Final costs of PREVI dwellings were just 5% below average house prices (from -20 to +10%: 5% in average): land was chosen purposely close to downtown, and completed urbanisation works that included public services (kindergarten, elementary school, commercial area), open spaces and urban furnishing, were pro-rated as part of the housing unit costs. Although in the next 1500 unit phase costs would be reduced, additional costs of experimental fabrication methods, development of new materials, training of non-skilled workers, the learning period for new construction processes, monitoring and evaluation were fully added to the final price tag. As Turner predicted, project officials redirected the original goals, shifting from an experimental project based on innovation to a more down-to-earth laboratory to test components for site and services development. In the final conclusion it was stated that delivering site and services would have extended the project’s scope; also that the rationalisation of conventional building systems with extensive employment of manpower was the best technological alternative — certainly more a political and populist statement than technological. After the initial basic modules were commissioned, PREVI was discontinued and the experience forgotten. The new home owners were left alone, voiceless, waiting in vain for the technical support to continue building their houses as only a few of the promised prefabricated elements had been produced. They continued by themselves when the government failed to provide the services they had committed to. The involvement of the home owners could have been vital, logging valuable data as the Experimental Neighbourhood Unit was consolidating. Today PREVI, which might be seen as an unfinished project, is, nonetheless, a dense, active community of outstanding qualities. It does not have the ideal image of the sequential and pristine masses we imagine on the cover of a magazine — in this calm chaos of experiences in self-help and self-management, life is celebrated in busy parks and piazzas. The urban arrangement deserves special notice, its interstitial open and closed spaces, pedestrianism and scale creates a special atmosphere of a truly concise townscape with its social fabric clearly connected to the city.
Manuel Llanos and Elsa Mazzarri – Project P-22 Peruvian architects did not get the same coverage as their international pairs; nonetheless, among them there are three winners of the top prize of the Peruvian Architecture Biennial.The project of Llanos–Mazarri is the most celebrated among the local entries. A prefabricated C-shape spatial module of 1.5 x 2.45 x 4m that joins and interlocks creating rooms in an L-shaped enclosed module that when put together forms the housing unit. Subsequently, the units are paired in groups where the private courtyards can be accumulated to a shared and larger one. These pairs are arranged a around a semi-private piazza forming an urban cluster that repeats as a constant from the top: Project P-22 (Peru). Main floor plan, hand drafted by Manuel Llanos Schematic construction phasing, initial and final housing unit.
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right: Inner patio, part of the communication and contact network.The landscaping was designed especially for an arid climate and the street furniture was scaled and configured, for adults and children, in individual and group activities.
Manuel Llanos Jhon Architect
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