Among the traditional Atacameño building patterns we find: fortifications, or Pukarás, built in order to defend themselves from Diaguitas, Incas and Spaniards attacks; irrigation canals, which facilitated their oasis agriculture, and typical Atacameño houses.
Atacameño houses were rectangular enclosures made of mud. Corn, beans, potatoes, quinoa, algarroba and chañar are kept in small circular compartments on top of the roof. The first floor was divided between a main enclosure, and a sleeping room - where domestic utensils, as pots and other vessels, were kept. The main enclosure had a high vault, where they buried their great-grandfathers, grandparents and parents, the floor was dug below ground level and was of square shape.
Geronimo de Vivar, a Spanish chronicler, wrote about houses and Atacameño customs:
«The houses in which the Indians live are made of sun-dried clay brick and bent, with their mezzanines (roof frame) made of thick beams of Algarrobo, a very sturdy timber...»