"Organization type ": Estudio

Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot

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Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot

Mismatches Services Vulnerable groups
Urban Design Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Favelas/Slums

Main objectives of the project

The Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot, developed by FABULOUS URBAN from 2013 to 2017, is a vital infrastructure hub in Lagos' Makoko slum, providing essential services like biogas-linked community toilets, biogas production, water treatment, and farming pipes. Serving as both a business incubator and community empowerment center, it supports roughly 200 people and aims to inspire similar initiatives in other low-income areas. Managed by the Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, the Hotspot exemplifies decentralized, low-cost interventions that address critical infrastructure needs while promoting sustainable development and community resilience.

Date

  • 2017: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: FABULOUS URBAN

Location

Continent: Africa
Country/Region: Lagos, Nigeria

Description

Housing is so much more than brick-and-mortar solutions. Above all, housing policies must provide infrastructure to a community. In the context of urban slum settlements, facilities like the Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot are of paramount importance, serving as a beacon of hope and innovation for communities often neglected by conventional urban development plans. Between 2013 and 2017, FABULOUS URBAN developed and implemented the Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot as part of the broader Makoko Urban Design Toolbox and the Makoko/Iwaya Waterfront Regeneration Plan. This initiative aimed to provide both technical and social infrastructure to one of Lagos' most well-known slum settlements, Makoko.

The Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot functions as an infrastructure hub, delivering essential urban services such as biogas-linked community toilets and serving as a business incubator promoting waste-to-energy principles. Moreover, it acts as a community empowerment tool and learning center, enhancing the social fabric and economic opportunities within the community. Despite the challenging decision-making processes faced by the underserved Makoko residents during the conceptualization and building phases, the Hotspot emerged as a carefully and ambitiously designed structure, symbolizing more than just an architectural feat.

In December 2015, following the completion and inauguration of the structure, the project entered its second phase, culminating in the formation of the “Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited” in 2016. Officially registered with the Lagos State Department of Cooperatives, this body now manages the operational and administrative functions of the Hotspot. With 20 members and a 7-strong management committee, the cooperative is responsible for hiring, payment, and supervision of employees, supported by three business plans designed to ensure sustainable operations.

By December 2017, the end of the third project phase, the Hotspot began providing critical infrastructure to approximately 200 people, including biogas-linked community toilets, biogas production, water treatment, and farming pipes. During the pilot phase, 10 families received cooking gas, refilled at the Hotspot with specially designed biogas rucksacks. As a business incubator, the Hotspot serves as a prototype for replication in other parts of the community and similar slum or low-income settlements in Lagos State.

Facilities like the Makoko Neighborhood Hotspot demonstrate a model for addressing the severe lack of infrastructure in many underserved communities. They embody decentralized, strategic, yet low-cost interventions that not only meet immediate needs but also inspire long-term solutions and governmental action. By empowering local residents and fostering sustainable development, such initiatives play a crucial role in transforming slum settlements into vibrant, self-sustaining communities.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

Reconstruction plan for Precious Seeds, Oworonshoki

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Reconstruction plan for Precious Seeds, Oworonshoki

Mismatches Functional adequacy Services Diversity Vulnerable groups
Policies and regulations Local policies Planning Global frameworks Governance
Urban Design Liveability Inclusion Equity
Promotion and production Favelas/Slums

Main objectives of the project

The reconstruction scheme for Precious Seed in Oworonshoki focuses on simplicity, affordability, and modularity, promoting sustainable community rebuilding. With features like a one-room house with a veranda, vertical farming elements, and Mobile Dry Diversion Toilets (MDDT), the project emphasizes protection, efficient use of limited resources, and community empowerment. The large roofs provide essential shelter, creating a blend of private and public spaces. The initiative, costing around 1,120 US$ per house, fosters community cohesion, particularly through the formation of a women's group to lead the reconstruction based on local building codes, highlighting values of resilience, inclusivity, and strategic, incremental development.

Date

  • 2024: En proceso

Stakeholders

  • Architect: FABULOUS URBAN

Location

Continent: Africa
Country/Region: Lagos

Description

The reconstruction scheme for Precious Seed, a community in the Oworonshoki neighborhood severely impacted by state and local king-led demolitions, is marked by its simple, affordable, and modular design at all levels.

A one-room house with a veranda, vertical farming elements, and the well-tested Mobile Dry Diversion Toilet (MDDT) was developed. These houses can be combined into larger units depending on funding availability and plot size.

A key feature is the large roof, offering protection from the sun and rain in Lagos' year-round hot and humid climate. The roofs and stoops together create a graduated yet flowing space between private and public areas, maximizing the use of limited resources, including poverty constraints and small plot sizes.

Each house can be constructed for approximately 900 US$, the MDDT for about 200 US$, and the vertical farming mesh for 20 US$.

In 2024, the next steps involve establishing a strong, cohesive women's group dedicated to developing and implementing a strategic plan for community rebuilding, based on the guidelines from the Oworonshoki Local Building Code Project. Initially, a prototype house will be built, serving as a capacity-building tool for women. As the women's group becomes more established and additional funds are secured, the community will be incrementally reconstructed.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

Llargavista observatory

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Llargavista observatory

Policies and regulations Governance Data and monitoring Evaluation and impact
Promotion and production Self-management Self-promotion Cooperatives Progressive housing Management and maintenance
Ownership and tenure Rental and temporary tenure Protection of social housing

Main objectives of the project

The Llargavista observatory consists of a website and an interactive map showing all registered cooperative housing initiatives in Catalonia (Spain), providing detailed information on each project obtained through questionnaires and interviews. Its objective is to disseminate the model and its evolution to all citizens in an accessible and understandable way.

Date

  • 2020: Implementation

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Sostre Cívic
  • Coòpolis
  • Xarxa d'Economia Solidària
  • iLabSo
  • Risell

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

"Llargavista" means "long-term" in Catalan. This name is not accidental. The observatory seeks to map all cooperative housing in Catalonia, a nation within Spain, with the goal to make it a long-term solution for the housing crisis. Catalonia (and specifically Barcelona, its capital) has been a pioneer in a specific type of cooperative housing with “the right to use”. That is to say, the administration cedes the land in surface right to a cooperative, which constructs the building. After the period agreed with the cooperative, the building becomes public property. Thus, the cooperative never owns the land, but it does own the building for a certain agreed period of time. During that time, the people living in the housing must meet the requirements for access to public social housing and, in exchange for an entrance fee, be cooperative members. If they wish to leave the housing, they leave their share of the cooperative to whoever enters. The observatory monitors these initiatives.

This is an initiative promoted by Sostre Cívic, with the collaboration of Risell and iLabSo and the participation of the housing sector of the Xarxa d'Economia Solidària (XES) and the Cercle de transició ecosocial de Coòpolis. It is supported and financed by the General Directorate of Social Economy of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Barcelona City Council. With the creation of this initiative, the aim is to observe the state and evolution of cooperative housing in cession of use throughout the country. At the same time, this tool is built with a long-term vision, to consolidate and grow cooperative housing as a transformative and non-speculative model of housing access and tenure.

The main objective is to carry out a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the cooperative housing sector in transfer of use, both of information related to the people and cohabitation units that participate, as well as the characteristics of the building or the project, and other elements of interest related to the project, such as economic and financial information or its social impact. This information, systematized and sustained over time, can be of interest to the cooperative housing sector, the academic world, public administrations and the media, among other agents. In addition, it aims to show the information in an accessible and understandable way in order to disseminate the model, the projects and their evolution to all citizens with a clearly informative function.

The main product of the observatory is a website and an interactive map that it incorporates, which shows all the registered cooperative housing initiatives in cession of use, with information on each project. The data is obtained through questionnaires answered by groups and projects throughout the country and through interviews with groups and various agents.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

Aldea Vertical, Madrid

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Aldea Vertical, Madrid

Mismatches Vulnerable groups
Urban Design Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Public promotion

Main objectives of the project

In the midst of Madrid's housing crisis, characterized by soaring property prices and a shortage of affordable options, resilient social housing initiatives, such as the project spearheaded by the Madrid City Council through the EMVS, are challenging the pressures of gentrification. This vertical village of 85 social housing units represents a beacon of hope, offering dignified contemporary housing at regulated prices. Comprising a mix of ownership and rental units, the project accommodates diverse family structures and promotes social and family diversity through temporary rotations. Embodying innovative design elements, such as geometric setbacks and ceramic lattice systems, the project fosters community cohesion while providing residents with spaces for interaction and engagement, reminiscent of traditional village life, within the urban landscape.

Date

  • 2020: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo.
  • Architect: llps arquitectos

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Madrid
Country/Region: Madrid, Spain

Description

Madrid is currently grappling with a severe housing crisis, marked by skyrocketing property prices and a significant shortage of affordable housing options. This crisis exerts immense pressure on the city's most vulnerable populations, leading to widespread gentrification that displaces long-standing residents in favor of high-income newcomers. In response to these challenges, resilient social housing projects are emerging, aimed at countering the adverse effects of the free-market housing boom and ensuring that even the most disadvantaged individuals have access to dignified, contemporary housing.

In an urban landscape where gentrification often displaces the most disadvantaged, a resilient social housing project promoted by the Madrid City Council through the EMVS stands firm against the pressures of free-market housing growth. This initiative offers dignified contemporary housing for the most needy at regulated, affordable prices, despite the complexity of constructing a 17-floor vertical tower.

At the intersection of pedestrian public space and railway infrastructure, a vertical village of 85 social housing units rises from a textured concrete base. This tower complements the EMVS's social housing blocks, featuring a mix of ownership and rental units to support a diverse range of family structures, including numerous, multi-nuclear, single-parent, and single-person households, facilitating temporary rotations and enhancing social and family diversity.

The imposing white volume, adhering to geometric setback regulations on the upper floors, faces north with a smooth surface punctuated by a systematic array of square openings corresponding to bedroom scales. This design conceptually ties Horizon-Ground and Horizon-Sky, breaking down the urban scale of neighboring buildings and providing an enriching spatial reference through its abstract form.

In contrast, the southern elevation features a complex arrangement of setbacks and depths with ceramic lattice systems, offering protection from summer sun and heat while allowing light in during winter. This depth system incorporates diagonal spaces traversing the entire block, enabling residents to engage with their surroundings at various scales—territorial through horizontal views, urban through transverse visions, and communal through integrated terraces.

The project revives the idea of a primordial neighborhood, fostering a sense of community through interconnected spaces that facilitate neighborly interactions in all directions: diagonal, vertical, and horizontal. This concept of vertical streets within the urban alignment plane encourages encounters and relationships among residents, reminiscent of the German Siedlungen or Viennese Höfe, but with an enhanced focus on interrelation. Outdoor terrace spaces serve as communal meeting points, allowing residents to engage with their neighbors, akin to villagers sitting at their doorsteps, thus promoting crucial social interaction, especially significant during times of confinement.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

La Casa dels mestres, Barcelona

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La Casa dels mestres, Barcelona

Mismatches Location Vacant housing
Promotion and production Public-private partnerships Self-management Self-promotion Self-construction Cooperatives Transformation and adaptation
Ownership and tenure Shared ownership Rental and temporary tenure

Main objectives of the project

Barcelona faces a challenging housing situation marked by high demand and limited affordable options, prompting innovative solutions to address the crisis. Amidst this backdrop, the city has witnessed a powerful cooperative movement dedicated to providing sustainable and inclusive housing alternatives. This movement emphasizes community participation, sustainability, and affordability, embodying a grassroots response to the housing shortage and inspiring projects like the rehabilitation of Les Cases dels Mestres in La Floresta, which transforms disused buildings into cooperative social housing while fostering community cohesion and environmental responsibility.

Date

  • 2015: En proceso

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Som Hàbitat
  • Architect: Zaga arquitectura

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

In Barcelona, adjacent to La Floresta School and bordering the wooded mass of Parc de Collserola, stands a building originally constructed to house the school's teachers. This place, known locally as Les Cases dels Mestres, was built in 1969 as part of a typical low-cost housing development. The buildings, characterized by their simplicity and unpretentious design, featured traditional language, short structural bays, and cost-effective construction methods. Over time, the houses fell into disuse, though they remained a significant part of the community's memory. Recently, a neighborhood movement succeeded in rehabilitating the structure for use as cooperative social housing.

The process begins with the occupation of the houses in 2014 and, after a long negotiation with the authorities, in 2015 the construction of the building is allowed. The temporary cession of use of the site for the cooperative is used. After the time indicated in the agreement, housing and land will pass into municipal hands as social housing.

The refurbishment project aims to adapt the building for cooperative social housing while preserving its original identity and ensuring flexibility in the configuration of the units. The proposal includes adding two new bays on each long façade, complementing the original structure. These additions address shortcomings in accessibility, room size, flexibility of use, and energy efficiency of the roof and façades. The first new wing, on the east façade, features walkways and stairs that adapt to the steep terrain, guiding users to each house's door. This façade incorporates layers that reveal the building's history and add new dimensions, while the access walkways serve as terraces for communal living, offering views of the natural surroundings.

The western bay, more private, increases the size and height of the dwellings, creating 11 units plus a communal space. This façade interacts uniquely with the landscape, allowing windows to cascade downhill and enhancing the relationship between residents and the environment. The refurbished dwellings maintain the spirit of the original structure, improve habitability and versatility, and foster a closer connection between residents and the surrounding nature.

From its inception, this project has emphasized essential values such as:

Participation and inclusion. The project's usual work process was significantly altered, placing the user in a central role during conception and construction. Residents actively participated in decision-making, and workshops during the design phase allowed them to choose from various distribution options, ensuring homes suited to different family units with adequate flexibility.

Self-build. During construction, users contributed labor through training workshops, handling interior refurbishment tasks. This approach reduced construction costs and increased residents' identification with their new homes.

Sustainability. A key principle was creating a sustainable building with a low carbon footprint. This involved using local, non-polluting materials, a prefabricated timber-framed structure, high insulation, and efficient collective installations such as a central pellet boiler and a grey and rainwater recovery system.

Refurbishment and collective memory. The project revitalized a disused and abandoned building, reinforcing collective memory and community cohesion by demonstrating its viability.

Well-being and contact with nature. Leveraging the building’s exceptional location, the project created private and collective spaces that balance community activities with personal relaxation, all in direct contact with the surrounding natural environment.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

Woof & Skelle, Bremen

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Woof & Skelle, Bremen

Mismatches Functional adequacy Services Climate change
Urban Design Services and infrastructure Environments Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Public-private partnerships

Main objectives of the project

The Woof and Skelle buildings in Bremen's Ellener Hof district, developed by Bremer Heimstiftung, form a new village-like neighborhood with 500 mostly subsidized apartments, focusing on timber construction for sustainability. The ensemble includes a five-storey building with a kindergarten on the lower floors and accessible flats above, and a two-storey building with additional kindergarten areas, an early intervention centre, and a parents' café. The design emphasizes renewable materials, with a high proportion of timber for flexibility and resource efficiency, incorporating low-tech climate concepts and strategic fire protection measures.

Date

  • 2024: Ganador
  • 2022: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: ZRS

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: Bremen, Germany

Description

The two new buildings, Woof and Skelle, are part of the Ellener Hof district developed by the Bremer Heimstiftung. This new neighborhood in the eastern part of Bremen consists of 500 mostly publicly subsidized apartments and is designed to resemble a gradually grown village, largely constructed using timber. The building ensemble includes 9 flats and a kindergarten. In the five-storey building, the lower two floors are used by the kindergarten, while the upper three floors house 7 partially accessible and 2 fully wheelchair-accessible flats. The two-storey building accommodates additional kindergarten areas, an early intervention centre, and a parents' café. The wooden façade connects the buildings, forming a cohesive ensemble. The project is characterized by renewable building materials and a high proportion of timber construction: a skeleton construction allows for a high degree of flexibility in the event of conversion. In addition to the supporting structure and the exterior walls, the partition walls, the staircase, the lift shaft, and the balconies are also made of wood. A low-tech climate concept supports this circulation-friendly and resource-saving construction method.

By not sheathing the load-bearing construction and dimensioning the load-bearing wooden elements for burn-off, the fire protection concept allows visible wooden surfaces in all rooms. Even in the necessary stairwells, the construction of visible timber surfaces is made possible by compensations. Vertically projecting solid timber slats and horizontally cantilevering steel sheets limit the spread of fire across the façade surface, making the timber façade feasible. Both houses, the flats, and the kindergarten are designed for a low-tech climate concept—the desired values are largely achieved through the specific qualities of the building envelope. Diffusion-open, moisture-regulating surfaces allow for the elimination of expensive and high-maintenance technology. In addition to natural ventilation via the windows, the houses are equipped with a demand-controlled exhaust air system in the interior bathrooms.

The core idea of a circular, resource-saving building is reflected on several levels: the robust timber frame construction allows for a high degree of flexibility for conversions and a long service life. Attention was given to reversible connections and robust construction in the building elements. The building envelope and shell are deconstructible down to the level of the elements and building materials. The proportion of concrete was reduced to a minimum, and the timber structure is optimized for slender profiles. In addition to the supporting structure and exterior walls, the partition walls, staircase and lift shaft, the fire wall, and the balconies are also made of timber. The ceilings are partly constructed as cross-laminated timber ceilings and partly as timber-concrete composite ceilings. Where possible, the wooden components are left visible, characterizing the interior with their light-colored surfaces. The proportion of petroleum-based insulation materials has been reduced to the absolute minimum—cellulose, wood fibre insulation, and foam glass are used instead. The high proportion of wood (over 60%) makes the project a CO2 reservoir.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España
Fundació Mies van der Rohe Barcelona

Social housing in Sa Pobla, Mallorca

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Social housing in Sa Pobla, Mallorca

Mismatches
Urban Design Urban fabrics Environments Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Public promotion

Main objectives of the project

The social housing project in Sa Pobla, an agricultural municipality in Mallorca, addresses the housing pressure and vulnerability of its working population. Located in an area of new growth, it follows the traditional urban pattern with housing aligned to a road. The building, with a double southwest-northeast orientation, optimises space by eliminating corridors and improving cross ventilation. The structure is based on ceramic load-bearing walls and wooden slabs, with a façade of sandstone and wooden elements that reflect the traditional aesthetics of the island, guaranteeing high construction quality.

Date

  • 2025: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: IBAVI
  • Architect: Andrea + Joan Arquitectes

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: Spain

Description

Sa Pobla is a village and municipality in the Raiguer area of Mallorca (the central region of the island), characterised by being a large esplanade with a strong presence of orchards and water, located on the axis that connects Palma and the Bay of Alcúdia. Thus, Sa Pobla is a very agricultural village, with a significant presence of vulnerable population that is beginning to suffer real estate pressure due to speculative tourism with housing. With tourism being the main activity of the island, Sa Pobla is suffering more and more from the rises in rents and housing, as well as having a very vulnerable working population in the countryside. In this context, the construction of social housing is fundamental.

The project won the competition of IBAVI, the public company promoting social housing on the island. The projected building is located in a new growth area of the municipality, characterised by the construction of housing between party walls with facades aligned to the road, following the traditional urban pattern of Sa Pobla.

The footprint of the building within the plot is determined by the urban parameters of occupation and buildability and by the separations from the thresholds established by the municipal regulations. In this case, the building is aligned with the road and the party walls, but not with the buildable depth, to allow the appearance of the surface car park in the free space of the building on the ground floor. The result is a building with a double southwest-northeast orientation, whose facades face the street and the rear courtyard.

Following the particular urban morphology of the area, the project is structured by means of 5 bays perpendicular to the street of equal dimensions, and the programme is inserted within this organising scheme.

This scheme makes it possible to obtain a standard floor plan made up of 3 flats and a distribution space for accessing them, with a porch, towards the street façade. These dwellings are understood as a succession of rooms of similar proportions linked together, with the living-dining-kitchen spaces facing south-west and the bedrooms to the north, while the services occupy the central strip of the building.

The result of this floor plan is three dwellings, two of them with two bedrooms located at the ends and a central one with one bedroom. On the ground floor the central dwelling is removed, giving way to a passage that allows access both to the vertical communication cores and to the rear part of the plot, where the car park is located.

The façade reflects the regularity of this scheme and is composed of a set of identical windows, interrupted only by the appearance of a wooden porch located in the centre of the ground floor.

The spatial typology of the dwellings is based on the optimisation of space by eliminating corridors, understanding the house as a succession of interconnected living spaces. The windows and openings are placed in the centres of the spaces to achieve maximum lighting with the minimum number of elements.

The houses have two orientations, towards the street and towards the interior space of the plot. The house opens up, therefore, to a double orientation that allows us to choose at any given moment where to open and where to close depending on privacy, climate, noise, etc. This double orientation in large naturalised spaces improves the quality of the air in the homes through cross ventilation.

This approach to the building by means of bays perpendicular to the street is transferred to the structural functioning of the building, which is resolved by means of ceramic load-bearing walls with limited spans and one-way wooden slabs. Externally, the building recognises its surroundings, using marés stone as the façade material. The architectural openings are defined by stone jambs and lintels, while the window frames and sun protection are made of wood. These traditional elements of the island are integrated into the project, giving it a local aesthetic and high construction quality.

At the time of writing this lines, the project is still under construction. The keys are expected to be handed over to the neighbours in 2025.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

47 social housing units in Torre Baró, Barcelona

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47 social housing units in Torre Baró, Barcelona

Mismatches Vulnerable groups
Urban Design Quality Liveability Inclusion Equity
Promotion and production Public promotion

Main objectives of the project

This social housing building is designed around a central atrium that enhances the energy efficiency of the complex. Along with the spacious staircase landings, the atrium also serves as a communal meeting space for residents. Commissioned by the Institut Municipal de l'Habitatge i Rehabilitació de Barcelona (IMHAB), the public housing authority in the city, this project features a distinctive high-rise layout with walk-through courtyard flats. Each unit is positioned along the façade, ensuring natural lighting and scenic views. The building's sustainability is further enhanced by rooftop photovoltaic panels and intermediate terrace-gallery spaces that allow for cross ventilation. When closed, these spaces create a greenhouse effect, providing thermal gains and reducing the need for heating. As a result, this high-quality, sustainable building is made available to vulnerable populations.

Date

  • 2017: Ganador
  • 2022: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: IMHAB
  • Architect: dataAE

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

Torre Baró, one of Barcelona's most vulnerable neighborhoods, has one of the highest deprivation indexes in the country. Despite this, it is experiencing skyrocketing housing prices typical of a global city like Barcelona. Consequently, the Institut Municipal de l'Habitatge i Rehabilitació de Barcelona (IMHAB), the city's public social housing promoter, emphasized the need to invest in this neighborhood to ensure dignified housing for its residents.

The project consists of a building with 47 social housing units, including a basement, ground floor, and five upper floors. This building is designed as a shallow, continuous perimeter of courtyard flats that create a central space in the form of a collective and bioclimatic atrium. This atrium serves as a reception area, a social space for residents, and a mechanism for enhancing the complex's energy efficiency.

Situated adjacent to the Parc de Collserola mountain, Torre Baró originally required terraced constructions with numerous outdoor spaces connected to nature and the landscape due to its steep terrain. The new building will become the permanent home for some families who have moved out of the neighborhood and currently live in precarious housing conditions but maintain a strong connection to the mountain. These natural spaces are strategically incorporated, adapting them to the high-rise courtyard house typology.

The building emphasizes the relationship between the dwelling, the immediate public space, and the city, using intermediate spaces to transition from the street to the house through a large bioclimatic atrium. This welcoming ground-floor space is a mandatory passage for users to access different stairwells. It serves as an energy-efficient intermediate space, fostering a new area for social interaction among residents and future generations year-round. Additionally, it addresses energy poverty by designing homes with nearly zero energy consumption (NZEB) and high rooftop photovoltaic electricity production.

The central space, featuring a bioclimatic roof that can be opened and closed and protected from the sun, functions as a greenhouse in winter and a hyper-ventilated umbraculum in summer. This creates a thermally favorable space that adapts the building's form to environmental needs, improves the interior façade's transmittance, and facilitates energy exchange with the dwellings, reducing ventilation-related losses. These favorable conditions allow both the large central space and the generous staircase landings to serve as living, play, or meeting spaces for neighbors.

Each dwelling includes a 13m² terrace-gallery type intermediate space that functions as a passive-use area. In summer, this open, exterior, and ventilated space aids in cooling the dwellings through cross ventilation. In winter, it becomes a closed space that collects thermal gains from the greenhouse effect, directly benefiting the living room and reducing the need for heating. Each terrace acts as a private filter space between indoors and outdoors, an intermediate area between the individual and the collective.

A single typology is proposed for the apartments, where all units are located on the façade, ensuring natural lighting and landscape views. The gallery's position alternates: in some flats, it is the access space, while in others, it is at the end of the dwelling. The interior configuration of the dwellings features versatile 10m² rooms, all designed to favor multi-functionality. The layout is inclusive, with an open kitchen connected to the living room and access to the laundry room and bathrooms from the common space of the flats.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

54 social housing in Inca, Mallorca, Spain

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54 social housing in Inca, Mallorca, Spain

Mismatches Location
Urban Design Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Public promotion

Main objectives of the project

The island of Mallorca, particularly the city of Inca, is facing a severe housing crisis due to a growing population and a shortage of affordable homes. Inca, historically an industrial hub known for prominent shoe brands like Lottuse and Camper, now struggles with both housing shortages and industrial decline. To address these challenges, the Balearic Housing Institute (IBAVI) has proposed a new housing development. This project aims to provide essential residential units while emphasizing sustainable and environmentally friendly construction practices, integrating the building seamlessly into the urban landscape and ensuring it meets the community's needs effectively.

Date

  • 2022: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Xavier Morell
  • Architect: Marc Alventosa
  • Architect: Joan Fortuny

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: Spain

Description

The island of Mallorca, Spain, is grappling with a severe housing crisis, exacerbated by a growing population and a shortage of affordable homes. The city of Inca, once a thriving industrial hub and home to prominent shoe brands like Lottuse and Camper, is particularly affected. Inca now faces a dual challenge of a housing shortage and the economic decline of its industrial sector. In response, the Balearic Housing Institute (IBAVI) has proposed a new housing development aimed at alleviating this critical issue. This project not only seeks to provide much-needed residential units but also prioritizes sustainable and environmentally friendly construction practices.

The plot owned by IBAVI has a rectangular shape with an approximate area of 3,266 m². The proposed design focuses on two fundamental aspects: the proper integration of the building into the urban and physical environment, and a solution that synthesizes the functional aspects of the program. According to municipal regulations, the program includes underground parking, while the 54 housing units are distributed across 18 flats per floor on the ground floor and two upper floors. Within the interior space, there is a common area for residents to interact. The building is organized along a north-south axis, resulting in the creation of two independent volumes that form a public space between them.

Due to the significant unevenness of the land, the building is situated on the upper level, establishing an accessible route. The housing module is organized around a central wet core, dividing the space into two areas with double orientation. The arrangement of day and night areas varies by height to optimize sun exposure, ventilation, privacy, and views, thereby creating different types of housing on each floor. The residences feature outdoor spaces: private gardens on the ground floor and terraces on the upper floors.

The structural solution involves a system of reticular concrete slabs with large spans of 35 cm thick and metal pillars. The underground section is constructed with concrete retaining walls, and the foundation employs a system of deep foundations due to the expansive clays in the area. The façade comprises a double layer of local ceramic with recycled cotton insulation in the cavity, and the exterior is finished with sprayed cork and coarse lime, topped with a layer of fine lime with natural pigments. The exterior carpentry is made of aluminum with a thermal break, and solar protections are crafted from sustainably sourced Larch wood.

The roofs are flat, utilizing an inverted insulation and waterproofing system with recycled gravel. These roofs also support photovoltaic panels, aerothermal and recovery equipment, and ventilation ducts. Interior floors are made of locally sourced ceramic clay, fired with biomass. Facilities are minimized in bathroom areas, with only one ceiling present. Hot water is provided by a highly efficient "NUOS" aerothermal system. Housing ventilation is managed by heat recuperators that temper the air via community aerothermal systems. Community spaces on the ground floor are efficiently designed with concrete floors and permeable gravel pavements, promoting natural rainwater flow to the subsoil. The area is landscaped with Jacarandas, offering shade and enhancing the community space.

This innovative housing project reflects IBAVI's commitment to addressing Mallorca's housing crisis with sustainable solutions. The building's design and construction methods not only provide functional and comfortable living spaces but also prioritize environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, and the well-being of its residents.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España

Es Molinar Social Housing, Palma

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Es Molinar Social Housing, Palma

Mismatches Functional adequacy Services Vulnerable groups
Policies and regulations Land Planning
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Main objectives of the project

The public sector competition aimed to create a day care center and housing in Es Molinar, Palma, Mallorca, an area with great potential due to its proximity to the sea and old port. Javier de las Heras' team proposed an orthogonal grid-based design with the day center and social premises on the ground floor and dwellings above, ensuring all units have sea views and optimal sunlight. The design includes three courtyards to enhance sunlight, reduce noise, and facilitate natural cooling with the Mediterranean sea breeze "embat." The day center forms a solid horizontal base, with U-shaped housing units positioned above to ensure sea views, featuring marés (Mallorca sandstone) for the ground floor and lime mortar plaster, wood, and glass for the upper floors.

Date

  • 2020: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Javier de las Heras

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Palma de Mallorca
Country/Region: Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Description

The site is located at the corner of Cuba Street and Antoni Picornell Square in the Es Molinar neighborhood of Palma. Es Molinar is known as the old industrial area of Palma, Mallorca, and is also celebrated for its proximity to the sea and the old port. Despite the immediate surroundings of the project being degraded and the urban fabric yet to be consolidated, the area holds great potential due to its privileged proximity to the port of Es Portixol, the beach, and the seafront promenade of the Es Molinar neighborhood.

During the competition phase of the project, the team led by Javier de las Heras defined the urbanization of the surroundings using a grid, marked by strict orthogonality. Adhering to the same formal premises of orthogonality, without concessions, the foundations for the new building were proposed. By doing so, the IBAVI, the public promoter in Mallorca, awarded them as winners of the competition.

It is important to notice that the housing units are “dotacionales” or Endowment Accommodation. These plots, initially earmarked for municipal use as amenities, compelled by urban planning regulations, have been transformed into temporary residential units. Thus, by using the limited options urban planning rules, the authorities managed to build on public land. Apart from developing services for the community, they offer a diverse typology of public accommodation (usually less specious than a housing unit) that enriches the diversity of the project and densify cities. Moreover, they are offered as social housing and are always in the same place as other public services. In this case, a care center.

As a starting point, it was proposed that a day center and premises be located on the ground floor, with all the dwellings occupying the upper floors. Another key factor influencing the spatial organization strategy is the proximity to the sea, allowing for the enjoyment of sea views from a certain height. All the dwellings are designed to have sea views, which also aligns with the best orientation concerning sunlight. These two premises underscore a clear separation of uses, which will be reflected formally. The ground floor (day social center-social premises) is conceived as a dense, self-enclosed, heavy, immobile volume that integrates with the terrain, while the upper floors (housing) are envisioned as light, mobile, open volumes that slide over the base structure.

The new center is closed off on the outside, creating an interior landscape defined by the image of the courtyard. Rather than a single space around which the entire program revolves, it features a sequence of three courtyards of varying sizes according to their uses. These courtyards provide optimal conditions for sunlight, noise reduction, and wind management, especially considering the “embat,” a Mediterranean sea breeze traditionally used in Mallorca for natural cross-ventilation cooling.

The day center and social premises form a single solid, horizontally proportioned body that acts as a platform on which the housing units are arranged. These units are positioned logically, taking into account orientation, sunlight, and views. They open out to the south, forming a large, open-plan building in a U-shape to ensure all dwellings enjoy sea views. There are two roof levels: one for the day center and one for the dwellings. The roof of the day center becomes a new façade for the dwelling users, so a flat, landscaped roof requiring minimal maintenance is proposed.

The material used for the ground floor is marés (Mallorca sandstone), while the upper floors utilize materials such as lime mortar plaster, wood, and glass.

This building is crucial for the working-class neighborhood of Es Molinar, taking advantage of its prime location to enhance the urban fabric. It also reflects the public sector's commitment to improving community living standards and revitalizing the area.

Links

Authors:

CSCAE Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España