Modern collective housing of modernity in times of COVID-19. Contributions of the housing paradigm

Abstract

Modern collective housing generated an urban-architectural design paradigm, which incorporated spaces whose design promoted, following modern architects, health and hygiene through the circulation of clean air, natural lighting and ventilation inside dwellings, as well as in the shared spaces and those where people move around, characteristic of this housing typology. These design elements seem to be useful to reduce the spread of the SarsCov2 virus, that is currently affecting the entire world. Field and online work was carried out with the inhabitants of the CUPA, a housing complex representative of modern architecture in Mexico City, to verify this assumption. Using volumetric reconstructions and online questionnaires, the design elements that embody modern ideals, aimed at ensuring healthy indoor and outdoor spaces, were analysed. The usefulness of the collective facilities, public spaces and the design of the four housing typologies found within the, were assessed. The results of the study and the absence of COVID-19 cases in CUPA help to prove the validity that modern architecture has regained during the global pandemic, as well as the importance of the lessons from the past to integrate new design paradigms for a post-Covid architecture.