CHAPTER 3
PROTOTYPE
“We were most interested in maximising the use of public resources to create a value much greater than the sum of its parts. So, what was really new was the idea of value gain as a way to redefine quality” (Aravena, A. and Iacobelli, A. 2016: 191).
At the start of this century, Iacobelli’s program at the university of Catolica regarding public policies, laid the foundations for their prototype, the Parallel Building. It was the inception of Elementals career in social housing. Through refining their design and the presentation of abstract projects at many seminars, they approached MINVU once they thought they had a resilient design. A “typology capable of buying more expensive land (due to density) that simultaneously allowed for growth” (Aravena, A. and Iacobelli, A. 2016: 38). It was at this point that the national director at the Chile Barrio Program decided to hire them for Quinta Monroy. They conducted a variety of participative workshops for the inhabitants, before refining their design and making it site specific. Yet the parallel building already existed, without any information on the adaptation the typology, raises the question, to what extent did the parallel typology adapt other than costs, to the desires of the inhabitants? Economically, it is understandable that the Parallel Building typology was retained, as they had identified that this was one way of purchasing the land, but also improve existing living conditions, within the budgetary framework. The success of this prototype and Elemental’s desired replicability, would ultimately be dependent on only using the public subsidies provided by the state US$7500 per unit. Quinta Monroy has demonstrated that participation in design can have a place in the architectural world within the twenty-first century. It has also shown that social housing within the global south can be achieved amongst the strict centralised control of neoliberalism, shedding light upon architects and governments to explore similar techniques. Elemental “has proven that the problems of cities can inspire all of us to come up with creative and effective ways to develop business models or design public policies to serve the needs and enrich the lives of those that need it the most”. (Trevino, L. 2016) The notion of participatory design, engaging the public with the project is noted, but due to the convenient existence of the Parallel Building, was this typology ultimately their goal? There were one hundred 34
