Date of Submission
Spring 5-13-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Architecture
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Ehsan Sheikholharam Mashhadi
Abstract
The Rímac River sustains Lima, yet the city has treated it more like an edge condition than a living system. Its water moves through the metropolis as a source of life, but its presence is buried behind concrete walls, traffic corridors, pollution, and fragmented access. Over time, the river has been reduced to a controlled channel, stripped of the cultural and spatial relationships that once connected it to everyday life. This thesis begins with that contradiction: the Rímac remains vital to Lima’s survival, but has been pushed out of the city’s public imagination. This project argues that the river’s current condition is not only a result of neglect, but also a loss of agency. Here, agency is understood as the river’s ability to act, adapt, and shape relationships around it. Along the Rímac, that agency has been limited by systems of containment that prevent the river from flooding, shifting, gathering people, and supporting visible ecological life. In response, the thesis asks how architecture can move beyond control and instead mediate between the river and Lima’s urban fabric. The design is framed through Andean cosmology, Actor-Network Theory, and Lo-TEK principles. Andean cosmology positions the river as a connective force between land, life, and spirit. Actor-Network Theory reads the Rímac as part of a larger web of residents, infrastructure, climate, governance, vegetation, and daily use. Lo-TEK grounds the proposal in strategies that work with natural systems rather than against them. Instead of resisting the river’s fluctuations, the project uses them as a foundation for design. Seasonal flooding and low-water conditions shape terraces, paths, plazas, canal systems, and riverfront programs, allowing architecture to become a mediator that helps the Rímac speak again.