From the architect. “Reinforced concrete does not grow like wood, is not rolled like steel sections, is not jointed like masonry. It is more comparable with cast iron, another material cast in moulds, in which through long experience shapes have been developed which lead easily and gently from one constructive element to the next without any shock or sudden break. It is the overall view which, integrating the parts into the whole, conditions these lovely shapes.” (Robert Maillart, 1938)
When we met the client for the first time, he asked us to do house with the color of the shadow. We thought that was an interesting challenge and we accept to design a private house for a rich client, a program that normally we don’t do because not relevant enough.
We were asked to design a summer/winter house in a remote landscape in the most southern part of Chile. More than a design, the client wanted us to consider all the variables that might be the case for the project and formulate an equation with them; the design then had to be just the resolution of that equation.
Grupo Sud is the conversion of an old perfume factory into an open work space for a holding of 4 companies that are fully integrated in the marketing, production, design and communication areas. The building is located in the city of Santiago, in the “Italia” neighborhood that encompasses design, art and decoration luxury stores.
The Project is located in Caleta El Sauce, a coastal enclave in the province of Ovalle, north of Fray Jorge National Park. The local population, which is essentially dedicated to fishing and seaweed collection, receives a medical round every 30 days. The project consisted of a temporary installation aimed at receiving and supporting the visiting doctors, as well as providing a social platform from which the landscape is embraced.
In our society we customarily perceive architecture as a luxury, understanding luxury as something valuable and at the same time scarce. We agree with the first component of the definition, but with respect to the second point, we as architects have probably not been persistent enough to build a better quality environment, nor inside or outside the Centres. Now if we define luxury as Bruno Munari does, we realize that, in general, high-level architectural production is associated with improper use of costly materials, which produce an equality gap to the extent that the benefits of good design can only be taken advantage of by those that can afford it.
The rainy city of Concepción, is located in the mouth of the Bío-Bío River, 520 Km south of Santiago. It has aprox. 220.000 inhabitants, but its threshold spans reaches some 630.000 people. The highlights of its economy are the elaboration of steel and the wood industry, both on wide exporting booms. We were asked to design a branch of the ‘Consorcio Nacional de Seguros’, National Insurance Consortium, in a corner site, in front of the only historic and antique church in Concepción, whose façade had been unfortunately reconstructed after an earthquake. Furthermore, it had a front fenced square that impoverished its quality and public character.
The Project arises from the combination between levels and sights, which on the one hand, proposes relations of spacial interior continuity and on the other, it relates this interior with the horizons.
In the first floor, the main topographic levels were redefined as well as the natural paths that existed in the natural terrain to preserve the sensation of moving in the slope. This condition in addition with the size and orientation of the spans constantly frame new horizons of the beach and valley.
Buildings not only convey their physical characteristics, but also symbolic values attributable to experiences and memories, including what we imagine and what we know.
In the case of a house, the bond between the user and the building represents a relationship that gains in symbolic value with everyday use.
Refuge for a mountaineer. The commission consisted of a roof, a kitchen, a bathroom and one room. The necessary to start at dawn the route traced the day before.
The proposal consists in constructing through planes and angles a cover that in its folds allows the entrance and in its cuts the exterior views.
The project is located near Lake Rapel, on a site of 896.5 sqm. This is characterized by a privileged view of the lake and a strong slope in most of its development. The budget forces to minimize the intervention in the slope, containing the largest amount of program in the minimum of flat space available at the beginning of the site. This, together with the high temperatures presented by Rapel’s microclimate in summer, implies the following problems: high program density, excessive solar radiation and lack of comfortable space for recreation.
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