Built following Hurricane Otis in 2023, homes designed by Manuel Cervantes Estudio address inequalities in the Mexican city of AcapulcoThis project is the winner of the 2024 AR House awards. Read about the full shortlist hereDuring the 1940s and 50s, Acapulco was one of Mexicos most popular beach destinations. Just 380km from landlocked Mexico City, it is the closest beach for chilangos Mexican slang for residents of the capital. Acapulco showcases the stunning tropical landscape on the countrys southwest Pacific coast, surrounded by the mountain ranges of Guerrero state.Miguel Alemn Valds, Mexicos first civilian president, came to power in 1946 following a succession of military generals. The government was close to an inner circle of businessmen, politicians, foreign investors and celebrities such as the Kennedys, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley who all met regularly in Acapulco. The city was part of the governments national strategy for business development, in which many modern Mexican architects played a part. Acapulcos airport was built in 1952, designed by Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, and a yacht club also by Mario Pani with Salvador Ortega was opened in 1955. Many modernist hotels were built during this period, including the Presidente Acapulco Hotel, built in 1959 and designed by Juan Sordo Madaleno and Jos Adolfo Wiechers, which included a sculpture by Mathias Goeritz and a beach nightclub by Flix Candela.However, this paradise promptly became a national and international tourist destination with several challenges, including economic insecurity and inequality. As Acapulcos popularity grew, local communities were removed from their land on the seafront and relegated inland towards the mountains to make room for expensive hotels, bars and convention centres. While the citys seafront was mostly the domain of an elite floating population, hotel industry workers were housed in mass housing projects inland, such as El Coloso, a scheme of 20,000 houses started in 1977 and built by the government. The population of the city has ballooned since the 1950s, from less than 30,000 to more than 500,000 40 years later, and has now surpassed a million people, leading to uncontrolled urban growth.In September this year, Hurricane John hit the Mexican state of Guerrero with torrential rain, flooding and landslides. Several neighbourhoods were flooded and residents in atrisk areas were told to evacuate to temporary shelters. Acapulco had not fully recovered from the destruction of Hurricane Otis in 2023 one of the worst storms recorded on the Pacific coast of Mexico, which destroyed houses, hotels and power lines, uprooted trees and unleashed floods and landslides. In the year since, support had not been sufficient to improve the living conditions of the citys inhabitants. The political response continues to be reactive and temporary, limited to donations of mattresses, water tanks, heaters, food supplies and household appliances.It was in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis in 2023 that Manuel Cervantes Estudio, along with the nonprofit organisations Asociacin Gilberto and Construyendo, established the Kontigo initiative, a play on words that alludes to joint action and togetherness. The programme aims to build longterm residences for those whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Otis. Inspired by the Cartilla de la Vivienda (Housing Primer), published by the Colegio Nacional de Arquitectos de Mxico and the Sociedad de Arquitectos Mexicanos in 1954, the project established a construction manual to assist people who would not have access to the limited supply of statebuilt housing because they were working within the informal labour market.Our goal is to make houses that are not just structures but adaptable homes where the architecture enables the empowerment of the inhabitants to break the cycle of poverty in Acapulco, explains architect Manuel Cervantes. The houses are located across Acapulco and its periphery; 42 are currently completed and 78 are ongoing. The homes vary in size from 35 to 75m2, depending on the familys needs, and cost an average of US$18,000 to build, funded by various private donors through Asociacin Gilberto and Construyendo.The buildings are constructed from prefabricated Covintec panels wire mesh frames filled with polystyrene and coated with concrete, that are thermally and acoustically insulating. They have the structural capacity to form loadbearing walls and slabs that can be extended. The floor slabs of the houses are designed to receive extensions according to the needs of the families, Cervantes explains, inspired by Pedro Ramrez Vzquezs house that grows from the 1960s.Future inhabitants were involved in both decisionmaking and the building process. Homes were constructed by local construction workers and volunteers, including the future residents themselves, as well as some of Manuel Cervantess students from Anhuac University who also participated in the research for the project. Each of the homes is unique, combining different architectural elements. Generous ground floors, open to the air, and balconies on upper floors provide space for social interaction. Each house is designed to operate without air conditioning; the Covintec panels provide insulation while timber screens allow in air and light. This contemporary device draws on Acapulcos tropical modern architecture, which used concrete latticework to let wind and light pass through the spaces. This, in turn, was influenced by traditional selfbuilt architecture in Acapulco; in 1954, the architect Enrique del Moral wrote an article in Arquitectura Mxico in which he highlighted the open floor plans that facilitate crossventilation, as well as terraces that, if necessary, can be closed off with shutters. He demonstrated that the windows avoid the excessive use of glass and metal, making use instead of lattice patterns that can provide privacy while allowing in light and air. He also promoted the use of local materials in vernacular architecture, such as the stone of the region, bamboo, wood, as well as pigmented concrete.In less than a year, the structures have withstood the test of recent tropical storms, and families have already started to improve their homes with gutters for water collection, extended porticoes and growing vegetation. The satisfaction of having a home that feels safe is the most important thing a human being can experience, explains one new Kontigo homeowner.In Mexico, countless repetitive singlefamily houses sprawl beyond the limits of the urban peripheries, creating identically reproduced environments in which families are slotted. Public policies and political promises must transcend the home to improve collective space, the common and shared, to attend to a sense of belonging. This could be the next step for the Kontigo initiative to foster density and collective housing projects, and to combine with public spaces in a publicprivate partnership. The Mexican government, for example, has recently announced plans to build a million new homes as part of the Housing and Regularisation Programme.Few nation states explicitly consider housing a constitutional right; Article 4 of Mexicos constitution establishes that every family has the right to decent and dignified housing, ideally with access to diverse public services. To date, except for isolated cases, architects are not included in the public agenda for addressing social housing solutions. Kontigo is an example of an architecture practice being involved in a largescale housing project, with a determined commitment to participatory processes and community development. In Acapulco, like every city affected by extreme weather precipitated by the climate emergency, this project is a response to a very clear call to action.2024-12-09Reuben J BrownShare