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Mamani is the architect behind many of these new "chalets", which with their irregular forms and playful windows stand out from their earth-coloured surroundings. "I want to give this city an identity," he says, "like an eternal exposition."

He quotes the local Aymara indigenous culture as his main source of inspiration: the circles, the Andean cross and the designs reminiscent of butterflies, snakes and frogs featured on the facades are taken from the ponchos usually worn in the High Andean plateau region.

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Since Evo Morales was elected as Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2005, the economy has boomed and, over the past decade, extreme poverty - those living below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day - has been reduced by more than a third. According to the 2006 and 2012 census of the United Nations, about 1.2 million Bolivians have become middle class.

Many of these people are indigenous, and some are now so affluent that they can afford to build their own home or "chalet".

A typical "chalet" consists of a ground floor with a covered car park, a second floor with a grand ballroom, an upper floor with apartments and a roof with a replica of a traditional El Alto brick house.

At the Prince Alexander, one of Mamani's most spectacular works, the leftovers of last Saturday night's party are being cleaned up under the glare of a two-metre-long chandelier that features 120 LED bulbs.