Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the role of social participation in Elemental’s Quina Monroy, as a form of advocacy to help shape social and economic adversities. “The beginning of the 21st century

will be remembered as the moment from which, for the first time in mankind history, there will be more people living in cities than in the countryside” (Aravena, A. Iacobelli, A. 2016: 24). This creates an even

more prevalent demand for housing within our cities, specifically for those who can’t afford the general

market prices. At present in Chile, architects Elemental, led by Alejandro Aravena and Andres Iacobelli,

have created an incremental housing and participatory design manual as a blueprint to combat the social

housing crisis in Chile. Many projects within their portfolio adhere to these principles and notably, for

their project Quinta Monroy, where they were awarded the Pritzker Prize Laureate in 2016. Inhabitants

often harbour an architectural dissociation with their homes. Social participation in the form of design

and construction, aims to negate those effects, facilitating in a multi-disciplinary exchange of information,

placing the individuals at the centre, with the end goal to develop their own architectural identity through engagement. “The pride and sense of identity that comes from owning one’s own home represents the main argument of the Chilean government for supporting incremental houses.” (Marinovic, G. and Baek, J.2016: 125).

Architects since the 1990s, have been embedded within a globally claustrophobic neoliberal economic model. From its inception after the “Keynesian ideology was side lined” (Harvey 2006: 8), Harvey (2006) states that in the 1970s “Chile became a socio economical laboratory for neoliberalism.” Pinochet’s warm

embrace of neoliberalism has sinced romanticised the idea of a free market, sustained by the traditional

upper class, major international corporations and architects under the guise of national renewal. Austerity

and privatisation of social housing has been a result of subsequent governmental schemes, excluding

housing provisions for the poorest members of the community. Thus, it has become increasingly difficult

for socially led projects to occur and develop any state financial interest. For the architectural world, is

largely dictated by property developers, amassing a portfolio of unaffordable new developments, for

the middle-upper class, with the prime focus shifting away from the architecture towards the value of

the square metre. This in effect has given rise to an increasingly fragmented building sector around the globe, with a power shift that excludes an architect. Yet, when today a “socially” driven project like Quinta

Monroy gains international stardom, echoing 20th century J. F. C. Turner and Henry Sanoff, it begs the