This project aims to transform routine individual activities—like doing laundry, praying, or walking dogs—into communal experiences by integrating them into a new urban network. Starting from an underutilized lot, the design creates a blend of public and private spaces that fosters neighborhood collaboration and redefines usage of both personal and communal areas. By introducing specialized sub-programs and creating transitional zones between public and private, the project seeks to revitalize and expand the communal fabric of Santa Maria la Ribera, enhancing connectivity and functionality while preserving the essence of private spaces.
Santa Maria La Ribera is a unique neighborhood in CDMX that residents developed ways of sharing space, rituals and creating commons.
Key to designing commons is understanding public rituals. Project introduces a new concept to SMLR, a secondary urban network that has specialized sub-programs, and architecture that supports it.
Group drawing of neighborhood. Each student made interventions on the neighborhood in a precise way that communicates with the rest of the projects and the larger context. Drawn in collaboration with Taiming Chen, Helen Farley, Gretchen Gao, Michael Glassman, Mari Kroin, Hojae Lee, Jackson Lindsay, Christine Pan, Deirdre Plaus and Gus Steyer.
Group model of neighborhood. Each student made interventions on the neighborhood in a precise way that communicates with the rest of the projects and the larger context. Designed and built in collaboration with Taiming Chen, Helen Farley, Gretchen Gao, Michael Glassman, Mari Kroin, Hojae Lee, Jackson Lindsay, Christine Pan, Deirdre Plaus and Gus Steyer.
Individual model in context.
The design creates spaces to do laundry as a commune. The architecture of this space forms extensions that allow this activity to happen outdoors while offering spaces where people can hang washed clothes, sit, wait, and interact.
Proposal re-shapes the site it’s on, which was a graveyard for scrap cars. All the housing units in this site regardless of its typology had a remarkable space allocated for either doing errands, storing things, or keeping pets. Since this need is transferred onto the public medium now, this space can re-adapt several uses.
Activity oriented design creates a network of courtyards that spreads to the rest of the neighborhood.
The introduction of this semi-private shared space transforms the previously blank rear facades of the houses in the privada loto into a more open, pervious, and active plane without completely opening them to the public. So now these buildings have their new kind of social space.