-
Architects: JC Arquitectura, Kiltro Polaris Arquitectura, WEWI Studio
- Area: 450 m²
- Year: 2021
-
Lead Architects: Victor Imre Ebergenyi Kelly, Juan Carral O’Gorman, Patricio Manzo Díaz
Text description provided by the architects. Domus Peepem is the latest in a series of interventions that, through new housing schemes and the regeneration of public space, aims to recover a portion of the urban fabric. It is located in Cancun, one of the most important tourist centers in the country, with marked socioeconomic contrasts. The central idea of these interventions has been to build sustainable buildings, with a social vocation, integrating instead of distancing.
The Donceles neighborhood is a neighborhood that was developed in the eighties as a group of low-income housing for workers. After Hurricane Wilma (2005) it suffered considerable damage, which led to the abandonment of many homes and triggered a high degree of degradation. Domus Peepem, an addition to the previous interventions, seeks to reverse this deterioration. It is located on a corner, on an 88m2 lot, on one of the neighborhood's pedestrian walkways, and in front of an abandoned public space. This public space is recovered in order to transform it into a square and a completely renovated pedestrian walkway.
Domus Peepem was thought of as a place where people of different profiles can coexist: couples without children, young professionals, people starting a new stage in their lives, and tourists who rent through digital platforms. Not only do the residents of the neighborhood coexist with new inhabitants, but travelers of other nationalities as well. Interventions such as this have allowed, through private investment, the recovery of public space, for residents to participate and for new inhabitants to have efficient housing and high-quality public space.
The apartments, regardless of their size, are dignified, and well-lit, with natural ventilation and a perception of spaciousness. In addition to the implementation of solar cells and motion sensors, various passive technologies guarantee the proper functioning of the home. On the last level, in a cool and illuminated common space for living together, protected by an apparent concrete slab, the context that surrounds the building can be appreciated: the views include the neighborhood, the sea, the neighboring golf course, the rooftops of other households.
We believe that urban development should foster the necessary conditions to promote the construction of healthy communities in our countries and we would like to promote inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements. We would like to demonstrate that there are better alternatives for housing development in Latin America, making housing that shares the benefits with the city and its inhabitants.
With urban regeneration interventions such as the one in Colonia Donceles, we would like to propose a new model that turns the city around to take advantage of underused infrastructure. These housing interventions with the recovery of public space promote a mix of socioeconomic and educational levels to favor the transfer of knowledge and new connections that build community, regenerate the social fabric and revitalize the urban fabric. The beauty of Domus Peepem lies in the fact that it has no greater claim than to offer well-built, illuminated, ventilated, and well-located compact housing, which can be adapted to each inhabitant and allows an area of the city to be regenerated.
