Bogotá has had a renowned tradition in building high-quality social housing projects. The site, given its privileged location, presented a unique opportunity to once again claim the throne in contemporary social housing developments. Rather than work with a single apartment, we chose to scale up the unit to a group of 16 apartments. Given the tight budget restrictions, the project’s façades/enclosures also serve as structural elements which help cover the 20 meter spans in between the vertical supports. With only 18 centimeters in thickness, the structural boxes work as 4-story high beams which enable multiple interior configurations for the apartment units.

The project strives to create a building with a strong communal identity represented by the voids for collective life at different heights. These massive voids reinterpret the traditional patios commonly found around the city and become an opportunity for diverse programmatic manifestations such as sports, children’s playgrounds, leisure areas, urban agriculture, gardens, and many more. At a time when icons are frowned upon, the project is the result of a succession of pragmatic decisions: a symbol for contemporary life in Bogotá.