Operating based on form: A procedure for the valuation of collective housing

This article presents the results of the research Five projects of collective housing: An essay about architectural quality based on form, which aimed to specify the concept of quality for collective housing in terms of formality, given that the usual understandings of the term "quality" (a set of subjective estimates or a check list) distort the role of architecture in the design of housing units. This research proposes a different way to understand architectural quality based on a discussion of the concepts "thing, - "tool," and "artwork." Similarly, it compares its study object, the towers of Residencies El Parque designed by Rogelio Salmona, with other collective housing projects to identify their respective configurative operations, which offered a different way to judge collective housing, since formal operation is not only considered as a compositional means, but it is also used for the creation of landscape.