Abstract:

In Santo Domingo de los Colorados, rapid growth and the consolidation of commerce have transformed the city center into a storage and service infrastructure. Buildings, occupied as warehouses, have progressively displaced housing, generating overcrowding, poor ventilation, limited natural light, and a lack of community spaces. The center has become intensely productive, but increasingly less livable.

Re-inhabit proposes understanding collective housing from a perspective of coexistence and adaptation. This intervention seeks to coexist with the area's natural commercial dynamics; it does not expel them, but rather adapts to them, recognizing that they are part of the city's identity and history. Based on this, the project incorporates new spaces that build upon the existing structure, allowing commerce and daily life to share the same urban framework. Coexistence, therefore, implies working with what is already there, accepting its complexity and enhancing opportunities for transformation and adaptation.

Common walkways, pedestrian bridges, and shared areas become meeting spaces that strengthen the community and restore dignity to living. The progressive construction system allows for evolution over time, adapting to new needs without occupying more land.

Collective housing is thus understood as a social infrastructure, reinforcing a sense of belonging and fostering community networks, while simultaneously maintaining the active commercial base that sustains it.