Another Spanish project (which isn’t part of the New York show) that intrigued me: the city of Basauri (Basque Country) is studying the possibility to build a new type of dwelling for young people. 35 wooden box-houses would be built in the Basozelai area, in a natural surrounding.

The 42 sqm (+ 20 sqm for the terrasse) will be available as a temporary house for young people at a relatively cheap price, around 200 euros. What’s interesting is that half of it will be kept in a bank account. Dwellers will get that money back at the end of their stay in the house (max. 5 years.)

The project has been designed by urban activist, artist and architect Santiago Cirugeda who was inspired by the urban ideas he saw in Northern Europe.

Cirugeda is famous for his activist projects. He seeks out unrecognized leftover spaces between the lines of building laws and gives them (il-)legal asylum. He works with the same survival strategies as migrants, who have conquered niches and found a place of their own when society refused to grant it to them.

Some of his Strategies for Urban Occupation i like: house enlarging with scaffoldings, insect house (first set of images, on the right), empty lots occupation, the dumpster-playground (images above.)

Also by the architect: Casa Pollo and don’t miss Geoff’s post in BLDG blog.

Via Edgar Gonzales El correo digital. Image.