Del Fragmento a la Totalidad: La Vivienda y la Adaptabilidad de los modos de vida

Abstract

Cities today are home to a wide variety of ways of living, working, and relating to others. However, many housing projects continue to follow rigid models that do not reflect these changes. In Bogotá, this gap is especially visible in collective housing, where spaces often lack flexibility and fail to meet the real needs of the people who inhabit them. This disconnect affects quality of life and limits how residents can use, adapt, and truly make their homes their own.

In response to this situation, the aim of this project is to propose design strategies that allow housing to better incorporate contemporary ways of living. The study is based on understanding the relationship between the individual parts of a dwelling (the fragments) and the larger urban context they belong to (the totality), recognizing that both scales must work together coherently.

The methodology followed a combined research and design process that included reviewing key theoretical authors, analyzing contemporary architectural projects, and studying different urban contexts. This approach made it possible to identify criteria and patterns that informed the development of strategies applicable to current housing design.

Four main design strategies were defined: the formal organization of spaces, the systems that guide circulation and movement, the different levels of privacy required for daily activities, and the relationship between the project, the landscape, and its surroundings. These strategies were applied in a proposal located in the Kennedy district of Bogotá, which integrates housing, community facilities, and local commerce as a response to the everyday dynamics of the neighborhood.

The project concludes that housing can adapt to social change when it is conceived as a flexible system that acknowledges the diversity of people’s lives. The research offers a replicable methodology for creating more human, adaptable, and context-sensitive living environments.