This Youth and Women's Leadership Centre proposal is a pragmatic and sustainable system of steps to improve the social and economical life of Santa Cruz's population. Socio-economical help is needed in Santa Cruz.
One core concept is to promote the system's replication. To achieve this goal, a set of universally available materials is chosen: structural corrugated steel panels (to create tubes) and soil. These are generic infrastructure materials that are well spread through the world. If they are not available, they can be easily transported to remote areas and assembled in place.
Structural corrugated steel tubes are self-supporting modules and its surface has a contemporary finishing.
Natural soil covers the modules and minimizes construction impact. It also creates a very low ecological footprint thermal insulation and improves the building thermal inertia.
Our proposal promotes, at the ground level, a street-market and an internal urban walkway; both intend to generate a dynamic pedestrian flow and provide services for everyday commute. On the roof, it’s expected that the community appropriates the soil by converting it into biological urban "kitchen-gardens" or "flower fields". Vegetables and flowers are a community's production that can be consumed or sold at a start-up. The whole process can contribute to the pedagogical mission of the centre.
Rainwater collectors and solar panels (photovoltaic and thermal) collect water and produce energy for the centre's consumption.

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