# Socially-Conscious Mexican Residences The Casa Caja House by S-AR Empowers Local Labourers By Jana Pijak | Published 2014-06-08 | Art & Design Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-caja References: [frameweb](http://www.frameweb.com/news/casa-caja-by-s-ar) & [alejandrocartagena](http://alejandrocartagena.com/) The [Casa Caja](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-ll) residence by S-AR is an architecture project that is meant to empower local labourers. The home is located in General Zuazua, a suburb of Monterrey, one of Mexico’s wealthiest cities. Casa Caja stands at a 7 by 15 metre plot and is built using [concrete block materials](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/binocular-house). Its first floor features a living space and a spacious kitchen with a patio view while its second storey houses two private, en-suite rooms. Despite of its wealthy neighbourhood, this home belongs to a low-income family. Upon first glance, Casa Caja resembles a [modernist weekend retreat](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/max-cetto) but is soon revealed to be a modest family home that is built by the region’s construction workers. ‘Construction workers constitute a very vulnerable sector in Mexican society because of the instability of their trade and their rare opportunities to save money or apply for a loan through the government’s housing programme’. Comunidad Vivex, a non-profit organisation founded by S-AR rejects this notion and gives Mexico’s trade workers the opportunity to design and build their own home at minimum cost. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 6.2/10 - Popularity: 84% | Activity: 93% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe, Asia ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Art & Design](https://www.trendhunter.com/artdesign) > [Design](https://www.trendhunter.com/design) ## Key Themes ### Why This Trend Is Growing - **Empowering Local Labourers:** The Casa Caja House offers a trend of empowering local labourers by providing them with opportunities to design and build their own homes. - **Socially-conscious Architecture:** The Casa Caja House represents a trend in socially-conscious architecture, focusing on creating affordable housing solutions for low-income families. - **Community-driven Non-profit Organizations:** Comunidad Vivex exemplifies the trend of community-driven non-profit organizations that aim to address housing needs for vulnerable sectors of society. ### Industries Being Reshaped - **Architecture:** The architecture industry can leverage the trend of socially-conscious design to create affordable housing solutions that empower local labourers. - **Construction:** The construction industry has the opportunity to support socially-conscious architecture projects and contribute to empowering local labourers in creating their own homes. - **Non-profit:** Non-profit organizations, such as Comunidad Vivex, have the potential to disrupt the housing industry by providing affordable housing solutions and empowering vulnerable sectors of society. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Interior Courtyard Mexican Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-ll.md) - [Organically Modern Coastal Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casona-sforza.md) - [Nature-Preserving Mexican Lake Houses](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-santa-maria-del-oro.md) - [Landscape-Integrated Hill Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-av.md) - [Resilient Hilltop Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/capuchinas-house.md) - [High Concrete Walled Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cesar-mancillas.md) - [Sculptural Canteliver Concrete Houses](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-del-alma.md) - [Garden-Focused Timeless Homes](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casa-sanje.md) - [Tonal Brick-Designed Housing Blocks](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/real-de-los-reyes.md)