The 2016 Pritzker laureate Alejandro Aravena has announced that his firm, ELEMENTAL, has chosen to release four of their social housing designs to the public for open source use. Speaking in a panel discussion held by the Pritzker Prize earlier tonight titled Challenges Ahead for the Built Environment, Aravena stressed the need to work together to tackle the challenge of rapid migration that is taking place all around the globe, a message closely tied to the theme of the upcoming Venice Biennale which Aravena is directing. In this spirit, DWGs of these four designs - which offer the basic elements of a house at a low budget and encourage the residents to expand into an adjacent space as they find the money to do so - will be available for architects worldwide to learn from.

The drawings, including plans, sections, elevations, site plans and details of the firm's Quinta Monroy, Lo Barnechea, Monterrey and Villa Verde projects, are available to download from ELEMENTAL's site. In addition, the firm has produced a brief summary of the principles that underpin these projects. As stated on ELEMENTAL's website: "Here you will find 4 examples, with four different designs that pursue the same goals and principles. From now on they are public knowledge, an open source that we hope will be able to rule out one more excuse for why markets and governments don’t move in this direction to tackle the challenge of massive rapid urbanization."

To download the DWGs, visit ELEMENTAL's website here and click on "Download 4 Projects' Files Here."

Above: Plans, sections and elevations of the Quinta Monroy housing.

Above: Site plan of the Monterrey housing.