CASA MODULAR: A NEW DENSIFIED LIVING IN CHIHUAHUITA.
The neighborhood of Chihuahuita is one of the oldest in El Paso, located adjacent to Paso Del Norte, the second busiest crossing on the US/Mexico border. Over time it has become a source for the city's NIMBY projects, having been bisected by a rail line, half demolished for a water treatment plant, and recently visually cut off from its view of Mexico by the border fence and a massive elevated freeway along the Rio Grande. This project aims to rectify some of this neighborhood's injustices as well as provide a safe and shaded space for the diurnal flow of visitors passing through the site on their way to the border crossing.
The project is designed to house 60 residents (families, seniors, couples, and students) and adapts the traditional courtyard and mercado vernacular into a densified commons for both Chihuahuita and the entire bi-national community.
The project is divided into four levels, with each space designed to provide shade, natural light, and cross-ventilation. The first floor consists of a mercado and courtyard open to the public during the day, and provides options for retail, grocery, childcare, and community activities that are currently lacking in the neighborhood. The second floor houses 10 couples-size units, including 4 live-work apartments with stairs connecting directly to their respective shops on the first floor. The third and fourth floors house the family units, which are each two-story with circulation on the third floor and balconies on the fourth. All residential-level circulation is wide to support impromptu gathering and people-watching into the mercado below.
Constructed on the site south of the project is a community garden for the residents of Chihuahuita, an adventure playground where children can play while their parents are at work, a shaded space to wait for the school / city bus, and a pedestrian bridge to the abutting park currently separated by railroad tracks. Chihuahua Street to the west of the project is closed to cars and reclaimed by the neighborhood to improve the neighborhood’s freedom of movement.
LEVEL 1
MERCADO, GROCERY, PUBLIC COURTYARD, AND RESIDENT ENTRANCE.
LEVEL 2
10 COUPLE-SIZE UNITS (6 RES, 4 LIVE/WORK). HOUSES 20 RESIDENTS.
LEVEL 3
10 FAMILY-SIZE UNITS (SHARED WITH LEVEL 4). HOUSES 10 RESIDENTS.
LEVEL 4
10 FAMILY-SIZE UNITS (SHARED WITH LEVEL 3). HOUSES 10 RESIDENTS.
PASSIVE AND ACTIVE VENTILATION STRATEGIES
The project makes use of windcatching fins to capture wind from the surroundings and funnel it through narrow channels in the project. Through the Venturi effect, narrow passages increase wind speed and decrease temperature, providing a passive cooling system for the project. This cooling is aided by an active system in the form of pipes with temperature-controlled water running through them, acting like a radiant system on the wind as it enters the project.
The diagram on the right also maps the on-site average noise level in different parts of the site, which informs the unit types in each area (senior residents get quieter areas, younger residents get louder areas).
Passive ventilation on a unit scale
Analysis of privacy in indoor/outdoor spaces of each unit
EXPLORATIONS IN MODEL
NEXT PROJECT
SKY ISLAND CENTER FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH
SEMESTER 5
