Affordable Housing That Families Design and Build Themselves

Monterrey, Mexico-based architecture firm S-AR has a new idea for an affordable housing initiative. Alejandro Cartagena

Monterrey, Mexico-based architecture firm S-AR has a new idea for an affordable housing initiative.

Alejandro Cartagena

Rather than building houses for families in need—like Habitat for Humanity might—S-AR is working with locals who own land, to custom design and construct their houses. Alejandro Cartagena

Rather than building houses for families in need—like Habitat for Humanity might—S-AR is working with locals who own land, to custom design and construct their houses.

Alejandro Cartagena

There's ample need for this: Mexico has been in a housing crisis for the past several years. There's a deficit of some 9 million homes. Alejandro Cartagena

There's ample need for this: Mexico has been in a housing crisis for the past several years. There's a deficit of some 9 million homes.

Alejandro Cartagena

Because government-funded affordable housing initiatives can lead to a one-size-fits-all solution, S-AR wanted to make it possible for some homeowners to get involved during the blueprinting stage. Alejandro Cartagena

Because government-funded affordable housing initiatives can lead to a one-size-fits-all solution, S-AR wanted to make it possible for some homeowners to get involved during the blueprinting stage.

Alejandro Cartagena

Local businesses donated the concrete blocks, plywood, and glass panes for windows. Alejandro Cartagena

Local businesses donated the concrete blocks, plywood, and glass panes for windows.

Alejandro Cartagena

No costs went into construction or contracting, because that’s already the owner’s expertise: the patriarch of the family works in construction. Alejandro Cartagena

No costs went into construction or contracting, because that’s already the owner’s expertise: the patriarch of the family works in construction.

Alejandro Cartagena

It’s a rare luxury to get to design your house, and rarer still if there’s a housing crisis. But that’s the promise of an experimental initiative from Mexican architecture firm S-AR.

Over the past several years, a housing shortage has taken hold in Mexico. A 2011 paper from the Wharton School of business pointed to a lack of development and financing options for creating sustainable housing—a problem that led to a deficit of 9 million homes (that tally also comes from 2011; the report indicated the number would only go up from there). In response, the Mexican government fast-tracked affordable housing developments to make sure citizens—particularly around the Mexico City and Monterrey areas—could find homes. It’s the kind of progress that leads to yet another challenge: how do you avoid a one-size-fits-all solution for something as personal as a home?

“We think that each family is unique, and the house for each family should be unique as well,” says César Guerrero, S-AR’s founder. S-AR’s portfolio includes fairly standard projects, like private residences and educational buildings, but the studio also runs a non-profit outfit on the side, called Comunidad Vivex. Also located in Monterrey, Mexico, Comunidad Vivex is where Guerrero and his team cook up experimental, utopian-esque projects, like this concrete “Casa Caja.”

Alejandro Cartagena

S-AR designed the house with, not just for, the family that will live here. In this case, it’s a two-story cube-shaped house with flexible shared space on the bottom floor, and more private bedrooms upstairs. The family owned the plot of land already, but because the breadwinner is a 32-year-old construction worker who often changes employers, securing financing was a problem. Local businesses donated the concrete blocks, plywood, and glass for windows, and then the owners—along with help from neighbors—built it themselves. No costs went into construction or contracting, because that’s already the owner’s expertise.

It’s a take on an old adage: teach a man to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime. In this case, that ideology goes both ways. For Comunidad Vivex’s pilot houses, Guerrero is working with construction workers in the Monterrey area who need houses. “This saves a lot of money,” Guerrero says. “They know how to do the work, and can enrich the project with their experiences. The design is a participative process where the family gives us ideas, and feedback about ours.”