SUyA | material-politics

Adaptable, Expandible, Assisted Self-Build

Imagining futures with people The rendered presentation of the SUYA typology implemented along an existing street in the Los Mormones sector, Monte Sinaí.	Autonomy and Centrality A brief overview of the macro history of participation and co-production	Habitation as Infrastructure
Monte Sinaí A map of the territory, with the red circles marking interviews and conversations with neighbours	Summary of conversation Understanding the needs, knowledges and reality of Paula	Summary of conversation Understanding the needs, knowledges and reality of Juana and Lorenzo
Summary of conversation Understanding the needs, knowledges and reality of Luz	People adapt It became crucial to understand and collect examples of how neighbours of Monte Sinaí construct and adapt space: what program was needed, how was it implemented and how could these practices be assimilated into our typological exercise?	Adaptations Showing local constructive practices for security and business
Adaptations Showing local constructive practices for production and visibility	Materials The most common construction materials found in Monte Sinaí	Dismantling the existing house Examining the potential of reclaiming materials from existing and/or decaying houses
Precedents of concrete-bamboo hybrids	Fire-proofing bamboo By means of a contained concrete tower housing the kitchen, main electrical lines and water pipes, the risk of fire and damp in the remaining bamboo structure is considerably lessened. But will it be enough to combat the social stigma that bamboo has come to be identifies with...?	A SUYA unit ... and how it sits within the legislated plots assigned by the masterplan to the neighbours
a street of SUYAS ... and their adaptability on site	Flexible house fronts An examination of different variations of program that can be plugged into the SUYA typology	Panel add-ons An exemplification of a series of add-ons which can facilitate cheap and flexible programmatic adaptation
Identity The SUYA has the potential of acquiring its on identity, through modular variation of open/closed spaces, size and composition of the house and/or simple matters personal taste, such as the colour chosen for the tower. "I live in the green house with a shop front on the corner."

Site

Monte Sinaí, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Main Materials

Bamboo, Cement blocks

Project Leader

Dr. Leandro Minuchin

Designers

Patrik Cronin

Aida Rodriguez-Vega

Tamara Yazigi

Ellie Shouer

Eira Capelán

Collaborators

Neighbours of Monte Sinaí

MIDUVI - Ministry of Housing

Hogar de Cristo - NGO

PROJECT SUMMARY

Sinaí Urbanizado y Adaptable [SUYA] is a joint project between Material Politics, the NGO Hogar de Cristo and the Ecuadorean Ministry of Housing. The project aims to develop typological and material solutions for the crafting and production of affordable, adaptable and expandable social housing units in the settlement of Monte Sinaí, on the North-Western peripheries of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The objective was to develop a constructive system, assembled through revalued materials, with the aim to assist and empower the process of self-build in the settlement.

With the view of providing rapid and improved material and infrastructural solutions, the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, has sought to empower self-build initiatives. The aim is not only to use a standardized constructive system, but to include local organizations and cooperatives in the production process. Moving away from models which structure the urbanizing process around housing solutions, this project moves the focus to the socio-political dimensions embedded in the construction process. In an area where locals have extended constructive knowledges, the aim of the project is to present the expansion of productive units linked to material and component production as nodes of sociability and to reposition local groups as key actors in the spatial production of their surroundings.