Dormitorios para trabajadores agrícolas
At the edge of Lake Chapala and approximately 33 miles away from Guadalajara, it’s Jocotepec, municipality where the project is located. The main vision of the program is based in offering temporary refuge areas for the farm workers that travel from the south of the country to labour collecting berries during different seasons of the year.
One of the major conditions when designing it was the lot: with 9.71 meters wide and 61.12 meters long, it has a 562.87 sq m total area. The initial architectural program envisaged spaces which could function as a shelter for 25 agricultural workers, with recreational areas, bathrooms, laundry rooms and a collaborative kitchen with a dining room next to it. Responding to these needs, the leading design is planned as a 4 module unit; three of these modules have a hallway that allows every room to connect in between them, and four patios amid them to provide natural light and wind traps to every room. Two of these cabins are quite similar: they include 2 bedrooms for two bunk beds with their own bathroom. The common areas such as the kitchen, dining room and the laundry are placed in the middle of the lot, making it easier for everyone to reach it.
Lastly, there’s a room at the end of the project with space for 3 bunk beds and a shared bathroom. Limited by a short budget, the material palette of these dormitories is reduced to the rawness of the block, the exposed concrete of the structure, the gray gravel in the patios and the pinewood in the carpentry. Subsequently, the building doesn’t need any additional linings, which makes it easier to maintain in the future considering that it doesn’t require much upkeep resources.