Promoting vernacular architecture as a central topic in academic research and education through Design – Build Studios with indigenous communities of Mexico.

Relationship between vernacular and contemporary sustainable architecture, is a topic of great interest in research. Nowadays, rural vernacular architecture heritage and knowledge are rapidly disappearing, in developing contexts, due to imitation of the construction techniques from more developed countries. Design-Build Studios could be an effective tool for research, involving architecture students and inhabitants of developing rural areas to work together on real projects, confronting vernacular building culture and techniques, reinterpreted in a contemporary sustainable key. Archintorno Association has been developing DB Studios with indigenous communities of the Mexican state of Oaxaca since 2006. This paper describes objectives, activities and results of the project carried out in the village of Pensamiento Liberal Mexicano, through inclusive and participative design-build strategies. The project produced technical and cultural exchange among students, architects and the local community. At the same time, it promoted vernacular architecture as a central topic in academic education and research.