The Casa Caja House by S-AR Empowers Local Labourers
Jana Pijak — June 8, 2014 — Art & Design
References: alejandrocartagena & frameweb
The Casa Caja residence by S-AR is an architecture project that is meant to empower local labourers. The home is located in General Zuazua, a suburb of Monterrey, one of Mexico’s wealthiest cities.
Casa Caja stands at a 7 by 15 metre plot and is built using concrete block materials. Its first floor features a living space and a spacious kitchen with a patio view while its second storey houses two private, en-suite rooms.
Despite of its wealthy neighbourhood, this home belongs to a low-income family. Upon first glance, Casa Caja resembles a modernist weekend retreat but is soon revealed to be a modest family home that is built by the region’s construction workers.
‘Construction workers constitute a very vulnerable sector in Mexican society because of the instability of their trade and their rare opportunities to save money or apply for a loan through the government’s housing programme’.
Comunidad Vivex, a non-profit organisation founded by S-AR rejects this notion and gives Mexico’s trade workers the opportunity to design and build their own home at minimum cost.
Casa Caja stands at a 7 by 15 metre plot and is built using concrete block materials. Its first floor features a living space and a spacious kitchen with a patio view while its second storey houses two private, en-suite rooms.
Despite of its wealthy neighbourhood, this home belongs to a low-income family. Upon first glance, Casa Caja resembles a modernist weekend retreat but is soon revealed to be a modest family home that is built by the region’s construction workers.
‘Construction workers constitute a very vulnerable sector in Mexican society because of the instability of their trade and their rare opportunities to save money or apply for a loan through the government’s housing programme’.
Comunidad Vivex, a non-profit organisation founded by S-AR rejects this notion and gives Mexico’s trade workers the opportunity to design and build their own home at minimum cost.
Trend Themes
1. Empowering Local Labourers - The Casa Caja House offers a trend of empowering local labourers by providing them with opportunities to design and build their own homes.
2. Socially-conscious Architecture - The Casa Caja House represents a trend in socially-conscious architecture, focusing on creating affordable housing solutions for low-income families.
3. Community-driven Non-profit Organizations - Comunidad Vivex exemplifies the trend of community-driven non-profit organizations that aim to address housing needs for vulnerable sectors of society.
Industry Implications
1. Architecture - The architecture industry can leverage the trend of socially-conscious design to create affordable housing solutions that empower local labourers.
2. Construction - The construction industry has the opportunity to support socially-conscious architecture projects and contribute to empowering local labourers in creating their own homes.
3. Non-profit - Non-profit organizations, such as Comunidad Vivex, have the potential to disrupt the housing industry by providing affordable housing solutions and empowering vulnerable sectors of society.
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