The problem: Unchecked urban sprawl pushing people to live at the edges of León, México. The solution: An affordable six-story development in the center of the city—connected to all the important infrastructure. “This project is really for people who are having a hard time,” says Florian Idenburg, co-founder of SO-IL, the architecture firm behind the project. “There’s a market, schools and transportation nearby—the things they wouldn’t have access to if they continued to be located at the perimeter of the city.” Created with imuvileon, structural engineering firm icnum, and the city of León, the US$2.5 million project came together through extraordinary collaboration, often among some unexpected partners. “There’s something really productive when people with different perspectives come together to create something new,” Idenburg says. And the result could serve as a template for future affordable housing developments. “We proved that there’s a different way to make residential build...