Santiago, Cooperative City

Abstract

ReHousing and the thesis project “Santiago, Cooperative City,” offer insightful contributions to the discourse surrounding collective housing from an academic standpoint, delving into alternatives to conventional real estate development and exploring novel forms of densification and communal living. Through meticulous research into single-family housing in Toronto, encompassing aspects such as zoning regulations, historical typologies, strategies for conversion and costs, ReHousing strives to serve as a platform for citizen empowerment. Its primary objective is to foster the emergence of a new type of housing developers, referred to as “citizen developers.” On the other hand, “Santiago, Cooperative City,” is a thesis and professional degree project presented in the MARQ UC program. Inspired by a contemporary reinterpretation of Alison and Peter Smithson’s ideas on housing and social interaction, this project reimagines the residential densification of downtown Santiago, taking as its starting point the site of the historic international architecture competition for the remodeling of downtown Santiago (1972).

Keywords

• urban models
• speculation
• multi-scale
• domesticity
• collectivity + housing
• densification
• urban design