ANGELICA DE BERNARDO

MODULAR HOUSING | social housing | industrialized prototype

location:
Conceptual / San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela
programme:
Social housing | Industrialized prototype
Academic project | Simón Bolívar University
Design Workshop IX | Individual project
January – March 2021 · 13th trimester (Year V)
supervisors:
Arch. Silvia Soonets | Arch. Luis E. Pacheco | Arch. Eng. Alejandro Restrepo
Aerial panoramic illustration of the modular housing prototype, by Angelica De Bernardo: mid-rise modular towers gathered around a public plaza on a hillside, annotated with the system's context-based responses — typological variations, phased unit expansions, programmatic variety, facade adaptations and self-made transformations — while terraced unit blocks descend into the foreground.

Stemming from the structural principles established by Alejandro Restrepo in his proposed modular housing system, the project centers on the development and testing of a viable, industrialized housing solution.

By delving into the prototyping of a prefabricated and easily assembled structural system, the project explores design flexibility and replicability within the constraints of modularity, aiming towards the development of context-responsive, site-particular building adaptations.

INDUSTRIALIZE | INDIVIDUALIZE | TRANSFORM

The process moves from module explorations to system definition and site-based adaptations, pursuing three aims: industrialize — develop a flexible module and a system prototype; individualize — allow for unit expansions, variety and personalization; and transform — make the system adaptable to different conditions: context-responsive housing solutions.

Axonometric wireframe of the base module: a simple rectangular structural frame.
THE MODULE module explorations
Diagram of the fill-void system: a three-by-three stack of module frames with the infilled bays highlighted in yellow.
FILL-VOID SYSTEM system definition
Diagrams of site-based adaptations: modular buildings inserted into an urban skyline and stepped along a sloped terrain.
MODULAR BUILDING site-based adaptations

Two contrasting sites within San Antonio de los Altos serve as testing grounds for the prototype: a mixed-use complex in Urb. Las Minas, next to a consolidated residential neighborhood, and community townships in Las Polonias, alongside a self-made settlement.

Satellite map of the intervention area in San Antonio de los Altos, with two sites marked by concentric circles: 01, a mixed-use complex in Urb. Las Minas near a residential neighborhood; and 02, community townships in Las Polonias by a self-made settlement.
INTERVENTION AREA — SAN ANTONIO DE LOS ALTOS 01 mixed-use complex [urb. las minas] · 02 community townships [las polonias]

THE SYSTEM

The system definition starts from a module with minimal dimensions — a 3:1 concrete frame of 7.80 × 2.60 × 3.20 meters — that can be used by itself or combined into other housing types; allowing building variations, mixed housing types and diverse assembly combinations.

Offset and linear conditions were defined based on the 3:1 frame, creating diversity within the composition as well as varied unit configurations; and both basic parallel and perpendicular unions are defined within the proposed system, allowing directional changes within the system prototype.

Axonometric diagrams of the modular compositions: offset, linear and vertical combinations of the 3:1 concrete frame.
MODULAR COMPOSITIONS offset, linear and vertical combinations of the 3:1 frame
Plan diagrams of four building arrangements assembled from prototype clusters: corner, repetitive, extended corner and central.
BUILDING ARRANGEMENTS corner, repetitive, extended corner and central clusters

The modular compositions give maximum prototype flexibility, defining the units as components of a replicable and expandable prototype cluster; clusters that can be interconnected, replicated, or separated into their components in order to respond to building needs.

Plan of the prototype cluster — interlocking units drawn over a structural grid, with expansion bays shaded in green — above an axonometric view of its separable cluster components.
THE PROTOTYPE plan composition and cluster components

SYSTEM FLEXIBILITY

The housing units consider diverse living needs, progressive incrementality and typological variability; starting from base units that take advantage of the fill-void constructive system to expand either horizontally or vertically according to the prototype cluster.

Three typologies — minimal, single and duplex units — develop over three phases: base units of 18, 36 and 60+18 m²; unit expansions of 30+6, 36+18 and 72+18 m²; and transformations reaching 36, 48+6 and 96+6 m².

Matrix of unit plans: minimal, single and duplex typologies across three phases — base units, unit expansion and transformation — each annotated with its floor area and occupancy.
UNIT TYPOLOGIES ACROSS GROWTH PHASES minimal, single and duplex units — base, expansion and transformation

SITE ADAPTATIONS

The second phase tests the system’s adaptability and its potential to provide context-based solutions in contrasting, real-life urban conditions; reading each site through its urban morphology, topographic conditions, building typology and complex density.

01 | MIXED-USE APARTMENT COMPLEX

A formal neighborhood on a shallow slope: a mid-rise complex of 4,346 m² and 120 units. Located in a community already equipped with public infrastructure, the proposal reimagines the typical, strictly residential complex whilst exploring the prototype’s possibilities; integrating public spaces and programmatic variety within the housing complex.

Apartment units and common terraces rise over commercial spaces and public amenities, gathered around a multi-level civic plaza with green spaces, community spaces and a parking basement.

Exploded axonometric of the mixed-use apartment complex: unit floor plans cascade level by level down to the ground floor and the parking basement, with linear circulation sequences threading the assembly.
MIXED-USE APARTMENT COMPLEX — EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC unit levels over the civic plaza and parking basement
Longitudinal section through the complex: a sectioned mid-rise tower with central circulation, community spaces marked across the lower floors and green spaces between the blocks.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION community spaces, central circulation and green spaces through the tower

02 | COMMUNITY TOWNSHIPS

An unplanned settlement on a steep slope: linear terraced blocks of 2,270 m² and 20 units. Situated on a self-developed settlement in the outskirts of town, the proposal rests on the steep slope that separates the community from the main road artery of the sector.

Based on these conditions, the project introduces a sequence of pedestrian paths that link both street levels and provide public spaces for the community. Meanwhile, the design adapts the prototype’s components to address the site’s topography, with terraced unit blocks that enable the expansion and transformation of the base housing units.

Exploded axonometric of the community townships: terraced unit plans step down the hillside, flanked by two circular vignettes — a view over the terraced roofs and a cluster section showing transversal connectivity on the slope.
COMMUNITY TOWNSHIPS — EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC terraced views and cluster section — adaptations to sloped conditions
Stepped longitudinal sections through the townships: housing blocks terraced into the slope between the community park and the upper street, annotated with terrace gardens, pedestrian passageways, transversal connections, commercial spaces and new public spaces for the community.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION community park, terrace gardens, pedestrian passageways and new public spaces

The prototype thus consolidates into context-based housing solutions: adaptive responses to modularity, programmatic variety and facade adaptations; phased unit expansions, self-made transformations and typological variations for diverse living needs; and the integration of public spaces within the community.