P stands for Progressive.
In a series of conceptually related designs, we propose new solutions for residential developments in Central America.
This design study proposes single family homes in the tropics that can be adapted over time in order to adjust to changing family patterns.
Progressive houses are a standard in urban and rural developments throughout Latin America. This work explores the potential of the progressive logic; it shows how architecture can achieve a certain state of flexibility in order to negotiate between the technical and the different social parameters in housing design and construction.
As Gaston Bachelard had said that the flower is already preconceived in the seed; we imagine a built program around an initial predefined core that can grow until a program driven critical mass defines the saturation of all possible built extensions.
A low cost prototype was successfully implemented and rebuilt 60 times for the individual families of the Sintiopia project in Nicaragua; those original configurations have been adapted since the beginning of the inhabitation process.
Various possibilities for the progressive scheme to be used in mid- and low-rise developments were proposed for the Westelijke Tuinsteden in Amsterdam (WTA).
Credit
Oliver Schütte with Marije van Lidth de Jeude and Jean Paul Garnier.
San Jose, Costa Rica, 2002 – 2008.