Abstract
This study reframes architectural practice in Bajo Atrato, Colombia, through a relational understanding of territory and emotion, during the implementation of the Peace Agreement. Using a situated research-by-design approach, the study combines field journeys, workshops on emotional cartographies, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and audiovisual recordings in Carmen del Darién, Marriaga Swamp, Triganá Bay, and Santa María de la Antigua del Darién. These methods consider everyday life, memory, and collective care as forms of territorial knowledge. The recognition of territories, identification of emotions, and the visibility of the Territorial Expressions of Grieving led to the creation of the Atlas of Emotions, a methodological and interpretive tool that reveals hidden relationships between territories and their collective emotional expressions. By mapping these emotional-spatial constellations, the Atlas positions architecture as a situated practice of listening, relational engagement, and territorial repair, rather than as a traditionally object-centred discipline.
Keywords
atlas of emotions; situated architectural practice; emotional cartographies; territorial repair
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2639
Citation
Saldarriaga-Cardona, C. (2026) Reframing architectural practice through territory and emotion: The atlas of emotions in Bajo Atrato, Colombia, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2639
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Reframing architectural practice through territory and emotion: The atlas of emotions in Bajo Atrato, Colombia
This study reframes architectural practice in Bajo Atrato, Colombia, through a relational understanding of territory and emotion, during the implementation of the Peace Agreement. Using a situated research-by-design approach, the study combines field journeys, workshops on emotional cartographies, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and audiovisual recordings in Carmen del Darién, Marriaga Swamp, Triganá Bay, and Santa María de la Antigua del Darién. These methods consider everyday life, memory, and collective care as forms of territorial knowledge. The recognition of territories, identification of emotions, and the visibility of the Territorial Expressions of Grieving led to the creation of the Atlas of Emotions, a methodological and interpretive tool that reveals hidden relationships between territories and their collective emotional expressions. By mapping these emotional-spatial constellations, the Atlas positions architecture as a situated practice of listening, relational engagement, and territorial repair, rather than as a traditionally object-centred discipline.