Vita

Gabriel Arboleda

101 Barrett Hall, Amherst College | P.O. Box 5000

Amherst, MA 01002–5000

Contact

EDUCATION

Ph.D.

Architecture

University of California, Berkeley

2012

M.S.

Architecture Studies

(S.M.Arch.S.)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

2005

Arquitecto

Universidad del Valle, Cali (Colombia)

1998

SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS

“Earthquake (Ecuador)” and “Global Warming (Colombia).” In Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. Second edition. London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2025.

“Forgetting Is Banned: Memory and the Possibilities of Design-Build for Social Design Practice.” In DesignBuild in Postcolonial Contexts: A Critical Interrogation, edited by Vera Simone Bader. Essen, Germany: Sto-Stiftung, 2024, 177–201.

Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Practice. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022.

“Beyond Participation: Rethinking Social Design.” JAE: Journal of Architectural Education 74, no. 1 (March 2020): 15–25.

(Winner of the 2021 ACSA JAE Scholarship of Design Award).

Prologue to Naturaleza y Espacio: La Arquitectura de Harold Martínez Espinal [Nature and space: The architecture of Harold Martínez Espinal], by Hilda Graciela Ortíz and Verónica Iglesias. Cali, Colombia: Universidad del Valle Press, 2016, 11–17.

Review of Lessons from Vernacular Architecture, by Willi Weber and Simos Yannas, eds. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 27, no. 1 (2015): 85–86.

“Participation Practice and Its Criticism: Can They Be Bridged? A Field Report from the Guyana Hinterland.” Housing and Society 41, no. 2 (2014): 195–227.

“House Form and What? Assessing the ‘Culture’ Premise Among Guyanese Traditional Peoples.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 26, no. 1 (2014): 44.

“Ethnoengineering.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 24, no. 1 (2012): 42–43.

AlSayyad, Nezar, and Gabriel Arboleda. “The Sustainable Indigenous Vernacular: Interrogating a Myth.” In Aesthetics of Sustainable Architecture, edited by Sang Lee. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011, 134–151.

“The ‘Architecturally Noble Savage:’ On the Sustainable Nature of Indigenous Building.” Identity Politics and the Reinscription of Space. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series 216 (2008): 67–89.

“Traditional Architecture in the Era of the Web 2.0: Using Online Participative Tools to Develop an Internet Database of Traditional Buildings.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 18, no. 1 (2006): 17–18.

“The Infinite Kaleidoscope: Architectural Patterns in the Amazon Rainforest.” In Architecture, Culture, and the Challenges of Globalization: Proceedings of the 2002 ACSA International Conference, edited by John Loomis and Maria Oliver. Washington, DC: ACSA, 2002, 24–33.

POPULAR PRESS ARTICLES

“What Is Vernacular Architecture” and other selected articles. Ethnoarchitecture. 2004–2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20070218172138/

http://www.ethnoarchitecture.com/.

“40th Anniversary of ‘Architecture Without Architects.’” Archinect. November 9, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20041209223737

/http://www.archinect.com/views/view.php?id=10082_0_36_0_C.

“Seis Propuestas Económicas para un Proyecto Ecológico [Six economic propositions for an ecological (architectural) project].” Occidente (May 11, 1997): 11, 16.

“Construcción y Medio Ambiente: Una Ecología más Real, más Posible, más Práctica... [Building and environment: A more realistic, more feasible and more practical ecologism…].” Occidente (May 4, 1997): 8–9.

“El Mangle: Un Problema Ecológico Típico” [Mangrove: A typical ecological problem].” Occidente (April 27, 1997): 10–11.

DISSERTATION AND THESIS

“Ethnoengineering: Negotiating the Modern in a ‘Culturally Appropriate’ Government Program in Ecuador.” Ph.D. diss. University of California, Berkeley. 2012. ProQuest (1666449202).

“Houses in Heaven Are Made of Steel: Understanding Change in Ecuadorian Amazon Secoya Structures.” Master’s thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2004.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

“Why ‘Doing Good’ Is Not Enough: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Era of Social Design Practice.” Keynote address, Architecture et Design: Catalyseurs d'Impact Social?, Architecture Sans Frontières Québec 15^th Anniversary Conference, June 5, 2023.

Presentation, Undisciplined, annual Interpretations Symposium, Columbia University, May 11, 2023.

”Sustainability and Privilege: On Social Design’s Greatest Challenge.” Lecture, Richard Saivetz '69 Annual Memorial Architectural Lecture Series, Brandeis University, November 16, 2022.

“Beyond Participation.” Paper presented at the 109th ACSA Annual Meeting – Expanding the View: Prospect(s) for Architectural Education Futures (online presentation), March 24, 2021.

“Ethnoarchitecture.” Presentation (online), College of the Holy Cross, March 17, 2021.

“Self-Help Housing.” Presentation at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, November 18, 2019.

“Disciplinary Engagements: Anthropology and (or for, as, of, by…) Design.” Paper presented at the Engaging Anthropology conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October 4, 2019.

“Beyond Participation: Indigenous Peoples and Housing Agency in Guyana.” Presentation at the Smith College Landscape Studies Speakers Program, Northampton, MA, April 13, 2015.

“The Poop Taboo.” Amherst Live, Amherst, MA, September 19, 2013, http://youtu.be/DVVKshgP5wE.

“Water and Poverty.” Paper presented at the Liquid Futures: Sustainable Design in a Globalized Setting conference, Smith College, Northampton, MA, April 2, 2013.

“Ethnoengineering.” Paper presented at the IASTE (International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments) International Conference, Portland, OR, October 5, 2012.

“Is It Feasible to Establish Rights of Way for Future City Expansion?” Paper co-presented with Reinhard Goethert at the World Bank Conference on Land Policy and Administration, Washington, DC, April 28, 2010.

“Is An Incremental Core Housing Strategy the Way to Re-Establish Communities in Haiti?” Respondent’s intervention at the fifth session of the World Urban Forum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 25, 2010.

“Metal Vernacular and Environment: The Case of El Salvador’s Sheet Metal Architecture.” Paper presented at the VAF (Vernacular Architecture Forum) conference, Butte, MT, June 13, 2009.

“Ethnoengineering.” Paper presented at the annual Architecture Research Symposium, Berkeley, CA, April 13, 2009.

“Immutability, Archaism, Anonymity: On the History of Indigenous Architecture and its Problems.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH), Pasadena, CA, April 4, 2009.

“Traditional Architecture in the Era of the Web 2.0. Using Online Participative Tools to Develop an Internet Database of Traditional Buildings.” Paper presented at the IASTE conference, Bangkok, Thailand, December 15, 2006.

“From the Longhouse to the Steel House: Some Reflections on Change in Ecuadorian Amazon Secoya Structures.” Paper presented at the third annual New Voices in Indigenous Research conference, Berkeley, CA, March 31, 2005.

Talk for the Media Lab course “Design That Matters,” supervised by Mitchel Resnick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, April 27, 2004.

Talk for the studio “Disassembly Required: Constructing the Unwanted Building,” taught by Mónica Ponce De León, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October 14, 2003.

PROFESSIONAL REPORTS

Nicaragua: Modelos Resilientes de Vivienda Social para Poblaciones Vulnerables. Diagnóstico de Necesidades [Nicaragua: Resilient social housing models for vulnerable populations. Needs assessment]. Washington, D.C. and Managua (NI): IADB, 2023. 23 pages.

Participatory Housing Design: Wapishana Communities of the Rupununi River Basin. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2018. 57 pages.

Sustainable Housing in the Hinterland Program: Profile for the Selection of Roofing Unit Beneficiaries. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2017. 48 pages.

Sustainable Housing in the Hinterland: Program Design and Participatory Needs Assessment – Region Nine. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2017. 125 pages.

Sustainable Housing in the Hinterland: Program Design and Participatory Needs Assessment – Region One. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2015. 38 pages.

Housing in the Hinterland Pilot Program: Operating Regulations. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2015. 57 pages.

Quantitative Evaluation of Housing Indicators for the Hinterland Program, 2009–2014. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2014. 94 pages.

Region Nine: Technical Documentation - House Plans and Budget. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2012. 24 pages.

Region One: Beneficiary Selection Rationale, and Next Steps. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2012. 4 pages.

Final Report on the Roofing Component of the Program: Region One. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2012. 12 pages.

Suriname, Second Low Income Shelter Program: Technical Inputs for Housing in the Hinterland. Washington, D.C.: IADB, 2012. 9 pages.

Report on Region One Prototype Building. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2011. 18 pages.

Pre-Pilot Housing Prototypes in the Hinterland: Participatory Design [Region Nine]. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2011. 35 pages.

Pre-Pilot Housing Prototypes in the Hinterland: Participatory Design [Region One]. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2010. 55 pages.

Pre-Feasibility Study for a Housing Pilot in the Hinterland. Washington, D.C. and Georgetown (GY): IADB and CH&PA, 2010. 80 pages.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2022 - present

PARTICIPATORY HOUSING DESIGNER

Instituto Nicaragüense de Vivienda Urbana y Rural (INVUR)

Managua, Nicaragua

Currently working with community governments and members of indigenous and other ethnic communities in the Corredor Seco region, on developing the guidelines, designs, and implementation details of a climate-resilient housing program for these communities. The outcome of this project is to provide INVUR with the material required (operating regulations, preliminary budgets, building plans…) to execute a housing intervention in those communities that is both environmentally and culturally appropriate.

2009 - 2019

PARTICIPATORY HOUSING DESIGNER

Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA)

Georgetown, Guyana

Developed the program design and operating regulations of the Sustainable Housing in the Hinterland program, which built 600+ houses while I was directly involved with it, and continued to build more after that. Initially focused on the indigenous communities of Barima-Waini (Region 1) and Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region 9), by 2019 the program was being expanded to the rest of the country.

The program was designed to use an all-encompassing participatory process covering all phases: planning, design, management, funding, and construction. One of my roles as the program designer was to act as the architectural consultant for the villagers-designed house models.

2012 - 2013

PARTICIPATORY HOUSING CONSULTANT

Suriname Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing

Paramaribo, Suriname

Developed a set of recommendations to implement a participatory planning framework for the hinterland component of LISP 2 (second phase of the Low-Income Shelter Program). The field research to support these recommendations included multiple consultations with community-based organizations, local nonprofits, village authorities, and villagers, as well as community design and planning workshops, and an evaluation of housing proposals and prototypes done during the program’s prior planning phase.

2009 - 2010

URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CONSULTANT

MIT SIGUS (Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement)

Bangkok, Thailand

Contributed to developing a qualitative urban analysis of settlement patterns in the peripheries of the city of Bangkok, focusing on organic grids, such as those resulting from urbanization of formerly agricultural fields.

2008 - 2009

PARTICIPATORY PROJECT EVALUATOR

FISE (Emergency Social Investment Fund)

Quito, Ecuador

Conducted an independent socio-cultural assessment of the third phase of the infrastructure building program of FISE, a ministry-level office directly dependent on the President’s office. The FISE III project was funded by a 45M loan from the Inter-American Development Bank and targeted the 500 poorest communities in the country. This assessment was about the component that used an “ethno-engineering” methodology in Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and Montuvio communities, and was part of my dissertation field research.

2005 - 2006

DISASTER RESILIENT HOUSING PLANNER

MIT SIGUS

TRAC (Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition)

Houma, Louisiana

Participated in the preliminary planning process for the development of the “Lift House,” an approach to hurricane-resistant structures that combined affordability with sturdiness and ease of construction. The local partner of this project was TRAC, a community-based 501c3 organization focused on addressing the long-term issues of hurricane recovery and reconstruction. Funding was provided by OXFAM.

2004 - 2006

PARTICIPATORY HOUSING DESIGNER

MIT SIGUS

Trócaire

San Cayetano Istepeque, El Salvador

Co-led a participatory design process to design and build in a participatory way a new neighborhood for a community of homeless families who were settling on an abandoned railroad property. This project was implemented through a partnership between MIT’s Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement (SIGUS), Irish nonprofit Trócaire, local foundations REDES and Bálsamo, and the families.

2004

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING RESEARCHER

MIT-SIGUS

Laos National University

Vientiane, Laos

As part of a six-person team, I carried out community-based field research that resulted in the creation of a master document with material for a community development plan catered to Nong Duang Thong, an informal settlement in the city of Vientiane. This plan was the required next step in the neighborhood after the construction of a road funded by Village Focus International. This project was part of a partnership between the MIT Public Service Center, SIGUS, and Oxford Brookes University, with the National University of Laos acting as a local partner.

2002 - 2009

ARCHITECTURAL DATABASE AND WEB DEVELOPER

Ethnoarchitecture.org

United States

Created and published an architectural database of traditional building types. Hosted at www.ethnoarchitecture.org and now offline, the database included entries about 7,300 groups and 228 countries and territories in the world. Activities covered all the phases from the back- to the front-end of the project, using self-taught specialized skills. The work of creating the database included not only the creation of the material, which included virtual architectural models built using 3D CAD software. It also included the creation of the database itself. I built a MySQL database and connected to it using PHP through a CMS that I customized. The data was publicly accessible through a web interface I designed from scratch using HTML and CSS.

2002 - 2008

WEB DESIGNER

Multiple Institutions

United States

Designed websites for centers and faculty members at MIT (MISTI, Andrew Scott), UC Berkeley (CBE, Mike Martin, Jean-Pierre Protzen, Jill Stoner), and the University of Pennsylvania (UNI). Save for the latter, I carried out this work as a student worker rather than as an outside contractor. I carried out the UNI work on a volunteering basis.

1997 - 2019

ALTERNATIVE SANITATION PRACTITIONER

Multiple Organizations

Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana

Designed, built, and tested alternative sanitation systems for the use of people in critically poor communities. In addition to design and construction, this initiative later included community workshops and advocacy.

In 2004, the initiative was a winner of the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition warm-up round, in the developmental/social category. The proposed project for this competition was the Com-portable, a portable, biodegradable composting toilet that itself becomes compost after use. This proposal was aimed to address health, contamination and low water availability issues affecting people in informal settlements.

1997

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGNER

Earth Ways Foundation

San Pablo de Kantesiya, Ecuador

In charge of the environmental design aspects of a natural conservation area initiative, which involved villagers from the Secoya (Sieco_pai) indigenous group in Ecuador’s Upper Amazon. In that designer’s capacity, I worked with Sieco_pai builders on the co-design of a prototype for chicken coops adapted to the local environmental and socio-cultural conditions. This work was done through a number of participatory workshops whose spirit was that of a knowledge exchange: the builders knowledge on traditional construction vis-á-vis my own knowledge on improved environmental design techniques, including those of bamboo construction. This project was managed through Malibu, California’s Earth Ways Foundation.

1997 - 2000

PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY PLANNER

CIBT (Centro de Investigación de los Bosques Tropicales)

San Lorenzo, Ecuador

Participated in the conception and implementation of a community development plan for the Barrio San Martín, an informal neighborhood located at the periphery of San Lorenzo, a small coastal town in the Esmeraldas province. The outcome of this project included helping the residents to organize in order to have the government build freshwater and sewage infrastructure for the neighborhood. This project also included a business development component through a micro-finance program, as well as additional health, education, and leadership components. It also included a bamboo construction training component. The project was carried out with CIBT acting as the umbrella organization, with funding from a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant.

1996 - 2000

ECOLOGICAL DESIGNER

Fundación Arcadia

Buenaventura, Colombia

Co-designed and implemented an organic farming system in the rural community of Santa Helena. This project was established through Fundación Arcadia, my family’s own nonprofit (now inactive).

1996 - 1997

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGNER

PAL (Permaculture America Latina)

San Lorenzo, Ecuador

Redesigned the volunteer house at PAL’s Madreselva farm. Madreselva was one of the first permaculture farms established in South America. This design and building project consisted of overhauling the house structure and redesigning the roof, implementing in that process a passive solar ventilation system.

1996

PERMACULTURE AND GEO-BIOLOGY DESIGN RESEARCHER

Universidad del Valle

Cali, Colombia

Proposed designs and design methods using the environmental design principles of permaculture and bau-biologie (building biology). Organized and facilitated the workshops “Permaculture, Principles of Environmental Design” and “Bau-Biologie, a Healthy Home,” hosted by the Building Technology Department at the Universidad del Valle.

THIRD-PARTY REVIEWS OF
GABRIEL ARBOLEDA’S PROFESSIONAL WORK

Jain, Anika. “Amherst’s Gabriel Arboleda Argues Against the Notion of Sustainable Development.” The Justice, December 6, 2022, https://www.thejustice.org/article/2022/12/amhersts-gabriel-arboleda-argues-against-the-notion-of-sustainable-development-brandeis.

Mahut, Christina. “The Image of the Indigene and Semiotics: Cultural Ventriloquism.” Race + Space (blog), October 16, 2020, https://www.mcgill.ca/race-space/article/reading-lists-week-14/image-indigene-and-participatory-design-0.

Nakhuda, Aamirah. “Pawns on the Chessboard.” Race + Space (blog), October 16, 2020, https://www.mcgill.ca/race-space/article/reading-group-contributors-week-14/image-indigene-and-participatory-design.

Demers, Bruno. “Ethnographie et Architecture: De la Parole au Geste” [Ethnography and architecture: from words to gestures]. Esquisses 27, no. 4 (2016–2017): 48–51.

Breitbart, Myrna. “Participatory Research on Housing in the Guyana Hinterland [Box 13.3].” In Key Methods in Geography. Third edition. Edited by Nicholas Clifford, Meghan Cope, Thomas Gillespie, and Shaun French. London: SAGE, 2016, 205–206.

McHardy, Pauline, and Michael Donovan. Fragment of “Guyana.” In The State of Social Housing in Six Caribbean Countries. Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016.

Corzo, Paula. “Housing for the Hinterland.” You Tube. Video file. 10:11. https://youtu.be/LwBJ8IjTZr8. November, 2014.

Carl, Cris. “For the Brave and Eco-Conscious: Composting Toilets.” Daily Hampshire Gazette (February 21, 2013): 3.

Hurley, Amanda Kolson. “Screen Capture: Ethnoarchitecture.com, Seeing Buildings Through the Eyes of Others.” Architect Magazine (March 2007): 44.

Arbona-Homar, Javier. “Official Launch of Ethnoarchitecture.com.” Archinect, January 8, 2007, https://archinect.com/news/article/50187/official-launch-of-ethnoarchitecture-com.

Witkowski, Tom. “$50K: Fuel Cells, Toilet in Mix.” Boston Business Journal (May 7–13, 2004): 34.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2021 - present

Associate Professor

2018 - 2021

Assistant Professor

Amherst College

Architectural Anthropology

Housing, Urbanization, and Development

Humanitarian Design in Theory and Practice

Learning from Metropolis: Architecture and the Graphic Narrative

Sustainable Design: Principles, Practice, Critique

The Language of Architecture

Urban Sketching

2012 - 2017

Assistant Professor

Hampshire College | Amherst College

Architecture of Bamboo in Colombia (International design-build studio)

Architecture of Traditional Societies

Capstone Architectural Design Studio

‘Culturally Appropriate’ Design

Earth Architecture and Cultural Sustainability in Ecuador

(International design-build studio)

Introduction to Architectural Studies (co-taught with Heidi Gilpin)

Theory of Architectural Ideas: Nature, Culture, and Architecture

Reinventing the Toilet

2013

Visiting

Assistant Professor

Smith College

Tierra Verde: Sustainability Discourse in Latin American Architecture and Planning

2012 - 2014

Visiting

Faculty

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Comprehensive Studio: Timber in the City (co-taught with Carey Clouse)

Junior Design Studio: Edible Landscapes (co-taught with Carey Clouse)

2010 - 2012

Instructor

of Record

University of California, Berkeley

Housing, an International Survey

Seminar in the Teaching of Architecture

2006 - 2009

Graduate Student Instructor

University of California, Berkeley

A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism (Antiquity to the Middle Ages)

A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism (Renaissance to Contemporary)

American Cultural Landscapes

Global Poverty: Challenges and Hopes in the New Millennium

Introduction to Environmental Design

The City: Theories and Methods in Urban Studies

Urbanization in Developing Countries

2009, 2011

Instructor

SIGUS - MIT program

Transition Bangkok: Fringe Development and the Soi Irrigation Pattern, Thailand

A Survey of Success: Revisiting El Bálsamo, El Salvador

2002 - 2005

Teaching Assistant

MIT

Introduction to the Visual Arts

The New Practitioner: Dialogue Tools and Techniques

2024

Peer reviewer, ABE Journal: Architecture Beyond Europe.

2022

Peer reviewer, Journal of Architectural Education.

2020 - 2022

Co-Chair, Five College Architectural Studies Program (FCAS).

2020

Peer reviewer, University of Virginia Press.

2017

Session moderator, “Questioning Aesthetics Symposium: Black Aesthetics,” Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, March 31, 2017.

2016

Moderator, “What Buildings Should Do?,” Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, September 16, 2016.

2013 - 2015

Peer reviewer, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review.

2014

Peer reviewer, “Whose Tradition?,” IASTE 2014 International conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2014

Co-organizer, “Holyoke Community/Campus Partnerships: What Have We Learned? A Reflection on Community and Design,” Holyoke and Amherst, MA, Nov. 7–9, 2014.

2013

Session chair, Hampshire College Faculty Sustainability Workshop, Amherst, MA, March 1, 2013.

2012

Session chair, “Space, Ethnicity, and Myth,” IASTE 2012 International Conference. Portland, OR, October 4, 2012.