A near zero consumption building as an urban acupuncture for a vertical slum. A case study in the city of Malaga, Spain

Abstract

Vertical slum is defined as a particularly vulnerable height building, with serious problems of functionality, safety and habitability. Venezuela’s Tower of David is a famous example. Vertical slums are associated with an important level of physical degradation, coupled with a precarious socioeconomic situation of its occupants. Their inability to create a community for proper and mandatory maintenance increases their physical deterioration. The abandonment of the original owners is replaced by a system of occupation and illegal activities. In many cases, with an interest in maintaining the building in a state of precariousness, which annuls any attempt to rehabilitate it Facing this situation, the intervention is proposed through an urban acupuncture project, understood as a project of expropriation and physical rehabilitation of the building, associated to a project of social rehabilitation in a disadvantaged environment. It is about creating a hybrid building associated with four objectives 1- Create a hybrid building with a mixed offer of social and housing services: sheltered housing for seniors, residence and accommodation for young entrepreneurs. The idea of a social condenser is related to studies of the hybrid building such as the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, or the Rokade Tower and Maartenshof residence (Groningen, The Netherlands). 2- Incorporate the sustainability parameters directed to a building almost zero. 3- Incorporate a model of provision of housing services, managed by the municipality, but with the possibility of incorporating NGOs 4- Design a social rehabilitation project that facilitates the creation of a web of social-based companies or cooperatives that fosters entrepreneurship, and that can actively participate in the rehabilitation and maintenance of the neighborhood itself. This paper applies these principles to a building in Malaga as a case study and 10 strategies are developed and analysed in regards to its physical, social and sustainable transformation.