Project by Lorennah Marianna Granfors (M.Arch) @lorennah_g + Alyssa Duran (MSAAD) @drn.aly
This project interjects the violent machismo culture of Mexico City by discreetly embedding a rehabilitative housing network in the urban fabric for women and children who have experienced domestic violence. Rather than a visible shelter, it operates through spatial camouflage appearing as everyday businesses while concealing protected domestic spaces within, beginning with small, unannounced emergency booths inspired by informal market stalls, which gradually aggregate into a larger spatial and economic system. Storefront programs—salons, laundromats, and small retail spaces—act as both economic engines and thresholds of safety. Behind and above them, housing unfolds through a gradient of semi-private and private spaces. Rejecting the isolating logic of conventional shelters, the project fosters collective rehabilitation through shared kitchens, childcare, labor, and storytelling. By merging domesticity and care, it elevates feminized labor while building autonomy and mutual support. Hidden in plain sight, the network integrates into the city, creating a resilient, accessible, and socially embedded infrastructure of safety and recovery.
