Elemental

Villa Verde Housing

Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL

VILLA VERDE HOUSING

Elemental

ARCHITECTS
Elemental

PHOTOGRAPHS
Suyin Chia, Cristian Martinez

COLLABOATORS
Philip Zurman

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Ramón Prado

MANUFACTURERS
Arauco

CONSTRUCTION
Icafal

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Patricio Bertholet

CIVIL AND PLUMBING ENGINEERING
Fernando Montoya

LOCATION
Constitución, Chile

CATEGORY
Social Housing

AREA
5688.0 m²

YEAR
2010

Text description provided by architect.

Arauco is a forestry company that called us in 2009 to develop a plan to support their workers in the process to have access to their definitive house.

Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL

We were asked to develop a set of typologies within the current housing policy for Fondo Solidario de Vivienda I (FSV I, units up to 600 UF or US$25,000 without debt) and for FSV II (units up to 1,000 UF or US$40,000 with a bank loan).

These designs would be a contribution of the company to their workers, a kind of subvention, so that housing committees could use them when applying for the regular system of public funds.

Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL

The importance of this project is that on the one hand, for the first time, it allowed us to think about a design for the upper niche of the housing policy.

If we developed an innovative and competitive typology, we would broaden our possible contribution to social housing.

We could have taken one of our own more economic typologies and used the extra money to finish them, filling the void that families were expected to complete.

Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL

But we thought of once again applying the principle of incremental construction and prioritization of the more complex components, this time with higher standards both for the initial and the final scenario.

These innovations were possible because of the direct funding of Arauco, but also because the volume of the potential demand was big enough to absorb the costs of such research. The plan estimated a total of 9,000 units in thirty different towns.

Finally, one of the most relevant points was that most of the projects were intended for towns and villages of between 10,000 and 20,000 people.

Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL

In places of such scale, housing projects, for good or for bad, do have a major impact. And it is in exactly these types of towns where the worst urban standard is found, so any contribution in this niche is more than welcome.


Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL


Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL


Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL
Villa Verde Housing
© ELEMENTAL


Villa Verde Housing
Ground Floor Plan
Villa Verde Housing
Ground Floor Plan
Villa Verde Housing
First Floor Plan
Villa Verde Housing
Second Floor Plan
Villa Verde Housing
Second Floor Plan
Villa Verde Housing
Second Floor Plan


Villa Verde Housing
Detail

Villa Verde Housing
Detail

Villa Verde Housing
Details


Villa Verde Housing
Elevations
Villa Verde Housing
Diagram
Villa Verde Housing
Site Plan

Elemental
T +56 2 29637500
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Los Conquistadores 1700, Piso 29-A, Providencia, Región Metropolitana, Chile