Ocuilan house

Thought is “communal”, dependent on nature and the beings that inhabit it (Jaime Martínez Lunz).

Sometimes extraordinary circumstances or moments of crisis show the deficiencies that existed prior to the catastrophe; this is the case of Ocuilan, where after the earthquake of September 19, 2017, overcrowding conditions became visible. The invitation to participate in this project allowed us to become aware of the conditions that these families face on a daily basis.

The premise of the design was not to alter the way of life of the family that was assigned to us —that of Felipe and Gregoria—, but to understand their dynamics to improve their conditions. We analyzed their habitat and noticed that it was a disintegrated group, made up of small rooms of different members of the family built on shared land.

With the analysis on the table, we decided not to handle it as a single project but to bet on a strategy that would respond to the real needs of the family and their way of living.

Collaboratively, we developed with them a module that solved urgent needs with the resources obtained, in addition to establishing shared spaces—kitchen, patio and bathroom—to work together. The strategy was based on promoting communal learning that would lay the foundations of housing and offer users possibilities for growth in accordance with obtaining more resources or the growth of the family. In this way, the module becomes a replicable element that expands the boundaries of the built space.