The housing complexes built in the Chilean Great North during the 20th century constitute project and experiential experiences defined by a desert landscape. The study of housing complexes built under the protection of public, private, and mixed institutions, allows us to understand their role in the development and consolidation of the port cities of Arica, Iquique, Tocopilla and Antofagasta. Taking as a case study the housing complex Remodelación El Morro in the city of Iquique, built by the Housing Corporation (CORVI), this article seeks to determine how the urban-architectural characteristics of the housing complexes in these cities contributed to their progress, and in the development of a modernity in the aridity. Through planimetric analysis, the project strategy, and the historical-urban construction based on the bibliographic review, it is possible to begin to determine their role in the city and how they acquire new functions and dimensions until becoming significant examples of modern architecture and collective housing in the country’s far north.