As many of the western developed cities, the city of Monterrey has followed an expansion model that has promoted the separation between private and public space in a radical hostile way. This form of development has not fostered the creation of communities and has given free space for consumerism to take over our way of living. The pursue of a different understanding of the collective living, drove us to explore an approach of creating spaces that aim for a more open and non binary way of interacting. Thinking of the living unit as the starting point where different social configurations could exist, we designed a building that is not divided by its floors and corridors, but instead it is thought as a series of spaces that foster the possibility of different types of relationships between neighbors. Units are clustered around different-size open spaces and common informal areas, such as small terraces, paths with planters, or gathering spaces, as well as larger and more programmed areas such as rooms that allow for playing, working or care giving, and terraces for open air activities. Larger collective spaces are placed at key positions within the building’s vertical development. All of the common spaces are arranged in a way that connect units that in other ways would be alienated from each other. This 150 unit complex opens to the city via a clustered patio in the center that connects the interior of the building with the urban environment. By giving the possibility of scaled spaces that go from the most private to the most public, the goal of this building is to erase the dichotomy between public and private space, and bring the sense of community back to our way living.
