Encyclopedia of the Incas

that stored food, drink, and other goods, such as the akahuasi (house of aka, or
maize beer; chicha), churaconahuasi (warehouse), and llaxtahuasi (store house
for captured goods). They also had houses devoted to special services, such as
the masanahuasi (house for drying clothes), and for special people, such as the
acllahuasi (house for chosen women), huatayhuasi (house for prisoners),
sankahuasi (house for prisoners who committed grave offenses), ayahuasi
(house for the dead), and the uacchahuasi (house for “orphaned” children,
specifically those of the ruler and a low status wife). The Inca designed other
huasi for intimate bodily needs, such as the punonahuasi (house of sleep and
sex) and the acahuasi (house of aca, or feces).
Less often, the Incas developed building types according to facture, or the
manner in which it was made. Examples include the callancahuasi (house made
of callanca, or ashlar foundation stones), or according to form, such as the
muyuhuasi (circular house), the quencohuasi (turned or zigzag house), and the
marcahuasi (house with lofts). Occasionally, the Incas designed building types
that involved both form and function, such as the cuyusmanco and carpahuasi
(two imperial buildings with distinctive doorways associated with the Inca ruler
and governance), as well as the sunturhuasi (a tall structure that had the
appearance of a mountain or pyramid, used by a ruler for viewing activities on
the plaza).
The simple building kit and system of design and construction allowed Inca
architecture to be highly adaptable and very site specific, addressing the local
landscape, both physical and cultural. Thus architecture could underscore the
Incas’ negotiated relationship with a local group, such as the people of Chincha,
who lived on Peru’s south coast, by inserting their distinctive architecture within
a Chincha-style complex. When necessary, the Incas incorporated local building
practices, materials, and forms into their provincial architecture. The complex
reasoning behind these localized designs is just now coming to light by scholars.
Thus, there is much left to learn about the great variability in Inca architecture
across the vast expanse of Tahuantinsuyu, the Inca Empire.