Luis Fernández-Galiano   Europeans need to live together: living together in collective housing and compact cities, and living together in well-integrated countries and a shared continent. At this difficult time in Europe, remembering the economic and environmental logic of

Luis Fernández-Galiano   We yearn for the country, but prefer the city. We have chosen to live together and, voting with its feet, half of humanity is already urban. The city is not only our greatest invention; it is also the main resource to face the ecological and climate

Enrique Krahe, MEK Architects, Murado & Elvira   Norway   The MySpace residence for students is the result of the winning proposal of the Europan 9 competition. Drawn up as a sort of catalyzer of the relationships among students, its program combines spaces that demand great privacy with others that wish to

Aires Mateus   Portugal   Located in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal, some 90 kilometers from Lisbon, this building gives an original answer to the situation of the elderly in Western societies. This is an even greater challenge these days because of the gradual aging of t

William Alsop   United Kingdom   In an area of Manchester known as New Islington, the image of which is dominated by the crossing canals and by the built remains from the industrial era, this is the first residential building that has gone up in a long time. The three elongated and

Bell Phillips Architects, Hari Phillips, Rim Bell   United Kingdom   The district of Thamesmead is located east of London. The lack of an efficient public transportation system or the dislocation produced by several infrastructures turned this area into an example of the precarious state of the suburbs of large cities

Belgium   The conversion of an old beer factory into housing for artists, with spaces for studios, has included the refurbishment of the old building and the construction of a new one to reach the area required. The insertion of the project in its environment

Marlies Rohmer   Netherlands   Holland has a long history of living close to water and thus of coping with its seasonal caprices, which entails living on land protected by dykes or on mounds. Currently the use of floating homes like those of Steigereiland, an island located in the

Dominique Perrault Architecture   Netherlands   Groningen has been trying for years to ‘intensify’ its urban fabric, avoiding suburbanization, protecting rural areas and promoting the quality of the public spaces in the city. This building complex is an example of this effort, a development which

Netherlands   Located on the outskirts of Blaricum, in a new urban development formed mainly by single-family homes and villas, these two compact blocks of collective housing mark a contrast with their surroundings. Aside from their building type, the black brick

Hild und K Architekten   Germany   In Munich’s center, the district around the Gärtnerplatz, a town expansion that began in the 19th century, is currently a protected ensemble. It is also a very dynamic space. The refurbishment of this old building wishes to achieve a respectful balan

Baumschlager Eberle Architekten   Switzerland   This housing complex considers the urban and the natural as elements that must be complementary in order to lower the pressure on natural resources. In the context of the Lebern-Dietlimoos estate this entails the division of the plot into three sites

Rue Royale Architectes   France   Located in a new urban development of Lyon, which takes up a space where the Rodano and Saona rivers converge, this building addresses the conditions imposed by a double client and a double program. Comprising social housing units for rent and sale a

Gonçalo Byrne, Pedro Sousa   Italy   The town center of Jesolo has been the subject of a series of debates and urban plans throughout the last decade, in which Kenzo Tange and Aurelio Galfetti have played a prominent role. The objective has been to find the best relationship possible be

Spain   Located on the boundary of the city center, on a plot in which the urban plan proposes reducing the building density so that the municipality can blend with the vast green areas that precede the rural landscape, this block contains 18 social housing

Pau Vidal, Ricard Galiana, Sergi Pons   Spain   The construction of the Ronda de Barcelona in 1992 left a series of residual sites where nothing was built. One of them now accommodates a sports center, a residence and housing block for the elderly. It rises 17 floors over its surroundings and beco

Mercè Berengué   Spain   Plaza Europa is a large public space open on either side of Gran Vía del Hospitalet Avenue, which gathers, among other buildings, 26 towers of tertiary and residential uses with heights ranging from 11 to 28 floors. The high-rise buildings do not ne

AH Alonso & Hernández   Spain   The ninety social housing units are organized in two parallel and symmetrical blocks, the underground floor of which houses the garages and lumber rooms. The block, unlike the others around it, is not even, because a considerable portion of the plot

Francisco Mangado   Spain   Located in an urban development east of Vitoria, this social housing complex tries to rationalize the urban occupation as much as possible. The restrictions imposed by this type of housing are counteracted by turning efficiency into the main guidelin

Almudena Ribot, Núñez Ribot Arquitectos   Spain   Located in the Ensanche of Vallecas (an urban expansion area in Madrid), this building takes up half of the urban block where it goes up. The social dwellings it contains are organized around three internal hallways that give access to all the units.

José Cruz Ovalle, Enrique Nuere   Spain   Located in the district of Carabanchel, rounding off a long and thin band of the park, the project design departs from the enclosed urban block typology, which with its built perimeter establishes a total spatial difference between exterior and inter

Burgos & Garrido   Spain   Any social housing project endures strong pressure to reduce costs and accomplish more with less. To face these restrictions this scheme is based on seriation on both organizational and constructive levels. The complex comprises several pragmatic and