How can architecture respond to the changing ways we live, work and experience the city?

For the September–December 2022 semester, Architectural Design VI explored the growing housing demand in Santo Domingo and its surrounding areas as the starting point for developing new architectural typologies.

Rather than approaching housing as an isolated programme, students were encouraged to investigate how contemporary ways of living increasingly overlap with work, culture, commerce, recreation and community.

The objective was to question conventional typologies and propose innovative mixed-use models responding to emerging urban needs.

From Research to Typology

The studio began with an analysis of Santo Domingo and its evolving patterns of living.

Students investigated context, users and programme before defining the architectural typology they would develop throughout the semester.

Working in pairs and teams of three, they used research and conceptual collages to translate their observations into six different proposals.

The exercise began not with a building, but with a question:

What new ways of living could architecture make possible?

Six Proposals

01 — Aquatic Commercial & Residential Platform
Sindy · Amy · Sheedhartha

A mixed-use proposal exploring the relationship between water, commerce and residential life.

02 — Communal Commercial Villa
Gabriela · Diukeidy

A hybrid typology combining community living with commercial activity.

03 — Dominican Cultural Residence
Marian · Edmirla

A residential proposal exploring Dominican culture and identity as part of the living experience.

04 — Sports Camp & Stadium
Daniela · Paula

A programme connecting accommodation, sports and collective recreational spaces.

05 — Officetel Mirador Botánico
María · Manuel

A hybrid between office and residential uses responding to increasingly flexible relationships between living and working.

06 — Dominican Gastronomic Centre
Linette · Francheska

A mixed-use destination exploring gastronomy as a platform for culture, community and experience.

A Final Classroom

Beyond the six proposals, this studio became personally significant.

Architectural Design VI was the final course I taught at PUCMM before moving from Santo Domingo to Madrid.

Looking back, it marked the end of an important chapter — years spent moving between professional practice and the classroom, using teaching as another space to question, experiment and think about architecture.

And perhaps it was fitting that the final studio began by asking students to imagine new ways of living.

Soon after, I was about to begin one of my own.

Course
Architectural Design VI

Period
September—December 2022

Institution
EAD–PUCMM

Professor
Sarah Tió

Theme
Housing · Mixed-Use · New Ways of Living

Location
Santo Domingo · Dominican Republic

Type
Teaching Archive · Final PUCMM Studio