Some excellent social housing in Chile by Elemental.
The housing consists of a series of row houses with open space adjacent to each dwelling. While in its virgin state the housing is appealingly porous and upright, importantly, the strategy here embeds opportunity into the housing, pre-empting and encouraging an entrepreneurial policy of its occupants. The open space adjacent to each house may be built on by the owners, increasing the life-span of the house as families grow while also increases the asset’s capital.
The architects tell us:
“We think that social housing should be seen as an investment and not as an expense. So we had to make that the initial subsidy can add value over time. All of us, when buying a house expect it to increase its value. But social housing, in an unacceptable proportion, is more similar to buy a car than to buy a house; every day, its value decreases.” #
Alongside the economic stimulus, there is also an understanding that cities tend to accumulate rather than appear and over time, the slow accretion of additional floorspace within this framework has led to a development that has more in common with the organic growth of cities than is typical of mass housing projects.
Via Archdaily where you will find many more images.
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