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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali
1975 to 1977A cluster of houses for large families, with a builders yard, built by the families themselves with the help of students from the Universidad Autonoma of Mexico, and a team of builders from the Center for Environmental Structure. Each house was designed with the participation of the family members, while being staked out on the actual site. The human rhythm of the process and the step-by-step organization of the construction process enabled families to help throughout all building activities. Special cement blocks and lightweight concrete vaulted roofs were developed as low cost material to meet the $3500 cost per house. Emphasis on details, color, and workmanship created houses with identity.
Includes five houses of about 60-70 square meters each, and communal dining facilities; total construction area 7,000 square feet.
Contents
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Production of earth-cement interlocking blocks
1975
Production of earth-cement blocks in the builder's yard, vibrated and compressed in a block-making machine, and fabricated on the basis of specially designed and made steel molds for four different shapes of blocks; cylindrical blocks for free standing columns, corner ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Step-by-step construction process using cement interlocking block for foundation and walls and light-weight concrete for vaults
1976
Twentry three building operations, as an example of a step-by-step construction process, capable of allowing mass production of large number of houses which are all different without increasing costs. These operations are so defined that can be applied to each ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Choice of colors
1976
White washed exterior walls faintly tinged with green, and sky blue painted cornices with a golden green hairline above the blue, took a series of color experiments and mockups for two weeks until the mixing of colors was just right ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Draft letter with a description of the project background, an overview of its design and construction process and its implications, addressed to potential participants
20/04/1976
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Low-Cost Houses for Mexicali: Expressing thoughts and impressions after reading "The Production of Houses", and also his desire to address the need of providing solutions to the urbanization problems of Cape Town. Also, requesting specific information on the project in Mexicali before visiting the project site, and a meeting with Christopher Alexander, upon his visit to the United States, for discussing the project
01/04/1991
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Announcement
01/11/1975
Announcement for a new, self-built housing program, stating seven requirements for admittance and five more points with information on the general project profile .
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La Universidad de Oregon Departamento de Arquitectura Serie de Lecturas: Proyecto Macaroni
01/01/1988
A poster of the Mexicali project, for an event at Lawrence 177.
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Video by INSITE Commonplaces, titled "El Sitio", presents the Mexical project
6-min video presents the Mexicali project, built by Christopher Alexander and the Center for Environmental Structure, and its many social, human, economical and architectural aspects in a succinct and effective way.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Preliminary Design Drawings - Clusters
01/01/1976
Base floor plans of the two clusters of the project, one of the Builder’s Yard and the other of the Five House Cluster.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Preliminary Design Drawings - Clusters
01/01/1976
Three different drawings of the two clusters of the project, the Builder’s Yard and the Five House Cluster; in the first drawing the two clusters are shown side by side, while the second is a drawing of the house cluster, ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Sketches of layout process
01/01/1976
Eight pages with sketches recording part of the sequence of the house cluster layout; the first four refer to the choice of individual lots; the next three to the subdivision of lots; and the last one the initial steps of ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Contract for professional services
30/08/1975
Signed contract between “La Universidad Autonoma de Baja California” and the “Center for Environmental Structure”. Laying out the conditions and terms of the work content, the total time-duration of the project, the working hours to be invested by each participant, ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: General contract between all entities involved
13/09/1975
Initial, signed agreement, with declarations of the specific services to be performed by each one of the entities involved: 1. “El Centro” (Center for Environmental Structure); 2. “ISSSTECALI” (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores al Servicio del ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Contract related to the land loan
09/02/1976
Contract between Bienes Raices del Estado de Baja California being the director of the “Instituto National para el Desarrollo de la Comunidad Rural y de la Vivienda Popular” INDECO, as the “Bailor” and, the “Center for Environmental Structure”, as the ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Facultad de Arquitectura - Check-accompanying note
20/09/1975
Document verifying that payment of the agreed upon salary for the month of September is being attached.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Construction budgets and cost control
01/01/1976
Five charts include budgets for the construction of the houses for the Duran, Tapia, Reyes, Cosio and Rodriguez families, with a detailed list of twenty four construction operations, as well as comparison between “estimated & extras” and “actual spent”; the ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Layout of a cluster
01/01/1976
Steps to follow for the location of the individual building masses in a cluster, by using nine patterns in such a way that space formed by each house is positive in character. One page with guidelines and two more with ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Photographs of the buildings
01/01/1976
Seven photos with street views of the clusters: the first five are of the house and include one bird’s eye view, two views from the entrance street and two views from the back street; the sixth image shows the builder’s ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Photographs of building interios
01/01/1976
Fourteen photos of the house interiors: Two photos of corridors with barrel roof and rooms opening on all sides and four photos of different bedrooms. A picture of the corner of a room with bookcase and two photos with children ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Photographs of building details
01/01/1976
Seventeen photos of project details, like vaults, roofs, walls with cornices and windows, interior details: three pictures of vaulted roofs and domes and five more showing the connection between barrel vaulted roofs, walls and windows through perimeter cornices. Also two ...
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References
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Design and Construction is one Integrated Making Process
The design process of a project and its construction process are united into one continuous and intertwined making process, unfolding in a step-by-step sequence. Design ends together with the completion of the construction process. "Making" is a conception of the ...
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The Layout Process of Buildings on the Land - Visualization at Full Scale on Site
Each act of building needs to have a positive effect on its surroundings; to complete them, preserve their structure, make them better, by creating strong centers in them and next to them. Each new building is more alive when it ...
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Users Involved in the Construction of their Project
The benefits of the involvement of the users in the actual construction of their houses under the guidance and management of the architect-builder or the contractor, besides the obvious economical, are manifested in the personal qualities and feeling of these ...
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A Pattern Language
1977
“A Pattern Language” is the second volume of “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to ...
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The Production of Houses
1985
The fifth volume in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press, “The Production of Houses” puts Alexander’s theories to the test and shows what sort of production system can create the kind of environment Alexander ...
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The Nature of Order - An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe.
Book Two - The Process of Creating Life
2002
“The Process of Creating Life”, the second volume of “The Nature of Order” series presents a dynamic theory of living structure. It begins with an analysis of transformations, which occur in nature, and the distinction between structure-preserving transformations, responsible for ...
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Chapter 5. Examples of Living Process in The Modern Era, 2 / A Wide Range of Structure-Preserving Processes and Living Processes / House-Proud Owner, Mexicali, Mexico
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Chapter 8. Step-by-Step Adaptation, 4 / Step-by-Step Adaptation
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Chapter 10. Pleasing Yourself, 8 / A Mexicali Story about the Thought Police
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El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building
18/05/2023 to
20/05/2023
“El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building” was a three-day event held in Mexicali, Baja California, at the builders yard, that was part of the low cost housing project built by Christopher Alexander and the Center for Environmental Structure from ...
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A New Apartment Building for the Town of Trappes
07/01/1977 to
23/07/1977
The exhibit was aimed at informing the local authorities and at arousing the interest of potential participants in the apartment project. The exhibition was organized in four categories, the introductory text, the Paris apartment project, the Mexicali project and the ...
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Locus Manifesto-exposition "Re-enchant the World: Architecture and the City facing Society´s Transitions"
21/05/2014 to
06/10/2014
The 40 architects already awarded the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture participated and exhibited their works. The exhibition was on international touring until 2016. Christopher Alexander’s participation included the extensive presentation of the Mexicali project in the “Saving the People’s Habitat” ...
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Lecture on "The Nature of Order", given during Fall 1991
26/11/1991
Cassette tape of the twenty second Fall semester lecture by Christopher Alexander, on “Deep Feeling and the Emergence of Being”, part of a series of lectures on The Nature of Order, taught during Fall 1991; the duration of the lecture ...
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The Center for Environmental Structure: Portfolio of Projects
01/01/1989
A presentation of sixteen projects developed at The Center for Environmental Structure until 1989. 75-page portfolio with Part One “Completed Projects”, Part Two “Current Projects”, concluding with “Additional Projects”. The projects included are: 1) The Linz Cafe, 2) The Sala ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Specifications and costs for the ISSSTECALI housing project
01/01/1976
31-page document describing the project construction process and the construction operations to be followed, in order to produce affordable and quality houses, designed and built by their owners on a community or on a larger city level.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Construction operations
01/01/1976
40-page document outlines the twenty three construction steps of the Mexicali project, which illustrate the step-by-step construction process, and it is organized into ten major building operations. Each building operation includes the “Summary of Operation” chart, detailed drawings and description ...
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Center for Environmental Structure - Organization of Construction Manual
01/01/1981
5-page draft document listing the nine volumes of a construction manual, explaining the terms by which a construction operation could be included and describing the required information that each building operation must fill-out in special forms. Included are three additional ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Step-by-step construction process using cement interlocking block for foundation and walls and light-weight concrete for vaults - Photographs
01/01/1976
Thirty three photos grouped in sets illustrating the sequence of the construction operations in the project, and specifically the nineteen out of the twenty three construction steps.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali - Basket vault with pumice concrete laid over basket and burlap and chicken-wire: Photographs
01/01/1976
Six photos illustrate the vaults under the first steps of their construction, the weaving of the vault baskets and the fastening of burlap in different settings.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali - Production of earth-cement interlocking blocks: Photographs of the four types of blocks
01/01/1976
Seven photos illustrating the different blocks produced specifically for the project in the builder’s yard; square and cylindrical blocks for columns, thin rectangular blocks for walls and wider blocks for foundations. A couple of them were exhibited at the Locus Manifesto-exposition ...
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A Transparent Building Process: An Example of a Building Manual for Self Help Housing and the Organization of the Building Process
01/01/1977
299-page Master of Architecture thesis with the following Table of Contents: Part One: The Mexicali Project – A Case Study; Part Two: An example of building manual for self-help housing; Part Three: The organization of a building process for self-help ...
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Housing Financing as an Inseparable Element of the Building Process - The Mexicali project
01/05/1981
29-page paper on the financing of low income housing, using the Mexicali project as a case study. Written for the CPR 243b course given by the City and Regional Planning Dept. Professor M. Gellen, part of the fulfillment of Ph.D. ...
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The Unified Building Process: Variables which Produce a Coherent Structure of Space
01/11/1986
378-page doctoral dissertation in nine chapters, based on the fundamental assumption that “wholeness”, as geometric quality of space, is dependent upon the process that generates it. Chapter 1: Design and Construction as a Unified Act. Chapter 2: Feeling and actuality. ...