SOCIAL HOUSING CLUSTERS BY THE RIVER – 3rd Year Social Housing Design Studio
Author: Tatiane Barbosa / Instructors: Ana Luisa Rolim and Robson Canuto
Catholic University of Pernambuco (UNICAP), Brazil

This social housing project is located in Coelhos, Recife, NE Brazil, where nearly 40% of the population lives in precarious conditions, mainly in Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS), occupying 11.8% of urban land. The settlement, situated along the Capibaribe River, consists of dwellings built with various materials, lacking basic infrastructure.

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Recent government-financed projects follow conservative principles, often leading to alterations by dwellers, suggesting a similar fate for such models in ZEIS Coelhos.

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Our hypothesis is that new methodologies and design strategies can offer better alternatives by maintaining morphological identity and viewing the housing cell as a generator of urban fabric. Design strategies employed 'Conditional Design' methods, manipulating forms with verbs to create different spatial conditions. Housing units were generated through compositional operations, accommodating future expansions and shared spaces.

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These strategies are applied in this project by clustering typical housing cells to form tight domesticity agglomerates with courtyards, aligning with the community's way of living in Coelhos.