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Housing Density Increase On Terraces of Peripheral Hill-Side Suburbs

Part 2 Project 2003
Carlos Andres Saldarriaga
 Pontifical Bolivarian University | Colombia
The project explores the possibilities of increasing density and improving the quality of public space in peripheral dwelling, by using open terraces areas available in existing housing.

During the years sixties in Latin America, limitless population's growth in urban areas, generated enormous available space demand for dwelling and for public space. These aspects, not easy to solve for current municipal administrations through conventional roads, suggest the need for fitted solutions in order to increase density and provide public space for the low income communities.
Aures 2, is one of the many peripheral hill-side communities located in Medellín’s north Metropolitan area, with great dwelling density problems and no public spaces or available areas to develop housing solutions. The project uses the existing terraces to improve and consolidate new spaces for dwelling provides an experience worth to be used as a strategy in similar conditions. Dialogue and interaction between the community members and the architects lead the project to reinterpret the housing necessities and provide 17 new solutions in second and third level and leave public community space on first floor level.



The importance of this submission appears when the design project recognizes the natural and built landscape and also the ways of living of the inhabitants of the neighborhood to produce an integral project that involves the participation of different actors (university, community, public & private sectors).
The lack of applied examples related to the subject of density increasing on the terraces of the existing houses in self-built and consolidated suburbs, gives a light in the method to approach this type of projects which are of great importance in developing cities like Medellin.

2003
The selection of the Aures II suburb is the product of an agreement between the university Bolivariana and the public entities, interested in finding a representative suburb in the hill-sides of Medellin
These suburbs are characterized for its invading or illegal origin that generated a natural self constructive process.
Today the possibility to talk with the leaders of the community gives us the possibility to have a fiscal contact with the suburb and the people, tools that are fundamental in the elaboration of a pilot project.
The interest to go farther with the project created the need of aside groups to support in the urban, structural and multi sector negotiation areas.
The plans of the existing houses were reconstructed and the social cards with the information of the inhabitants filled by a team of students together with participants of a program of the Municipality called “Open air”.
Public space improving by taking advantage of the green areas
5 different new prototypes according to the needs of the people who live in Aures II
The terraces: A new social topography
From the existing soil test, the reinforcement of the structures of existing houses and the proposed metallic and modular structure, 3 models were tried until it gave positive structural results according to the Colombian seismic code.
A solid, heavy and rigid base versus a light, flexible and modulated new structure
Preservation of existing houses and courtyards.
Re - densification of housing and addition of new shared terraces and improvement of the existing street profiles.
All the design of details in the prototypes corresponds to the use of recycled available material to reduce the cost in the building stage. (For example the inner walls and windows are made of recycled wood).
Constituent Prototype
Constituent Prototype
Satellite” Prototype Main entrance through the inner courtyards of the block. Orientation to the external facades. Main house: 60-80 sqm Satellite house: 25-40 sqm
Productive Prototype
Productive Prototype: Located on the streets parallel to the topography. Entrance through the courtyards of the block. Separated levels of private and productive areas.
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