San Damián Housing Estate / Chauriye Stäger Arquitectos

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Text description provided by the architects. This project is set in the easternmost part of Santiago, in a rapidly developing pre-Andean district where growth has tended to rely on terraced housing schemes. In contrast with the community-based approach, this type of housing attempts to replicate the model of the semi-detached house but reproduces the same prototype however many times it takes to fill the site, so much so that communal areas are reduced to bare parking lots.

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In response to this, the San Damian housing project offers the prospect of community ties through two main operations: on one hand, by moving parking underground, which helps improve public space above ground, and on the other hand, by creating a central space surrounded by six distinctive houses, which confers a sense of identity and variety to the estate.

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The design strategy relies on two basic house models, the second floors of which are rotated alternately so as to obtain six unique houses, out of just two models. The second strategy consists in making a clear distinction between the ground floor, jigsaw-like and irregular, and the second floor, rectangular and linear. This vertical differentiation provides covered spaces on the ground floor, which can in turn be used as access ways and balconies.  

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