The Peruvian ‘box balcony’: The use of drawn reading of archival documents for rescuing its old construction techniques

The “box balcony” was a transcendental element in the urban landscape of Spanish—American cities along the Peruvian coast, experiencing its heyday between the 16th and 18th centuries. Despite its importance, the study of the “box balcony” has predominantly revolved around formal styles, resulting in a notable gap in its construction analysis. Therefore, this paper specifically addresses the construction process of the “box balcony” on the Peruvian coast. Our approach entails a search and analysis of archival documents that referenced the construction characteristics of these balconies. Subsequently, we compare them with the architectural survey of balconies conducted in cities, such as Lima, Lambayeque and Trujillo. The primary aim is to use the historical information and translate it into graphics that would corroborate its alignment with the cases found. This in turn allowed us to determine the functioning of the “box balcony” pieces, trace the real evolution of these balconies over time and recover the knowledge of this ancient carpentry technique.