First Stages of Construction of the El Falansterio Building
Description
Construction process of the El Falansterio residential building in Puerta de Tierra. Concrete is being placed on formwork to built the first floors of the building. In the surroundings there are construction material and machinery, falsework, wheelbarrows, clotheslines with bed sheets hanging up, ladders, formwork, construction sand, concrete mixers, and workers. Other industrial and residential buildings can be seen at the back of the construction area.| Origin Name |
PRA 0016 F0003
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| Relation |
Archivo de Arquitectura y Construcción de la Universidad de Puerto Rico > Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration > Cartapacio 3
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| Geographical Coverage |
San Juan
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| Date |
1937
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| Descriptive Notes |
Title assigned by the cataloguing team. The general description contains information provided by the Architectural and Construction Archive of the University of Puerto Rico (AACUPR).
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| Descripción decolonial |
The construction of El Falansterio in Puerta de Tierra epitomizes the tension between colonial agendas and decolonial possibilities in Puerto Rico. Aimed at slum clearance, the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) built this cement-based housing to replace unsafe slums with durable, hurricane-proof structures, addressing both health and safety concerns. The project’s modernist design, led by Jorge Ramírez de Arellano, provided affordable, safe housing, including community facilities and amenities.
Here, we see a massive and imposing construction site, cleared to make way for a government vision of housing quite distinct from the vernacular homes of rural Puerto Rico or the arrabales (vernacular communities) of San Juan. Yet, that vision of “civility” made to replace the “barbarity” of the Puerto Rican slums did not necessarily mean the utter disenfranchisement of the Puerto Rican people who lived in those spaces. While the colonial agenda sought to impose order and control, the transformation of El Falansterio into a cooperative in the 1940s opened decolonial possibilities, empowering residents to purchase their homes and fostering community self-determination.
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| Colaborador |
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| Historical Background | |
| Architectural Subject |
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| Decolonial Subject | |
| Rights |
The PRAHA does not own the rights to this resource. The user must contact the repository or archive that holds the physical document to determine the restrictions that may apply under the Copyright and Intellectual Property Law or by agreements agreed with donors.
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| Editor |
Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín
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| Resource Format |
JPEG
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| Resource Type |
Image
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