HOUSES FOR CHANGE

The biggest challenge associated with the proposed design strategy is the relative distance associated between designer and site. Knowing this, research into the actual conditions that are within this hillside slum of Santo Domingo Savio I located in Medellin, Colombia, could only be taken so far before intuitive assumptions could be made to further the progress of the proposal. Using this underlying assumption, analysis of the people, culture, economies, climate, geophysical conditions, housing density, flora and fauna, could then be completed.
This pocket slum is primarily conditioned by the steep hillside that it resides on. The surrounding community has enclosed the site, creating informal edge conditions located on the top and bottom of the slope side. As rural farmers seek new opportunities they migrate to the city that is unprepared for them, they find themselves creating home in places that are closest the existing economies. With a focus on survival, their housing conditions become secondary to the need to finance their food and water sources.
By structuring the neighborhood development around a proposed new agriculture-based economy, a variety of different necessities for comfortable living can be provided. Building materials and food can be grown for residents with excess quantities being used to stimulate the local economy. Strategic placement of community infrastructure allows for sewage and water supplies to be handled by the forces of gravity. The overall plan is meant to create a closed-loop system that can provide all major provisions for living within the community itself. The success lies in the education of the people and bringing an awareness to their innate farming capabilities that have been lost in the transition from the country to the city.