Elemental

Abstract

There are 200 million people in need of housing in Latin America, with 2.5 million Chileans, a significant figure, among this group. In general, the country has been able to generate coverage for this problem. The issue at stake, however, is whether we can develop quality housing without sacrificing the quantity of new low-cost housing that is built. It is important in this context to consider housing as an aspect of social investment, not an expense. The home is the most important form of assistance that a poor family can receive from the government, and each family can only receive one home ever. This assistance must satisfy not only the need to put a roof over their heads, but also serve as a springboard out of poverty. In ELEMENTAL, we identify a set of variables of architectural design that ought to enable a subsidized housing unit to increase in value over time. In the Quinta Monroy neighborhood of Iquique, we applied this theory. With a subsidy of 300 UF, we purchased land, developed utility infrastructure and built single-family housing units. Since Iquique represented a single case, we decided to expand the project to locations with different geographic, climatic and social conditions. To do so, we launched a worldwide competition to design seven projects totaling 1,000 homes throughout Chile. We received 700 proposals from around the world and chose the best seven, with the families and municipalities approving them all. They obtained government subsidies and were awarded to construction companies through a competitive bidding process. Groundbreakings start this year.