Building renovation and auditorium addition, School of Fine Arts, Universidad de Chile / Emilio Marin + Albert Tidy

Architects: Emilio Marín + Albert Tidy
Collaborators: Nicolas Norero, Rodrigo Valenzuela
Location: Campus Juan Gomez Millas, School of Fines Arts, Universidad de Chile.
Project years: 2004 – 2007
Constructed area: 1.700 m2
Structure Engineer: Sergio Contreras y associates
Contractor: Constructora Habitex Ltda.
Color photography: Cristobal Palma
B/W photography: Nicolas Rupcich

After the 1969 fire of the Art School which has been located at the forest park since 1910, the art faculty was forced to sub-rent part of its facilities as classrooms.

It was at the early 70’s, just when the masterpieces Juan Gomez Millas were starting to be built, that president Salvador Allende asked the architect Ricardo Alegría to build a new Department of plastic arts. Soon after the military cue, the construction stopped, only remaining the steel structures that for 30 year held nothing but air.

These steel structures are base for a project of rehabilitation that foresees the construction of a new auditorium holding 250 people, the remodeling of Adolfo Couve salon (a small auditorium) an English backyard that will improve the wind conditions as well as the light of the existing classroom, and a casino at the hall of Las Encinas at the art faculty on the Campus “Juan Gomez Millas”.

Interventions

Auditorium and Casino: Improvement of the existing steel structure. A skin glass and a cover with a walking section, mark the previous columns to create the main volume, on the inside where the auditorium is, a second smaller volume is covered with a wooden skin, , and finally a third volume, the stage.

English yard: the yard was redone to improve its conditions on a semi-buried hall within the perimeter of the existing building to allow people to enjoy it.

Adolfo Couve salon: Improvement of the small existing auditorium.

The idea to intervene on this project is also to make a change to the Campus “Juan Gomez Millas” and to promote the building at new stages, in order to bring life to arts, human studies and social sciences in to the Universidad de Chile.