2015 > Research AS PRACTICE - HOME, SANTIAGO-CHILE

In this private competition we were invited to participate by the Chilean architect Felipe Grallert, who was studying his master’s degree in Architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. In the framework of his final architecture research studio, he invited 8 young Chilean architects’ offices to build a catalog of possible economic housing projects in rural areas of Chile. In this way the order did not have a specific place, it had to be a simple solution, repeatable and replicable in different places of the national territory. The dimensions of the lot to work were 10x20 meters and the maximum interior surface should not exceed 60 square meters.

The first design decision was to work with dry constructive solutions and with standard lumber as the only project material in order to facilitate access to the supply of materials and also that the construction process was the simplest and most familiar for people with hand Un- skilled work.

The second important decision was to understand this task as a system in two simultaneous scales and to establish the arguments of the proposal in the relation of both scales. The first was the work of the unit itself, placing the house in the form of a cross, so we divided the lot into four sectors and at the same time we had four single sectors of the interior housing, each one of them related to two exterior patios, guaranteeing natural lighting and ventilation. On the other hand, the project proposed another scale in the landscape, where each unit in addition to its neighbor formed a system of territorial appropriation in the same way that vine cultivations do in the vineyards of the central Chilean valley, that is to say, a System of structure - pillars and beams - in wood as basic support to receive future colonization’s / appro- priations of their own users.

This exterior structure was in turn the façade of the house, the enclosures and delimitation of the boundaries against the neighbors, the support for technical installations associated with the cultivation and work of the land, the food storage area and utensils of the works Productive. In short, the materialization of a system open to the future appropriations of the users of the dwellings, where the enlarge- ments produced by themselves are going to happen anyway and in this project are assumed from the original primitive design.

2016 - 2017 > Research AS PRACTICE - XX CHILEAN ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM BIENNIAL PUBLIC SPACES IN FRICTION, NEW TYPOLOGIES OF SPONTANEOUS APPROPRIATION IN VULNERABLE PLACES, SANTIAGO-CHILE

For this project the common, everyday, banal and ordinary is a matter of design. It is understood as proposal the interaction and negotiation of the activities and programs that can detonate the relation between: “the sports field/multi- court”, “the informal social centers” and “the plaza”. Three common programs not only of the communes with fewer resources of the city of Santiago, but of many Latin American neighborhoods, available to work for its interesting location -and reflection of existing activities- but often deteriorated.

It seems pertinent and relevant to establish a friction between three typologies –multi-court, social center and plaza–, since their usage times can be complemented. The floor of the courts exists; the need for a plaza is universal, and the community condition inherent to every neighborhood. Would not it be logical to propose a project that relates these activities? That is precisely what is proposed; relate existing conditions of a public quality as a possibility of a new typology to be discussed, as an imperative task for our Latin American cities.

It is proposed to transform the perimeter of “the court” into a programmed structure of spatial units and devices, transforming the floor of it not only for sports practice, but also for the development of cultural and educational events, leisure and sale products. And even more yet, as a common unit delimited by a perimeter or series of spatial units for the community. As a public unit that can be understood according to its schedule and activities as a plaza, social center or field, and at other times as the activities overlap of these programs.

2015 > Competition AS PRACTICE - PROFESSIONAL PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION PAPUDO CONSISTORIAL BUILDING, VALPARAÍSO-CHILE

This project is understood as the formulation of a generic model, based on specific conditions of Papudo, located in the central coast of our country. It seems relevant to us that after the natural phenomena occurred on February 27, 2010 in Chile, any project that is designed in coastal areas should be re-thought out of these facts, being informed on the lessons learned after the earthquake and particularly the later tsunami.

The Argument: The proposal is understood as an organization of volumes/programs that conform a landscape intervention, understanding the project not only as an isolated building, but also as a whole that will house the activities of the municipality and what happens in the plaza of the city. It is proposed a structural grid that will be the trigger for activities and public multiple future uses.

The Public: Because of its location and relevance, the project is not only understood as the consistorial building, but as a system that will detonate the improvement of the public space of Papudo and possible new center of community activities, both in the daily activities of the year, as when there is a large influx of vacationers.

The Activities: We understand the project as a catalog of possible activities to take place on the ground –as a system of use and disuse, possible relationships, spaces transformation and situations in time– during the whole year and not only in times of greater vacationers Influx.

2015 > Competition AS PRACTICE - COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION: NEW BUILDING FOR THE PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE CHILE, SANTIAGO-CHILE

The proposed intervention is part of a system - the campus - that has presented variations and adjustments over time. That is why we understand the project as part of a larger organization, not just as a piece of architecture that relates to a corner of the city. We understand it then with the organization and attributes of the Lo Contador campus, its history and transformations, trying through the project, to generate flexible educational spaces and also meeting spaces both inside and outside the proposed building. We seek to detonate the possibility of uses and activities that may lead to the limit or at least enable the pedagogical experiences of teaching architecture.

Context: As for the urban criteria, to highlight and configure a corner of the campus, to generate a patio that is not only a patio but also a meeting place and a pedagogical expressions one, which is related to the studios, the casino, the religious space and the wooden patio. The various buildings of Lo Contador are a detonator of academic activities that have an impact on its exterior spaces, gardens, patios, stairways, which acquire various configurations of activities and uses during the academic year.

Building: The casona on the campus is a detonator of order, not only for the proposed patio system, but for the interior configuration of the project enclosures; a series of layers ranging from the public to the private in use. A series of vacuums is proposed, the configuration of the enclosures is flexible. A project is designed where the surface of its emplacement in the field is doubled in exterior spaces - patios and decks-. The building is understood as a catalyst for academic experimentation, both for interior activities and for activities that can trigger relations between students and academics.