Open House Santiago 2022 features over 70 places to visit

Read the original version in Spanish here.

Published on January 17, 2022

The fifth edition of the Open House Santiago 2022 (OH!Stgo) festival features more than 70 free tours guided by photographers, architects, community leaders, historians, and residents. From January 14 to 23, 2022, the event aims to span 23 municipalities across the Metropolitan Region, with the goal of fostering the connection between the city, learning, and care.

Open House Santiago is part of the Open House Worldwide network, which brings together more than 50 cities across five continents. For one weekend a year, the event invites the public to explore buildings and spaces in Santiago that are typically inaccessible. Organized by Fundación Aldea, this year's OH!Stgo focuses on the theme “The City and Care,” adapting to the care requirements of the pandemic context.

Considering how differently the global health crisis affected each of us, the urban challenges that Santiago has yet to address are highly visible. The lack of appreciation for care is expressed spatially, in both public spaces and the environment. By focusing on caring for oneself, others, and the environment, architecture, urban planning, and the city play a significant role in promoting quality urban spaces.

“When we think about the right to the city and the inclusion of everyone in how we design and plan our environments, the active and binding participation of its inhabitants takes on special importance, since without them it is not possible to build a political dialogue that allows developing adequate solutions to the diversity of problems that exist in our cities” - Magdalena Novoa, co-director of Aldea and OH!Stgo, PhD in Architecture and Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Featuring in-person activities with limited capacity as well as virtual events open to all, this new edition invites participants to rediscover the city, its history, and its people, while analyzing how examples of architectural, engineering, environmental, planning, and urban design value can contribute to a better quality of life for its citizens. The selected tours aim to spark discussion on new ways to integrate today's segregated city through spaces and initiatives focused on environmental care. Highlights include the National Stadium National Memory site (Ñuñoa), the Los Nogales neighborhood murals (Estación Central), and tours guided by residents of the Bellavista, Parque Forestal, Yungay, Persa Biobío, and Pedro Aguirre Cerda Civic Center neighborhoods.

In addition, the nature surrounding and woven into the city will be highlighted through tours of Cerro Renca, Cantalao Natural Park (Peñalolén), and a bird-watching workshop at the Metropolitan Park. Other thematic tours will explore Santiago Constituyente, Archaeological Santiago, Geological Santiago, Santiago Cinemas and Theaters, and Santiago Under Fire. Featured indoor venues will include the -ARyS Building by José Domingo Peñafiel and Tánica by +Arquitectos (Vitacura), alongside modern architectural gems such as the Antumapu Campus (La Pintana) and the Benedictine Chapel (Las Condes).

Sponsored by the Metropolitan Regional Government, the lineup includes green activism and biodiversity projects such as the Mapocho River recovery bio-routes and a tour of the Environmental Management Directorate (DIGA) of the Municipality of La Pintana, which showcases a domestic organic waste self-management system. Meanwhile, the municipality of Santiago will offer 25 tours and visits aimed at introducing citizens to the area's archaeological, heritage, cultural, and architectural significance. The selection features thematic tours such as “ground zero” or “the new constitution and state buildings,” as well as visits to contemporary interventions in heritage properties, including the Magnolia Hotel by Chilean architect Cazú Zegers.

Three new digital projects will also be presented online: an urban architecture guide, 360° architectural tours, and the launch of the podcast series “Causa Común,” produced by Fundación Lepe in collaboration with Fundación Aldea.