GUILLERMO ARANDA-MENA

Koroipita Model Town: sustainable community project in Lautoka, Fiji [June/July 2011] I dedicate this blogpost to a recent project I worked on in Fiji, with two of my colleagues - Matt Myers / Vince Raso - and 23 of my students. It took me two years to return to Fiji . I finally got to get my hands dirty on a project I worked earlier on the drawing board - inc. supervised work on Design and Building Guidelines for Koroipita - carried out with Tim Sleeth and Ben Carr [Final Project 2010]. This time it was not on the drawing board but taking real action in-situ which was a great experience and really fun too! The houses or "bures" are minimal shelter structures not even beyond 25m 2 yet these basic homes cater for families. Each bure has two bedrooms in a single detached space and second - smaller - detached unit with kitchen, toilet and shower facilities. Both divided by an external corridor which also operates as a breezeway. The sites are ge...

"I am a visual man. I watch, I watch, I...  I understand things through my eyes." Henri Cartier-Bresson, LIFE 15.03.1963   Henri Cartier-Brenson, thank you for being such a good travel companion, for your lessons on viewing the world. I truly enjoyed navigating Fiji and the South Pacific with you...  where there is space for reflection, contemplation and relaxation in an Ocean of sunny days and starry nights.     Guillermo Aranda-Mena Domo-Domo [masthead] A massive horned masthead. Comes from the last Ocean going double hulled canoe [outrigger] called the 'Ramarama' a final link in a chain of great druas of the name built for the 'Tui Cakau' by his 'inataitoga', the descendant of a chain of samoan canoe builders (Lemaki) whi were brought to Fiji from Tonga in the late nineteen century (1872-1877). The main hull of the Ramarama was 30.18 mts and the Domo-Domo 4.32 mts high. Suva Museum, Fiji 16.7.2011  Fiji [Viti] "If every single ...