Casa Mara also called Ipostel module is a type of prefabricated housing module designed in 1972 by the Venezuelan architect Jorge Castillo Blanco, winner of the 1999 national architecture award of Venezuela. They were designed as family homes, mostly they were given institutional use, they functioned as offices of the public postal company of Venezuela, the Postal Telegraph Institute of Venezuela (Ipostel) and others as dental service units and police modules.[1]​[2]​[3]​[4]​[6]​.

There were several projects that used the Casa Mara design, such as a hotel, daycare centers and homes, but these were never executed. As time went by, many were abandoned, fell into disrepair and disappeared. Currently, a small number remain standing, some privately owned and others in public spaces that have become tourist attractions. National Architecture and was one of the works that represented Venezuela in the exhibition in New York at the Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980 held at the MoMA museum in 2015.[4]​[7]​[8]​.

It is circular in shape with a concrete base about 7.7 meters in diameter, composed of a dome of 2.1 meters in diameter and 10 segments "Gajo (textile)") of the wall-ceiling type, 2.7 meters high and weighing approximately 85 kilos, some with windows and a door, constructed of fiberglass-reinforced polyester joined with rigid expanded polyurethane by means of assembly and screws, the original design can be expanded by adding more segments or by joining several modules. through a coupling tunnel.[3][4][9]​.

Some advantages of this type of modules are low cost, easy maintenance, resistance, speed and flexibility in construction. The modules can be extended by adding more expansion segments or by coupling several modules both vertically and horizontally. roof.[9]​ the polyester used in its manufacture produces high pollution and this plastic is not biodegradable, although there are modification proposals to correct its disadvantages[9]​.

The houses were designed in 1972 as a family home, a total of 94 units were manufactured and distributed throughout Venezuela, approximately 43 were purchased by the public institution Corporación Venezolana de Fomento (CVF) for the Industrial Experimental Center for Food Production (CIEPE) and since then they have been used as homes by some of its workers. Casa Mara in the Los Monjes Archipelago, a territory disputed between Venezuela and Colombia, however, most of the remaining modules were used by state institutions, at the national level they were mainly used as offices of Ipostel, a public postal company in Venezuela, due to their shape and the fact that they were painted orange, they were popularly known as mandarins or auyamitas (pumpkin).[3]​[4]​[9]​[10]​.