UN Affordable Housing Competition

Design date: 2015
Client: UN Habitat
Location: Amman, Jordan 
Category: Residential 
Plot area: 12227 sqm

The UN competition aimed to designing small sized, affordable and sustainable units with a total area of 60 - 65 square meters with the capability of future expansion to become 120 - 130 square meters according to the market demand. The given hypothetical master plan contains a variety of land types with different shapes, areas and regulations that could be placed in different regions around the kingdom; therefore we proposed a comprehensive system that works flexibly on the level of planning, image and environment to achieve the  best use of any type of land in any place in Jordan.

By studying and analyzing the given group of different land types with their shapes, dimensions and regulations, two modules of residential units were proposed (8 X 8 m , 9 X 6.8 m) that are flexible to accommodate the basic program of a 60-65 m² apartment (living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and balcony). These modules are combined in different compositions to achieve the best planning and use of all land types.

The design of the two modules adapts to planning purposes depending on:

1- Position of the entrance (corner of mass or middle of mass).

2- The relationship between the direction of entrance and the balcony view (parallel or perpendicular)

A flexible modular image was created to help us recognize the identity and way finding and overcome the stereotypic dull image of a low-income multi-unit Housing. By developing and using a collection of contemporary architectural vocabulary in the facades, and changing these vocabs from a modular to another, though all vocabs relate to the same language. The usage of accent materials is the socio-economic dimension to the project, by upcycling of natural stone and rubble of extracted material in the project location, and offering the local labor hands to build it.