MAS Context and the SOM Foundation are organizing a lecture by Gabriel Cuéllar and De Peter Yi about their ongoing work on the design of building types, alternative property models, and zoning.
August 4, 2026
MAS Context Reading Room
1564 North Damen Avenue, Suite 204, Chicago, Illinois 60654
Courtyard block plan. © Rebuild Collective.
Can we reimagine the single-family zoned block as a new kind of collective architecture? Making up an estimated 80 percent of developed land in American cities, single-family zoned lots are critical sites to address climate change, housing justice, and evolving demographics, yet few of these are designed by architects and planners. Rather, they are defined by zoning, which has historically created barriers to affordable, quality housing for all. Today, municipalities across North America are implementing zoning reform, rewriting the housing system. To date, however, these changes are largely considered on a lot-by-lot basis. A greater potential lies in cultivating collectives across hardened property boundaries, advancing common goals in society and environment through dense, welcoming, and lively housing options.
Drawing on work supported by the SOM Foundation, this talk shares design-research and architecture design studio teaching that synthesizes the design of building types, alternative property models, and zoning toward more collective futures.
A series of strategies aimed at overcoming the minimum lot size zoning ordinance and designing across lot lines. © Gabriel Cuéllar.
Courtyard block board game. © Rebuild Collective.
“What’s Next A2? Housing, Livability, and Property at the Scale of the Urban Block,” Ann Arbor, 2025. © Gabriel Cuellar.
This project was made possible thanks to the SOM Foundation’s 2023 Research Prize.
