Density Housing - House for micro business

[Manuel]

Hi, i have some time for posting now, so i'm gonna post mi fourth year proyect, it's a little long to explain, so i'm gonna try to stick with the essentials.

The proyect borns from the demolition of an entire square, product of the building of a underground highway. The prerequisites are that the proyect has to be houses for a lot of people, and to have some sort of innovation. the terrain is an ex industrial site, of people of medium economical resources.

20322

this is a general sketch of my proposal of emplacement, 1 is a park with sports activities, 2 is the area of the proposal, 3 and 4 are pre-existent houses, 5 a school, 6 a church, 7 a park above the underground highway, 8 supermarkets. As you can se, in the midlle , there is a "green line" that is supossed to be a side walk to the church

[Manuel]

My next step was to define wich typology of house i were to use. Density social housing in my country are recognized by lack of privacity, poor constructions, and a lot of more problems, so i have to keep an adecuate balance in terms of scale

20323

the first sketch represents a house surrounded by green areas, this is a ideal typology, but the budget asociated to it's area ocupation, and the social level of the user, makes it impossible to apply, instead, the second draw represents a tower of departments, wich generates an area of free space, however, this space need manteinance, wich means money, so if the people of the tower don't feels to belong to the area, it' probably that ends in dead public space, happens a lot in santiago. the last it's my proposal, some sort of mid tall building, that combines two types of program. (please excuse my english Xd)

[Manuel]

So every typology must response to the borders i generate in different manners

20324

as you see, the "upper" border confronts the streets, and the side streets of the underground highway, so i plan that border have commerce, and more large scale character, in the middle, there is a more private space, where people can acces to heir buildings and have social activities, last in the lower border, i planned a low scale commerce, just as the right border. The rest of the proyect was not developed, i concentrated only in this area. The lef side opens to the park.

[Manuel]

here you can see how i imagined in first stance the charcter of the spaces i described in the last post

20325

[Manuel]

So, now in the houses, i tried to give the some sort of variety, sticking to the fact that they must be typologies due to the lack of budget, and the user, people with not much money. A good method to improve the social level in country in the third world, it's estimulate the development of micro business, so i tired to combine in the houses spaces where the people can do their jobs, and live , minimizing the effects of one in the other.

In general schemes, i reach two types of houses.

20326

it translates Type 1: Office house.

In this typology, i create tho houses in one big building, 1a it's the area for the first house with a mini garden in 1b, 2b it's an offcie for the second house, with the rest of the program in 2a

[Manuel]

so a section of the further development of the proyect looks like this

20327

[Manuel]

first floor

20328

the first house, with a living rooms, kitchen, a bed room, bathroom and a little peek of the stair for the second house

[Manuel]

second floor

20329

here you can see the rest of the first house, two bedrooms a bathrooms and a little terrace, in the left side, the office of the second house, a terrace for accesing and the end of the stair

[Manuel]

last, the tird floor, a one spacee living room with a little kitche, and other stuff. the office in this house was intented to people who does their jobs in their houses.

20330

[Manuel]

a facade of one side of this house

20331

later i'll post the effect of the total emplaced in terrain

[Manuel]

The second tipology i developed was this one

20332

it translates Type 2: House / Mini market or something like it XD

Well , this house has intend to have one owner, but with the option to that owner to rent the commerce section of the house to some other person, that can make an extra income per house, or the posibility to raise a familiar business. 1a is the section with the market or related activities, 1b related programs, 2a and 2 b the rest of a normal house program

[Manuel]

a section of this house, you can see an open space between i'll explain it with the plans

20333

[Manuel]

in the first floor yo can see the market and the living room, in the center, a open space, thsi provides light and a separation between programs

20334

before to enter the market, there is a space wtih doors designed to attend the posibility to rent the second space, and key locking features (two keys so the rent person can't enter the house and viceversa)

[Manuel]

the second floor utilizes the proyection of the comunicating space between house and commerce to create a small terrace.

20335

there is two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a little study room.

[Manuel]

the last floor with a large bedroom, the facade has a sun shading element, to avoid direct visual contact from the street

20336

[Manuel]

the facade that confronts the street

20337

[Manuel]

here comes the complete view, to give a little variaton to the total, i transfromed one of the houses to do not have any "market" in the front, just a little garden, so looks some like this

20338

[Manuel]

this border was the one to have a direct relation with the streets, so it's very open and the people can walk and look freely

20339

[Manuel]

in the other hand we have the inner border, the one to be intented to the people have social interchange, wich means they relation and identification with his surrounding spaces increases, that way they can care about it a lot more if they where indifferent to it

20340

[nandish]

I really enjoyed seeing what you did. Your project is very well detailed and thats what i like about it. Your Sketchup sections are also very interesting. Overall an excellent project. Congrats

[Manuel]

this time the variation to the facades i made it mirroring and rotating the houses in 180 degrees, so they have a more variated look

20341

well, i tried to explain it the more accurate that my english allow me to do it, so be comprehensive :D, if you have questions, i'll be glad to answer.

[badja]

Good work Manuel,
Thanks for explaining everything in detail and also your ideas with every post.
P.S. I love the floating stairs in the last post ;) :D

[chedda]

Your presentation was explained very well, and you have shown what a pure sketchup presentation is capable of:cheers:

[SWANK-E]

critiques guys, please....

[Juan Gomez-Velez]

Manuel

Some comments

First of all your project has many appealing features, it is very clear and straightforward in it's approach. Your formal and tectonic vocabulary are very simple and accessible. You have created a wonderful environment of "casa de vecindad" with very few building elements and without creating an enormous structure. To approach it by means of a typological exercise is very commendable, you are telling us we do not have to foresee the final form any particular street facade will develop, it will sprout from the rules you apply.

Form by means of a mechanism, of building pieces and a set of rules, excellent!

Some questions

Your second example has a common staircase as the only vertical circulation, with both business and living spaces shared at the second level. Wouldn't it be more practical or desirable to separate these functions more? Perhaps using the terrace as a mezzanine for business needs?

I feel you have explored the need to reach particular densities to make this proposal both attractive and feasible ( if only to your tutors eyes! ), yet this is a very interesting aspect of your proposal which could be explored further. Do you have the numbers? Familes or households per acre, or per "x" number of square meters? In my island, the highest allowable density is one household per every 50 square meters. What is yours?

On the other hand, have you examined the need to attach each city block , each "manzana" as opposed to the particular lot, the "parcela" to each other? Perhaps there should be a set of rules proposed for this too.

I find your repetitive use of both your kitchen and your bath modules interesting. The total separation of the kitchen from all other spaces is very strongly set out, and from my context, or my island's housing market's perspective somewhat intriguing. Please comment on this if you may.

Your use of an inner patio, of corner balconies and roof terraces is very well done, as is the articulation you have given to your street level facades at both the public and private circulations. All this is without the likely differences in fenestration and building colors!

All in all, I like this project very much, I find it refreshing, clean, clear and unpretentious, yet very well thought out. The full SU presentation is also very clear, and perhaps among the best explained I've seen in some time.

My congratulations on a job well done, and my best wishes to you.

Saludos

Juan

[2kemon]

20324

Hi Manuel

I generally like your project, and I'm interested in you clarifying a few things for me. I partially understand your medium to low height stacking idea, but do you have a set of rules for how you placed the different offices and apartments etc. within the 2 stacking models?

I'm unsure as to how you generated the break you've indicated with the 2 red lines. Did you experiment with different forms or was it more a case of keeping the "green axis" and placing a blok with a courtyard on each side?
And what are your thought on the facad to the north?

Did I understand it correct if the whole complex is placed upon some kind of wooden platform? If so, why did you choose this?

kind regards

[primocordara]

Good job Manuel, like the typology variations.
In this type of projects there is a need for "hierarchy" of spaces going from public, semi-public and private, and I get the impresion they're a bit disorganized here.

[Ariel inostroza]

Good project, i like it congratulations,(buenas imagenes tambien)
do you know the construction materials of the second floor(to me sounds like a metal structure covered whit SIPS panels?), do you know the estimated price of this houses...
Felicitaciones y suerte...

[jcruiz]

Santiago is a very secreted town. Not only in the social aspect, but also for its zonning. We use to do residential blocks without commerce and another type of urban equipment. On the other hand, the commercial and office zones, remains without people after the working hours because in these districts there are very few homes. Your project seems to me a great contribution in the search of a new urban design for Santiago, more amiable, more democratic and vital . Congratulations.

[primocordara]

Yes, and incorporating family business is good idea, mostly overlooked in the "zoning" years.

[drummond]

I like your presentation, and the design is well concieved.I would personally like to see more made of the roof design, which I think would give the project more presence.Perhaps elevating the flat roof higher and projecting it beyond the face, forming a shading device as well as a stronger visual termination.This would certainly improve the front elevations which I think are the weakest part of the design.Good work tho', so please dont see this as a negative response, only personal thoughts.

[Richard]

Mate I like your project and the central mall effect created and the mix of home business and residential, something that I personally believe is and should become a growing trend.

That said I do have some issue with access and location of office uses above the ground floor units within your first typology. I feel some privacy loss due to the exposed access (privacy was one of your firstly stated objectives) may be somewhat lost by this proposal.

I also have concern that the forward projecting exposed stairs when supported and balustraded will create a significant visual impose upon your centre courtyard.

I strongly feel this typology of units may have been given a much more workable program bringing the working space to the ground floor and reducing the mix of the uses at this level and enlivening this area more.

I like the overall concept and as Juan so elegantly put it, a very good and well explained proposal and presentation.

Cheers, Richard