Cacao Eco Village

Long description

The Cacao Eco Village will be the first of a global network of sustainable and smart villages; a carbon-neutral destination and innovation center for circular economy in the cacao industry.

The idea is to build the village in Pedernales, a county in the coastal province of Manabi, Ecuador, where the cacao farmers and families work and live.

In this project, we have pushed the circular economy core principles so much that they informed the design philosophy of the entire project. The cacao waste, result of the chocolate production process, will be re-utilized for 3d-printing parts of the village. Waste is not only turned into a resource, but into architecture. In the not-too-distant future, we will be able to design buildings entirely made of natural materials and recycle them at the end of their life cycle in order either to create new ones, or to return them back to nature.

The sustainable architectural design behind Cacao Eco Village incorporates five core principles:
Modular: extendable, replicable and adaptable to different sites, dimensions and geometries.
Functional: the village will operate as a cacao processing, chocolate factory, educational and research center, co-living, co-working and cultural reference point to the local community and a conscious tourism destination.
Sustainable: Energy self-sufficient village (rainwater collection and solar energy, natural ventilation and built from local materials such as bamboo, timber, and 3D printed structures made of cacao shell waste biofilaments).
Tech enabled: using blockchain, IOT, and NFTs.
Connected: to the local community and traditions.

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