This book is intended to describe the ideas and environmental character of the PREVI neighborhood with its houses and gardens, and the lifestyle it offers. The neighborhood was conceived to develop and demonstrate economic houses and an idea for a way of urban living, an environment that has human scale with appropriate privacy and walk-ability with minimum noise and pollution from vehicles.

One objective of the project was to bring together both design and technology creatively. The building methods are therefore described in some detail which will also be of assistance to others contemplating similar work, but not in complete detail so as to obscure the main purpose of the book. Though building technology plays an important role, the project is not only about building systems.

A considerable amount of organizational, coordination and planning work was needed to carry out this large and complexinternational project through to finished construction. This experience is summarized in the relevant sections as it will also be of interest for similar projects being contemplated.

Though the book is mainly about the neighborhood pilot project, the PREVI project also included two other smaller pilot projects: one in self-help building and the other in urban rehabilitation.

A brief description of the self-help pilot project is included at the end of the book.

Acknowledgments

PREVI, comments in retrospect, Peter Land

Learning from PREVI, Charles Correa

Preface, Kenneth Frampton

PREVI, a time-defying idea, Alberto Miani

PREVI 50 years later. The contribution of Peter Land

The Experimental Housing Project

• Introduction
• Appropriate urban form
• The PREVI international competition
• Urban design
• Descriptions of the houses
• Workshop

International designs. Competition projects, built projects. Houses, clusters, technologies

• Christopher Alexander (Center for Environmental Structure), USA
• Atelier 5, Switzerland
• George Candilis, Alexis Josic, Shadrach Woods, France
• Charles Correa, India
• Aldo Van Eyck, Holland
• Oskar Hansen, Svein Hartley, Poland
• José Luis Íñiguez de Ozoño, Antonio Vázquez de Castro, Spain
• Kiyonari Kikutaki, Noriaki Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, Japan
• Toivo Korhonen, Finland
• Herbert Ohl, Germany
• Germán Samper, Rafael Esguerra, Álvaro Sáenz, Rafael Urdaneta, Colombia
• James Stirling, United Kingdom
• Knud Svenssons, Denmark

Peru designs. Competition projects, built projects. Houses, clusters, technologies

• Miguel Alvariño
• Fernando Chaparro, Víctor Ramírez, Víctor Smirnoff,
  Víctor Wyszkowski
• Frederick Cooper, José García Bryce, Antonio Graña,
  Eugenio Nicolini
• Jacques Crousse, Federico Páez, Ricardo Pérez León
• Juan Gunther, Ricardo Seminario
• Elsa Massari, Manuel Llanos
• Luis Miró Quesada, Oswaldo Núñez, Carlos Williams
• Carlos Morales Machiavello, Alfredo Montagne
• Eduardo Orrego, Ricardo González
• Ernesto Paredes
• Juan Reiser
• Ricardo Vella-Zardin, José Bentin, Ricardo Quiñones,
  Luis Takahashi
• Luis Vier, Consuelo Zanelli de Vier

Pilot project in self‐help building

• Principles and economies
• Casma
• Catac

Urban form research

Annex: PREVI and Universidad de los Andes

• PREVI still valid. Principles for teaching housing architecture
  Marcela Ángel, Stefano Anzellini, Clemencia Escallón
• Eight lessons and two conclusions on urban proposals submitted to the contest PREVI
  Camilo Salazar Ferro
• PREVI: towards the reinvention of social housing construction
  Hernando Vargas Caicedo

About the contributors

Was born in the UK and educated at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, and the Royal Academy School in London, and holds an A.A. Diploma, Master’s Degrees in Urban Planning from Yale University and Architecture from the Carnegie Mellon University. He has worked as a practicing architect in architectural offices in the UK and the USA . He has taught at Harvard University and in a number of other leading institutions in the field.

He is presently a Professor in the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he is engaged in teaching and research in housing, urban planning and structures for electrical energy generation. He was author and director of the United Nations Experimental Housing Project (PREVI) in Lima,

Peru, beginning in 1968 until its completion in 1973. Before PREVI, he was appointed by Yale University to organize and direct the two-year, inter-American graduate program in urban and regional planning at the National University of Engineering in Lima.

Price $60.00 (plus postage $3.99)

THE EXPERIMENTAL HOUSING PROJECT (PREVI),

LIMA. DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY IN A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD