During the last decade, the rapid population growth in Mexico City has forced an accelerated production of residential spaces. This task has being left in hands of private investment, creating a boom in the developing business, that competes more and more to develop residential products, better adapted to the general needs at higher costs.
The social responsibility of the fine designed architecture, as a key factor for transforming cities and communities, has been left in second hand; in addition to poor regulations and controlling systems, middle class people has been left with few options of housing products.
Santiago 603 was conceived as an attempt to offer a high end design housing product, at a reasonable price, to a gap of people that otherwise wouldn´t have the opportunity to own a house, designed by a well established architectural firm.
Through innovative details and creative solutions, we ended up with a set o 3 similar houses, which included all the internal and external spaces to cover the needs of almost any kind of client. Considering that the total surface shouldn´t exceed 2900 sq ft, so that the final price could adjust to almost any middle class budget.
Each house was designed as a pile of 3 rectangular blocks rotated 90° from the other. The selection of materials was a key factor to generate a geometric juxtaposition: clear vs. dark, solid vs. translucent and transverse vs. longitudinal. In addition, each block was complemented with a level of materiality that represented the kind of area it included: services in the first, public spaces in the second and private spaces on the third. The elements that connected all the parts together were made out of steel, creating floating thin lines that lightened the massive block composition.
Complementing the architecture with an interdisciplinary teamwork that figured out the interiors, each element and space was carefully designed. Generating a product full of fine architectural details, marked the difference between Santiago 603 and other similar projects.