by Maud Webster | Note: This formed part of my first year design portfolio for my degree.
Quinta Montoya is located on expensive land near the centre of Iquique; the central situation was crucial for the developers, as it allows the occupants access to employment, healthcare, and education.
The project was built by the instruction of the government, to settle 100 families in the 5,000 sqm space they illegally occupied for thirty years. It had to adhere to the framework of the current housing policy, and come within the budget of $7,500 per unit. In order to achieve this, considering the expensive cost of the land on which the project is situated, they decided to stack houses, with two flats under three maisonettes, and build incrementally. This means the occupants moved into half-finished houses with only basic plumbing facilities, with the intention that tenants could complete the houses in a way that suits them.
My collage focuses on this housing project through the frame of reference ‘Public & Private’; I found it interesting to consider the clear distinctions between this boundary in some places (such as in the house itself, or below the stairs), in comparison to the more blurred boundary (such as on the stairs or the balcony area). I also wanted a secondary focus of the piece to be the different uses of the spaces which the occupation of the housing units can lead to; spaces can be used for travel, domestic activities, surveillance, and leisure.
campus.scape 