New York firm SO-IL has completed this low rise yet high-density affordable housing development in León, Mexico, with apartments arranged around courtyards.
The project, called Las Americas, is a six-storey concrete block of homes divided into 60 apartments.
The development is in inner-city León
Maximising the plot's buildable footprint, the homes hug two interior courtyards that provide cross ventilation to the development.
At the base of the block, there are two units reserved for community use and future commercial activity, as well as access to parking.
SO-IL built Las Americas in collaboration with a local housing agency, Instituto Municipal de Vivienda de León (IMUVI) and the City of León.
Las Americas has 60 stacked apartments The development is intended as a prototype to address current housing issues in many parts of Mexico, where individual homes are built far apart from each other, making commuting into city centres difficult for residents.
"Low-rise and high-density is the way to go for housing, allowing people to live close to services and infrastructure," SO-IL co-founder Florian Idenburg told Dezeen.
"The challenge was to make high-density pleasant. We believe this project does that," continued Idenburg.

Las Americas focuses on urban regeneration of inner-city León, making use of an existing urban area rather than building on the city's outskirts where amenities are limited.
"Traditional notions of homeownership currently lock ...