FORMS OF COLLECTIVE HOUSING

Going from the most general point to the most concrete to transform Plus Ultra in a Form of collective housing,
What can we think about?
1- The neighbourhood
2- The public space (streets and squares)
3- Activities developed in the neighborhood 
4- Forms of collective housing
To think about a form of collective housing, we first have to think about the possibilities of the public spaces that will affect the houses and their uses.
The goal would be to have a range of possibilities in each point to create a range of projects that could work and make people from the city come to the neighborhood. 
Here are three different examples that could work.


Yendo del punto mas general al mas concreto para transformar el barrio de Plus Ultra en una forma de vivienda colectiva, ¿En que podemos pensar?
1- El vecindario
2- El espacio público (calles y plazas)
3- Actividades desarrolladas en el vecindario
4- Formas de viviendas colectivas
Para poder pensar en una forma de vivienda colectiva, primero debemos pensar en las posibilidades del espacio público que afectarían las casas y sus usos.
El objetivo sería tener una gran variedad de posibilidades de proyectos en cada punto estratégico para atraer las personas de la ciudad.
Aqui hay tres ejemplos que podrían funcionar.

Forms of collective housing: typology 3

Barrio Plus Ultra

  Para este edificio, en uno de los extremos del barrio, está enfrente de una de las tres plazas que se han señalado como poco frecuentadas. Una solución puede ser la construcción de una residencia.
La introducción de gente joven en el Plus Ultra daría mucha vida. Junto con las actividades que se hiciesen en el interior del barrio, la atracción para las demás personas de la ciudad sería mayor.

Este tipo de residencia debería ser de una altura similar a la de los edificios que tiene al lado, más o menos de Planta Baja + 7. 

Residencia en forma de torre, Mexico

For this building, located in one of the endings of the neighborhood, has one of the three squares that are not frequented. One solution could be the construction of a students' residence.

The introduction of young people in Plus Ultra would give life. Having young people plus new activities done in the neighborhood would attract more people. This kind of residence should have a similar height with the buildings next to it, such as Ground Floor +7.

Forms of collective housing: typology 2

Plus Ultra

   Para las viviendas situadas en este volumen, serían unas casas similares a las que ya hay, pero pensadas más a nivel de relaciones con los vecinos. Con este tipo de casas, los niños podrían jugar en la calle, mientras que los padres i los componentes de las familias podrían relacionarse entre ellos con las pasarelas que habría, conectando las casas entre sí en una planta superior. Un ejemplo son las viviendas Interbau.

Viviendas Interbau, Paul Baumgarten

Se puede ver como hay unas escaleras exteriores que conectan con un pasillo exterior a todas las casas.  La entrada de estas viviendas, se haría por el interior del barrio, dando le  más vida y relacionando a los vecinos entre ellos.

Como en el vecindario habíamos notado que no había muchas zonas verdes, poniendo en planta baja alguna zona de juego para los niños ayudaría a que más personas, no solo del Plus Ultra, viniesen a pasar el rato.

A nivel de plantas de los edificios, se podría decir que tendrían una altura similar a las casas: Planta Baja + 2 o incluso Planta Baja +3 creando de esta manera una transición entre los edificios de al lado, de unas alturas considerables, y las casas.

Alzado de los nuevos edificios de Plus Ultra

   For the dwellings in this volume, the idea is to place some houses similar to the typical house of the Plus Ultra neighborhood. Those new houses are thought to create good feeling between neighbors, to let the children play in the street. There would be a footbridge which connects the houses between them in an upper floor, like the Interbau Dwellings.

We can see how some exterior stairs connect with the footbridge. The entrance of those dwellings would be in the interior of the Plus Ultra, giving life and good feeling to the neighborhood. As there was not many green zones, on the ground floor would be a play ground with grass, not just for the neighbors, but also for the other citizens.

About the number of floors, we could say that these new houses would have a similar height to the old houses: Ground Floor + 2, or even Ground Floor + 3

Communal spaces

The project of the Moriyama House in Tokyo designed by Ryue Nishizawa is a new way of private and community living. The house is designed according to the principle of “house-as-city”, which leads to the formation of urbanity on the inside of the building, a very important aim of the architect.

Participation + Neighborhood + Communal space

Today architects built the way they believe is the right one but sometimes we seem to forget the importance of user participation. The dwellers are going to live there. By asking the future dwellers’ opinion about how they want to live and see a neighborhood, you can actually create one. The use of communal spaces can create social activity. Participation + Communal spaces + Row housing has in my opinion a good chance of becoming a neighborhood.

Communal Spaces in Special Dwellings

When talking about housing, there are situations that can be considered extraordinary or differente to the usual, family housing-for-life, living space; such as temporary housing as a result of natural disasters, studies or work; or housing for the elder. In these dwellings, the communal space acquires a new, meaningful sense; as a result of dwellers' need of bonding and community sense.

COMMUNAL SPACES Interior-Exterior

“In considering the effect of buildings in relation to a site, I shall show that here too the exterior is always an interior” (Le Corbusier: Towards a new architecture, 1923). These words of the Swiss architect may be the beginning of a rather subjective issue: interior-exterior spaces. In ancient architecture, it was clear which was the exterior space, and which the interior one, because there was a strong division between both and each one had different characteristics. But Greek and Roman architecture started building porches, which already represented a transitional space between interior and exterioe. Today, architecture has advanced, the same way that technology and lifestyle of the people, and we can find areas with ambiguous characteristics at many housing projects. Some projects have the intended of confusing and make believe you're in an open space when you really are not, as the Kaufmann House of R. Neutra, where the transparency of the walls completely ignored the feeling of being surrounded by a cladding and gives the feeling of being at a exterior space. However, there are others that design spaces that respond to a specific use or need for the project, but can hardly be defined as interior or exterior (eg, Cloister House of Tezuka Architects) because it may be a space that has some interior-space characteristics, but combined with other exterior-space characteristics. As a third option we have projects where a flexible element can convert a interior space into an exterior one, and vice versa (for example, the Collector House of Adam Kalkin, where with the opening of three sides of a interior space can get a exterior space).
We can see that there is no definite pattern to classify interior and exterior spaces, and although there were, probably everyone would have their own point of view. So, is there any definition that would serve everyone to explain what an "interior space" is? And what about an "exterior space"? And should the transitional spaces discussed above be introduced into the groups "interior" and "exterior"? Or should they create a third (or more) group that explains these spaces?

COMMUNAL SPACES IN HOUSING BUILDINGS

In architecture, communal spaces have a special importance because its social function. But, in housing buildings, these spaces are not very common and sometimes forgotten.

Despite this common tendency, there are some cases that illustrate this communal space as a projecting element. As a first example, Rem Koolhaas proposes, with his Social condenser, a space or volume that causes the overlap and the intersection of different programs which enhances the social interaction. Another relevant example is the movement extended in the United States called CoHousing, based on a community which shares the courtyard and some services that are managed by its members.

As these two examples show, the people’s interaction is a good thing to have in mind at the time of projecting a housing building because it contributes to the improvement of the community as well as the relationship between its members.