Architectural appropriation offers a way to examine how the quality, use, and meaning of built environments can influence the perception of socioeconomic disparity. This paper is important because it applies an existing Guideline Matrix for Architectural Appropriation to a real built case study, using the matrix not as a design proposal but as an evaluation filter for an architectural intervention developed in a context of social vulnerability. The study analyzes the Nido de Retazos project at the Jardín del Edén Child Protection Residential Center through three dimensions of the matrix: Landscape, Social Appropriation, and Materiality. The case is examined using project documentation, direct observation, and qualitative evidence from semi-structured interviews with fifteen participating architecture students. The assessment identifies how place identity, inclusive and adaptable use, collective construction, and material decisions contribute to belonging, spatial dignity, and the appropriation of the built environment. The findings indicate that the project can contribute to reducing perceptions of socioeconomic disparity by providing a spatial response whose quality is not determined by the users’ vulnerable social condition. The study also shows the value of applying the matrix to academic design-build cases as a systematic way of relating architectural qualities to social outcomes.