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A lodging in the quarry, looking at Tungurahua A volcano site that has been a stone quarry and is changing its economic model to sustainable tourism

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Nationality
Ecuador
Group
La Cabina de la Curiosidad
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#VolcanoRevival #EcoTourism #HeritageTravel #LocalEconomy

About Project

At the foothills of Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador, the land that once hosted a long-operated family quarry has taken on a new life. From 1999 to 2016, this volcanic region experienced continuous eruptions, with lahars carving through nearby ravines, geological conditions that made quarrying possible for decades. With a generational shift, however, the current owner has transitioned the site’s economic model toward ecological restoration and community-based tourism. Today, about 60% of the land remains untouched, preserving jungle and páramo ecosystems. Tributaries of the Amazon’s Pastaza River, natural springs, and imposing cliffs offer opportunities for sustainable conservation and use.

The site now welcomes climbers and campers, with lodging and communal kitchens built based on circular-economy principles. Construction relied on discarded quarry stone, salvaged materials from dismantled urban buildings, and reusable machine parts, while solar power, solar heating, and wastewater treatment provide energy. This represents both a reinterpretation of the “memory of the quarry” and an architectural experiment in incorporating discarded matter harmoniously into nature.

Large stones have become columns, slate has been transformed into washbasins, gravel into pathways. Screens, oil pipelines, metal fragments, and steel cables have been creatively repurposed, transforming remnants of the quarry into elements of new life within the space. Such resource use extends beyond architecture itself, illustrating a “politics of recycling” that influences even government policy.

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