Torre David inspired U-TT to look beyond its singular context and apply deeper lessons about the potential of adaptive reuse and mixed use housing. The first step in what has become a broader research and design program was to investigate how parking garages – an existing generic typology in cities worldwide – could be repurposed for more productive uses. The simple open-plan structure of these sites allows space to be reconfigured into rooms without concern for supporting walls. Ramps and stairs stand in for elevators, partitions are kept to a strict minimum, and open facades provide natural lighting and ventilation.
While conducting research with students in Trinidad and Tobago, U-TT found its first case study. In the capital Port of Spain, the Ministry of the People and Social Development had turned part of a multistory car park into a homeless shelter for 360 occupants. Inside, poorly ventilated dormitories were bricked off and stacked from floor to ceiling with bunk beds. While the program had a positive social aim, the residents lived in cramped conditions. U-TT proposed to continue the renovation, by improving the living quarters and adding designated spaces for agriculture, sustainable energy production, a large social space, kitchen, library, laundry unit, classroom, and workshop. Public services, such as a health clinic or sports facilities on the roof, would attract a wider mix of users and address the stigma attached to the building.
U-TT has since explored further applications of this open building strategy in formal and informal urban environments. Open building concepts initially emerged as a means to anticipate changing user demands and embed participation in the design process. Representing a radical alternative to post-war mass housing schemes, this approach envisions a future where architects design building frameworks, while residents or users are responsible for customized infill development over time. U-TT has translated this idea into a range of conceptual designs for adaptable, flexible structures that take into account the perpetually changing nature of cities.
Whether in Caracas, Athens, Cape Town, or Shenzhen, open building concepts are ultimately about achieving an elusive balance between stability and self-intiated change.

Open Building Prototype

Buildings

From its beginnings in Caracas, Venezuela, Urban-Think Tank has always been interested in operating at the peripheries, including where art, architecture, and other socially engaged disciplines meet. As a diverse team of architects, designers, writers, researchers, and artists now based within ETH Zürich, but pursuing projects throughout Latin America, Africa, and Europe, we seek to draw attention and resources to places and thinking that support a more diverse and equitable city.
Having worked for four years within Cape Town’s informal settlements, our theatrical production ‘Holy Contract’, a 2016 collaboration with the non-profit group Theatre4Change staged as part of the Cape Town Fringe Festival, was the result of real stories that emerged through interactions with residents in the township of Khayelitsha. We approach theater as an alternative means of making and activating city spaces, and ‘Holy Contract’ was conceived as a form of artistic activism, intended as the first step towards building a new theater for the community.
Residents are currently rehearsing and performing in a small, self-built ‘shack theater’—the Makukhanye Art Room. Though modest, the venue is an increasingly important gathering space for dramatic productions, dance recitals, educational workshops, mentorship programs and community meetings. Despite its obvious deficiencies, it provides for an ever-growing audience and network of actors, musicians, dancers, writers, directors, and artists based in Khayelitsha, who find it difficult to access the cultural infrastructure that otherwise exists in Cape Town’s city center.
Initiated via a series of workshops run at the Makukhanye Art Room with Theatre4Change, and rehearsed in the same space, the production of ‘Holy Contract’ provided us with a behind-the-scenes perspective on the physical requirements for a new theater, in particular the need for a larger, safer, and more controllable space. A better-equipped and flexible facility has the potential to greatly expand the impact of the programs already underway, as well as improve access to the arts for all the residents of Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest informal settlement.
Our vision for a new theater and arts complex includes a 250-seat multipurpose theater space, a 100-seat performance pavilion, as well as integrated market stalls, offices, and rehearsal rooms. The lightweight, low-cost design seeks to remain sensitive to the surrounding area, while at the same time offering a visible symbol of hope and ambition for the community. With our fundraising campaign launched at the Schauspielhaus Zürich at the end of March, we aim to reach our total goal of 350,000 CHF within one year.

Makukhanye Shack Theater

Urban design is a political process. As construction finished on a new subway line beneath the mile-long Avenida Lecuna, U-TT learned in 2007 that the government-owned Metro Company of Caracas had failed to prepare a comprehensive redevelopment plan. Despite being a major thoroughfare, dozens of vacant parcels and derelict buildings would have been left unaddressed on the avenue.
In response, U-TT proposed a vision that included mixed-income housing, offices, shops, educational and sports facilities, and a health clinic. This was complemented by a customized signage and color scheme developed in collaboration with the graphic design firm Intégral. One particular building, “Teatros”, was conceived as a next-generation prototype of the “growing house” concept, combining public programs, production spaces, and residential units that could each be modified by users over time. The structure was also interlaced with an internal circulation system connected directly to the streets below by a bridge and stairs.
After U-TT submitted the final drawings, city architects appropriated the plans without compensation. Government officials, angry about the firm’s refusal to align itself with the Chavez regime, sought to claim the revitilization scheme as their own. Today, a series of buildings loosely resembling those designed by U-TT in form, if not intent, have sprouted up along a yellow-painted Avenida Lecuna. The complicated story of the development process highlights how even socially-oriented public architecture can fall victim to volatile political forces.

Avenida Lecuna Re-Urbanization

San Patrignano in central Italy, is a leading addiction rehabilitation center. The 1,300 residents live and work together in a farming and crafts community, sharing facilities and learning artisanal skills. The fast pace at which the community grew has grown in its 40 years, has created a housing shortage and micro-urbanism predominated by unregulated development.
The housing project that U-TT is designing in conjunction with organizational and community leaders will be the first step toward a reorganization of the village, envisioned as a self-sustainable campus. With 2,400 m2 and two floors, the building will host more than 200 residents divided into 18 semi-independent residential units that share entrances and facilities. The structure sits on top of a hill and is oriented to take advantage of stunning views surrounding the site, while also providing a protected communal space in the courtyard.
The layout reflects the social organization of the community, striving to provide both the privacy and security that residents need, along with encouraging collective and shared social spaces. A large, semi-transparent roof connects three different volumes to create sheltered balconies on the corners for urban agriculture. The wooden structure will be largely pre-assembled in a factory. The simplicity of the construction ensures economy, rapidity, and allows the residents to customize the finishing touches themselves, putting into practice the skills taught at the center.

Location	San Patrignano, Italy
Year	2017
Client	San Patrignano
Leads	Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner
Project Manager	Gianmaria Socci
Design Team	Minami Nagano, Thuy Lee
Landscape	OKRA Landschapsarchitecten
Local Partner	2A+ Studio

Sanpa Housing