Cultural Values

The Houses of Corrientes

The vernacular architecture of Corrientes has an undeniable Guarani influence, where the “tekoá” is more than just a village, it is the place where the locals can develop in relation to others. Teko means "being" and Tekoa "place", hence we can translate "village where one can be".

This influence is still visible in the Corrientes houses, where there is only one, not very big, family living space and a large patio or partially covered place, where cooking, eating and sharing are carried out.

A characteristic typology of the area is the Kulata jiovai, a semi-covered central space that works as a dining room or living room and is enclosed by two other rooms facing each other.

The influence of colonial architecture gave rise to galleries or corridors for climate protection and also as meeting and gathering areas.

These houses are also characterized by having no load bearing walls. These walls are only used for enclosure purposes since the roofs are supported by medium-sized timber. They are usually made of clay with a system called estanteo or, in the northwest where the soil is sandier they are made of reeds.

Within the gabled roofs which are so characteristic of the huts in Iberá, the most common are made with jayahpé or reeds, or with tiles made with palms. The most used tiles in the villages were first the “musleras”, which were molded on the thighs (muslos), and later the Spanish or French tiles.

The “patio” is still a very important place in this type of houses, generally just a dirt floor with no lawn (due to the constant sweeping, hoeing and daily use) and the heavy shadow lavished from surrounding trees. It is also the place where the family chapels are built in honor of a worshiped saint. These chapels usually receive more care than the rest of the house because it is here where the most precious religious images are kept, many of which are inherited from the Jesuit reductions.

This building style is currently changing in some villages of Iberá, even in the most remote hamlets inside the wetlands, where new materials with little or no identity, inadequate for the Corrientes climate, are being used. Such is the case of “tongue and groove” paneling constructions or timber industry discards, or hollow bricks.