The Urban Villa: From Speculation to Cooperation is Dogma's study of the urban villa—a mid-size, multi-family housing type that emerged in the 19th century—and a case for reclaiming it as a model for shared, affordable living.
About This Book
The urban villa began as a compromise: a way of offering something of the suburban ideal while answering the pressure of rising land values. Dogma, the Brussels practice of Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara, argue that the very qualities that made it a vehicle for speculation—a compact footprint, a simple plan and a straightforward construction system—make it unusually well suited to collective forms of housing.
The book is organised in two parts. The first traces the type through a sequence of historical case studies reaching back to antiquity. The second turns to the present, setting out design proposals for affordable housing and urban densification in Antwerp.
Key Features
- A typological history of the urban villa from antiquity to the present
- Contemporary design research on affordable housing and densification in Antwerp
- Two-part structure: historical case studies followed by contemporary design proposals
- Produced with a team of collaborators from the practice
What You'll Discover
- How the urban villa mediated between suburban aspiration and the economics of urban land
- Why a building type shaped by speculation can be turned towards cooperation
- How plan and construction method open the type to collective living
- Practical strategies for densifying the existing city without large-scale redevelopment
About the Author
Dogma is a Brussels-based architecture studio founded by Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara in 2002. Alongside built and unbuilt projects, the practice runs a sustained research program on the city, the ground and collective forms of living, published as a series of large-format studies. Aureli is also one of the most influential architectural theorists of his generation, the author of The Project of Autonomy and The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Dimensions: 210 × 250 mm
- Pages: 245
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9788894030655
- Publisher: Black Square and VAi (Flanders Architecture Institute)
Perfect For: Architects, housing researchers and students interested in typology, affordable housing and collective living.