''Density is freedom''

Project idea

In one of his books, the architect Rem Koolhaas writes about how density in big urban areas can mean freedom and more accessibility to inhabit and live the city in a more democratic way than what its possible nowadays. This project is an reflection on how this idea/concept might take shape as an intervention in the city.
Nowadays, more than half of the population lives in urban areas, and only intends to grow. The urban densification is an strategy to avoid the spreading, promote the concentration, and maximize the urban infrastructure, culture, health access and services, assuring the democratization of the urban space.
''The actions qualify the space in the same way that the space qualifies the actions.’’ TSCHUMI, Bernard; 2000; p.13

Project description

The relevance of the site reaffirms itself because of its recent spontaneous occupation. Currently, the building is empty, but it has been occupied by the urgent need for accessible and social housing in the city.
Furthermore, there is a rehabilitation plan for the central area of Belo Horizonte that incites the strategic reoccupation of the underutilized properties, at which the building fits the category to house social dwellings.
The new master plan for Belo Horizonte also foments the need for: diversification of the typologies in the area, with the production of social housing in central areas to avoid the mass production of social housing in the suburbs and isolated to the city, while also stimulating the production of diversified programs.
Therefore, the project is a building with a diverse program that consists of public spaces, such as library and coworking, as well as dwellings for social housing.

Technical information

The intervation and the existing building are structurally independent and the project relies heavily on the new master plan's urban parameters, since its a rehabilitation of a existing builing with a diverse program that includes social housing.