This project takes places in a low-density neighborhood, San Diego, Puente de Vallecas. Based on the Tokyo way of life, this project seeks to create a new type of social housing with 50 square meters and 50 meters high.

Social housing is a big part of the construction nowadays. However, it has led to the same type of buildings, were the individuality has been lost. Having affordable housing with the basic needs has superseded the need to make homes where you can relate to and feel part of a community.

The necessity of building social housing leads to a new type of system that could solve all the aspects of the construction and the necessities of the population of San Diego. Having a space different for each one but based on the same logic helps to create a new idea of unity and community, but without forgetting the idea of individuality.

My project starts with a three-dimensional mesh where irregularity outweighs order. This structure creates different living spaces that could hold a wide variety of ways of living depending on the needs of the population. By compacting the mesh and pushing it to the limit, a new mesh was created with axels separated half a meter to each other.

A new way of living was established; how to create a new space with a mesh that is as compact as possible? All the aspects of the building are solved with the same system, without forgetting the city scale and the human scale.

The structure is solved with wooden plans that interlock with each other in three directions in such a way that no rotation occurs at each of the nodes. Thanks to the small size of the elements we obtain a human scale in the building. This orthogonal structure is attached to a reinforced concrete structure with a bigger scale relating it to the city scale.

Life inside the building is based on the voids left by the mesh. Two different spaces are created; a completely open space where the life can happen and a solid space where all the services and storage can be located.

The envelope of the building always talks about what is happening inside of the living spaces. A wooden enclosure hides the private spaces; the ventilation openings are located next to the humid areas and the lighting creates different spaces inside depending on the time of day. These three elements, as a whole, seek a city scale; but each individual module is related to a human scale.