Elemental
Social and Incremental Housing (Chile)
Santiago, Chile
Highlight
Resilient social housing with incremental 'half a good house' designs, local materials and passive strategies.
Extended description
Elemental, the Chilean practice led by Alejandro Aravena, designs social and resilient housing based on incremental construction, local materials and passive strategies for extreme climates. Its well-known 'half a good house' model delivers a quality core that families can expand over time, keeping homes affordable while improving comfort and reported energy reductions of around 20–40%. It is an influential model of participatory, climate-adapted social housing.