Algoritmia

Architecture thesis developed at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Lima, 2023. The project addresses the structural and social fragility of informal hillside settlements — a condition affecting more than half of Lima's urban area — through an algorithmic design framework that assists, rather than replaces, the self-building logic already operating in these territories.

The central question the thesis poses is how to formalize incremental urbanization without erasing it. The response is a Grasshopper algorithm that reads a multi-layered risk map — cross-referencing structural parameters (material, state, slope), urban parameters (accessibility, built density, vegetation cover), and human parameters (household composition, tenure, proximity to services) — and produces a ranked intervention sequence for each building cluster.

The algorithm outputs are organized around eight nested strategies: parametrize, connect, reinforce, clear, grow, equip, appropriate, replicate. Each strategy maps to a component in a modular steel-frame kit-of-parts — designed for incremental assembly by residents — that can expand an existing dwelling vertically, create an elevated plaza, add a communal rooftop, or insert a vertical circulation core between properties.

The post-algorithm renders show two scales of outcome: the section of an Expansive Dwelling, where three tenant families and one original family cohabit a restructured block with shared threshold spaces; and an aerial view of Open Spaces, where the algorithm's collective interventions have transformed a formerly disconnected slope into a legible network of paths, platforms, and shared ground.

Project boards