magen arquitectos: social housing at the urban edge, zaragoza

social housing at the urban edge, zaragoza, spain
photo courtesy of roland halbe

magén arquitectos has designed a social housing unit at the urban edge in zaragoza, spain.
the project develops a residential programme for social housing units of different types,
in a longitudinal building which is staggered into three sections in order to adapt to the
steep slope in which it is situated.

on the exterior, the building has a closed, opaque configuration, to discretely integrate itself
into its immediate surroundings amongst a group of social homes from the sixties.
its outer facades which follow regulatory alignments are configured, according to the window
openings and their repetitive manner. these enclosures are constructed with white brick with
a base on the ground floor of prefabricated concrete panels. this helps deal with the encounter
of the building with the steep slope of the pavement, extending through the access porches
and into the interior.

where the building is reduced in height in order to accommodate itself to the sloping land,
as well as at the back of the building, there are access porches and hallways which connect
the public highway to the interior garden space, where entrances to the residential units are located.
here, the public and private spaces cross paths, creating an internal meeting space. the varying levels,
both in the access points and interior patio, given the slope of the land, are solved by inclining planes
with a gentle slope and access ramps to the front doors.

the building is characterized by a series of broken up sections of wall, defined by a polygon.
an undressed structure of slabs and concrete screens create an intermediate space that connects
the homes to the exterior. the different guidelines along the facade and the variable positions
of the sliding aluminium slat panels, provide movement and alternating views throughout the day.


detail of the facade
photo courtesy of roland halbe


photo courtesy of roland halbe


a look at the access porches of the residential units
photo courtesy of roland halbe


built on a slope, ramps are used to help deal with this encounter between the building and the land
photo courtesy of roland halbe


photo courtesy of roland halbe


the facade is made up of sliding aluminum slates which can be configured into variable positions
photo courtesy of roland halbe


photo courtesy of roland halbe


aerial view of location


northern elevation of the building
image courtesy of magén arquitectos

detail of the northern elevation and the sloping land
image courtesy of magén arquitectos


south elevation - inner semi-public space
image courtesy of magén arquitectos

detail of south elevation
image courtesy of magén arquitectos

one section of the housing unit
image courtesy of magén arquitectos


typical floor plan
image courtesy of magén arquitectos


detail of floor plan
image courtesy of magén arquitectos


ground floor plan
image courtesy of magén arquitectos


division of housing units
image courtesy of magén arquitectos