Between 2010 and 2016, Ecuador went through a period of institutional restructuring and normalization. Part of this large scale national project was to standardize several typologies of public infrastructure (mainly in health, education tourism and transport). Within this context, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works hired a consultancy that would assist in defining new architectural typologies for public transport terminals across the country.

Elevating the quality standard for public services is important. However, these types of broad-brush top-down strategies run a high risk of turning standardization into a one-size-fits-all model that would project the exact same building in contexts that are very diverse due to climatic, cultural, economic and social particularities.

Aware of this political conflict of interests, the project developed for this consultancy explored ways in which a balance between generic functional strategies could be adapted to different contexts through bioclimatic and programmatic analysis. Materials, construction details and parts of the ground floor plan were defined as catalogs of components and not as specific designs.

The outcome in 2014, however, was that the Government chose to use only one typology as it reflected a “unified” and recognizable image of the State and its key infrastructure.