actors involved and one of the principal means to have political incidence. The goal is to change the paradigm of architecture and promote processes that aim to transform cities towards into just societies. 

From 2019-2021, Semillas worked on a nursery school in Alto Anapati, Peru. The development process was carried out through participatory workshops, which led to the idea of the school as the heart of the community, a place for the preservation of Nomatsigenga knowledge and territory. The building itself is located in an accessible area to the community and is organized into two blocks. On the southwest side is located the block containing the multipurpose room, the administrative area, the kitchen and the toilets. The multipurpose room, a classroom without walls, is directly connected to the “Aula bosque” (forest classroom) – a space designed as an outdoor classroom. All the enclosures are designed as dissolving boundaries that connect the interior with the exterior. Most of the materials used in the project are locally sourced, keeping local production alive and in line with the sustainability and maintenance capabilities of the community.

Currently, Semillas is working on a primary and secondary school in the El Huabo community of Peru. The first school in El Huabo was founded in 1973 and the first classrooms were built out of wood through the efforts of the parents of the community. Today, however, the school has a demolition order due to the lack of structural integrity. The project proposal consists of 2 blocks of classrooms, one for the primary school and one for the secondary school, located on the north and south sides of the school grounds, respectively. The hallways are usable spaces and are furnished with benches and exhibition walls. The multi-purpose module opens fully to two large gardens for both the primary and secondary schools.