“Casas de Cartón” [cardboard houses] is a colloquial term used to describe the impoverished homes of the approximately ten million people who call the Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) home. This region is characterized by agricultural significance and precariousness amid global climate change and regional economic instability. The campesino, or farm laborer, is central to this narrative, presenting an intimate and authentic glimpse into the rural domestic livelihoods of the poorest in rural regions. Using various forms and methods of architectural investigations, the Casas de Cartón exhibition chronicles the rural memory of the region and agricultural life, bringing attention to the trauma experienced across El Salvador and its neighboring countries due to civil wars, impoverishment, and adverse weather conditions. Challenging the negative connotation of Casas de Cartón as a symbol of poverty, this project presents the rural worker, farmhouse typology, and agricultural economy in the Central American region as robust, colorful, and lush illustrations of survivability.

Carlos H. Blanco, a Salvadorian architect, artist, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York, is an interdisciplinary designer who explores architectural themes through his writings, paintings, and photography. He earned his MArch from Yale University, where he received the James Gamble Scholarship, and his bachelor’s of arts from University of California, Berkeley, with a minor in city planning and urbanism in developing countries. Blanco’s research focuses on domestic architecture, geography, exhibition curation, and the cultural production of marginalized urban and rural narratives in Latin America, particularly Central America. His work reflects on his personal experiences as an immigrant navigating complex environments and seeking solace in the built world. Blanco is a professor at the Hillier College of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and previously served as a teaching fellow at Yale School of Architecture.