Maximo Malaiu

03 — Fieldwork

José Ignacio

Recording a fishing settlement as it disappeared.

Two corrugated-metal fishing shacks raised on stilts at the edge of the water under a pale sky.
Homes at the water's edge
Year
2025
Type
Research, fieldwork
Place
Uruguay, Atlantic coast
Method
Mapping, photography, measured drawings

The place

José Ignacio was originally a small fishing village on Uruguay's Atlantic coast, where informal homes built by local fishermen shaped the town's economy and identity.

As luxury tourism and real estate development expanded along the eastern coast, many of these settlements faced removal due to land ownership conflicts, gradually erasing their vernacular architecture and way of life.

The record

Field documentation of the remaining community through mapping, photography and measured drawings — recording construction methods, spatial patterns and everyday life as the settlement disappeared.

Measured plan of the settlement: a long thin band of small structures following the shoreline.
Settlement plan
Measured elevation of a timber house raised on posts, with an external stair and corrugated roof.
Measured elevation
Circular line drawing of coiled fishing rope and net, drawn in fine grey line.
The net, drawn

Everyday life

Close photograph of hands in an orange jacket repairing a fishing net.
Net repair
Aerial photograph of the settlement: small colored roofs strung along a rocky spit with boats drawn up on the sand.
Aerial