The 22nd SIACOT, Ibero-American Seminar on Earthen Architecture and Construction, to be held in La Serena, Chile, in November 2024, represents the continuation to the 21 seminars initially organized by Proterra Research Project (2002-2005). Since 2006, SIACOT has been organized by the Ibero-American Network PROTERRA, which was established from the aforementioned project, becoming one of its main activities and consolidating itself as the most important Portuguese-Spanish-speaking meeting on architecture and construction with earth. To date, SIACOT has been held in Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, and in its latest version in Colombia last year brought together more than 300 participants.
The 22nd SIACOT is organized by the Ibero-American Network PROTERRA in conjunction with the Department of Architecture of the University of La Serena, and the Research Centre for Heritage and Earthen Architectures CIATYP.
SIACOT aims to bring together a wide audience such as professors, researchers, technicians, students, and representatives of institutions from both the public and private sectors, interested in continuing to promote architecture and construction with earth, from its historical development to the current use of this material. It is a space for technical and academic discussion, where the development of scientific programs and ongoing projects is evaluated, as well as progress on a global scale in the dissemination of this topic.
The main objective of this Seminar is to gather the experiences, in the Ibero-American field, on the use of earth as a construction material in its wide range of possibilities and on diverse topics, such as: materials and construction techniques, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, contemporary architecture, teaching, training, technological transfer, and risk and disaster management.
These Seminars are generally organized in four days: two for presentation of technical and scientific work and two for practical activities (workshops). Both research and other kind of technical contributions are presented in various formats such as articles, posters, case studies, and site-construction reports and videos, seeking to promote broad participation. The workshops correspond to construction techniques demonstrations of in which participants carry out experiments with the earth.
All technical contributions are evaluated by one of the two committees: the scientific and the exhibition and those approved are published in the reports edited by the two coordinators of said committees and another editor responsible for the review, layout and format. The proceedings are made available on the PROTERRA Network website.
