An Integrated Design Process of Low-cost Housing in Chile

This paper discusses the application of Integrated Design Process for the design of low-cost housing in Chile. It aims to question common practice for the development of housing based on prescriptive regulations and non-interdisciplinary work, which has resulted in poor quality building requirements. The first stage consisted in defining performance requirements for aspects such as energy demand, U value, air tightness and indoor air quality for a specific case of low-cost houses located in the city of Temuco. An integrated design process was carried out by an interdisciplinary team of professionals specialized in each of the performance aspects that were taken into account. The construction and post-occupancy stages were characterized by verifying the performance requirements, which resulted in a low-cost house prototype that included strategies for energy efficiency and a healthy indoor environment.