Purii

We received an invitation from the Inga people to walk together with them between the Andes mountains and the Amazon rainforest in the south of Colombia. The Inga People are one of the 103 indigenous groups recognised nationally in Colombia and are currently in the process of creating their own higher education institution called AWAI (which means weaving in inga language). The goal of this institution is to legitimize ancestral Inga knowledge and to give future generations access to higher level education without having to leave their territory. The teaching will be intercultural and plural, combining western sciences with their ancestral knowledge. Therefore this future Institution will be named Pluri-versity instead of uni-versity.
Walking alongside the Inga people has led us to reflect upon our own reality. Global warming, biodiversity loss and social inequalities are resulting from extractive economic processes and architecture is one of them. Walking can help us open our narrow gaze to include all forms of built environment - human and nonhuman. This also helps us reconnect with our environment and lead toward a more inclusive design.

* The verb purii, in the Inga language, means: to go, travel, walk, stroll.