During the pandemic, the team at Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen Architects, together with Cristián Domínguez Fernandez, had to face several restrictions to the development of their projects. Indeed, the increasing scarcity of materials, reduced economic availability, and labor shortages produced an environment in which it seemed difficult to operate.

Hence they began research solutions from the past that could help envisioning spaces more in tune with current changes. Thus the idea of a prototype was born, capable of tracing the processes of industrialization, finding an aesthetic possibility and construction logic in rationalization and modularity.

The theme of the prototype, still increasingly spreading through the world of architecture, becomes, for the Chilean designers, translates into a space concept which is capable of establihing a dialogue with different possible contexts and uses.

The project was therefore developed as a set of separated elements: the pedestal, made of steel trusses that can be modeled according to  site topography; the body, raised from the ground, where corrugated metal sheet covers a wooden frame integrated by recycled wood fiber; the top, a large pitched roof raised from the main volume, allowing for greater ventilation and rainwater collection.
Through these design solutions, the construction system combines sustainable principles with a high prefabrication of the elements, guaranteeing an easier assembling process. The prototype requires a reduced number of workers who can assemble the entire system with the help of simple tools.

The project thus opens up to a wide range of possibilities, as the architects explain: “Resorting to industrialization, we seek in the factory environment the improvement of execution times, in order to start from a from a set of parts and pieces to standardize a flexible proposal suitable for different typologies. By adding pieces and modules both horizontally and vertically, our system allows solving other typologies such as buildings for collective housing, health, education and various types of equipment and facilities”.