Chilean modular housing protoype uses stilts to traverse difficult site
Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen and Leonardo Gúzman Valencia in Chile have collaborated on a prototype for modular housing lifted on stilts with clearly separated building components that respond to changing site conditions and allow for flexibility.
For Industrialized Building System Prototype II (IBSP II), Hirigoyen and Valencia developed built off what they learned through the project's first prototype in 2023, designed to address a global housing crisis.
Completed in 2025, this second-iteration system expands the architectural scope of the prototype to both house people and also adapt to a changing environment.
The 120-square-metre (1290-square foot) single-family residendiant prototype sits on a steep 5,000 square metres (1.2 acres) site in Matanzas, Chile. A lightweight yet resistant structure of diagonal, self-supporting stilts navigates the change in topography and separates the framework of the house from its enclosure.
"As a result, the envelope stops operating as a mere boundary and takes on a more active role in climatic mediation, while the relationship with the ground is resolved with greater precision and less invasiveness," Hirigoyen told Dezeen.
"What matters is not only the technical refinement itself, but what it enables: an architecture that is more legible, more habitable and better prepared to adapt to variable conditions of climate, terrain and use."
The triangular arrangement of structural points allows the interior of the rectangular, two-story house to be free from internal supports.
Instead, the two-bedroom house is enclosed with timber modular panels that contain cladding, insulation, shading and ventilation and function within the metal frame.
"The envelope therefore acquires a decisive role," the team said.
"It is not simply a line of closure, but a climatically active facade unit capable of improving thermal and acoustic comfort, reducing energy demand, and mediating more precisely between interior and exterior. "
A layered metal roof floats above the enclosure, distributing each piece of the prototype both physically and visually for long-term usability.
Now that the structure and enclosure are no longer an undifferentiated mass, each component can be disassembled, replaced or updated without demolitions, allowing maintenance and future transformations.
"The center of the project therefore is capable of offering greater spatial and environmental quality, whereas many industrialized solutions limit themselves to resolving time and cost," Hirigoyen explained.
The team deliberately selected a difficult site, where the steep topography, exposure to wind, salinity and intense solar radiation would test the prototype's clarity, habitability and adaptability.
Despite the challenges, the house was assembled without skilled labour in less than one day, proving the system's ability to respond to housing needs with precision.
"The site was not simply a difficulty to resolve, but a true testing ground," Hirigoyen said.
"IBSP II is not measured under ideal conditions, but against the concrete frictions of territory, climate and contemporary construction."
Other lightweight residences that were recently built to lift off the ground in Chile include a prefabricated timber house by Iragüen Viñuela Arquitecto, a prefabricated steel ski chalet by Max Núñez Arquitectos and a steel box truss-like house by Paralelo Transversal.
The photography is by Javier Agustín Rojas and Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen.
Project credits:
Architect: Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen, Leonardo Gúzman
Structural Engineering: Pedro Bartolome
Fabrication/Assembly: Ignacio Rojas Hirigoyen, Leonardo Gúzman
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