Maloca Lab
An Ancestral Future
Maloca Lab is an independent practice of architecture, design and research, working in France and Colombia.
Maloca
The maloca is the great communal house of Amazonian peoples: a shared shelter built from what the place provides. The studio takes a method from it rather than an image. Understand a site, its uses, its climate and its crafts before designing; build with what is already there.
The studio fosters a dialogue between traditional knowledge and contemporary tools. Earth, timber, bamboo and bioclimatic design strategies coexist with digital modelling and BIM-based design methods.
Fields
The work covers the rehabilitation and transformation of existing buildings, interiors, urban studies and competitions. Research, currently on summer comfort in social housing, extends these questions.
Founder
Jesús Pertuz Ricardo is a registered architect in France (HMONP) and an industrial engineer. He graduated from ENSA Paris-Val de Seine (master's, 2014) and is currently completing the TEC XX specialised master's in the ecological renovation of 20th-century heritage at ENSA Versailles.