Atlas

ATLAS starts from a shortage that is both spatial and social. As gathering places become rarer and private outdoor space remains limited, the project treats the in-between as a civic resource. It proposes housing organised around shared outdoor rooms and communal programmes, aiming to unite rather than separate residents by giving everyday life a collective ground.

This idea is carried by the project’s volumetric strategy. Instead of compressing the programme into a single mass, ATLAS is organised into three fragmented blocks. The resulting voids become part of the architecture, creating permeability through the site and enabling multiple perspectives and approaches that a more rigid, consolidated volume would not allow. At the same time, this fragmentation moderates density and supports a built form that can open towards both the park and the hillside.

Topography is treated as an active constraint. The terrain’s slope and its proximity to traffic infrastructure justify a stepped arrangement, with an elevation difference of roughly three metres between each block. Each volume defines a courtyard that brings natural light and ventilation into the dwellings. Together, the courtyards and the spaces between the blocks increase accessible public space at ground level, supporting movement, pause, leisure, and activities that can be activated by the local community.