2004 | Vitoria-Gasteiz | The project includes 354 social dwellings for cooperatives and the development of a square that was to become the center of a newly created district. The new development seeks to activate a certain density of urban life.
We propose the definition of an accessible landscape, formed by paths, grasslands, bamboo forests and pounds. Among them there will be an amount of multiple but familiar possible paths and itineraries. In the main space all the paths converge, along with those from the adjacent blocks. From there all the natural elements of forest and pounds are visible. One of the facades of this central space will consist of shopping terraces, facing south and protected by awnings.
Figurative concrete slabs –produced from a recoverable formwork– form a pavement mesh that allows anyone to walk everywhere along the site. On the terraces of the square, the area between the slabs is covered with pressure treated wood. The rest is grassland with species of low maintenance, bamboo, trees or water.
The housings explore the modern will to unify the organization hygienist, socially and technology of the city with the improvisation of the life outdoors and in the nature.
The new buildings accept some of the "of attached" customs and incorporate them into the construction of public space. They defend as possible the most successful and popular spaces, which most vital qualities are used to benefit the city.
A prefabricated module resolves the entire façade and lighting and ventilation of all parts of the dwellings. The module offers multiple possibilities for exterior finish, which could unify or differentiate by buildings, plants, or even per dwelling or per window.
The project takes advantage of new patterns of industrial production, so much its possibilities of control as of customization of the serially produced object. In this sense, the city can be understood as a canvas, which could be completed by users.