Photographer: Felipe Fontecilla | ArchDaily

Reflecting on Territory, Topography, and Landscape: Discover WHALE!’s Projects in Chile

Agustina Iñiguez — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What logics and dynamics are involved in conceiving an architecture in dialogue with the territory and the landscape? How does topography determine the design and development process of architectural projects? Founded in Santiago, Chile, around 2012, the architecture firm WHALE! works with the concepts of territory and landscape as key axes of study and reflection in the pursuit of understanding how architecture is not only capable of designing spaces, but also of shaping the way human beings live, feel, and relate to the world.

Pavilion for Good Sleep / WHALE!

Paula Pintos — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 19:00:00 +0000

A pavilion for good sleep requires an eastern orientation, to wake up with the morning sun.

Mews House / Ampuero Yutronic

Clara Ott — Tue, 14 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

This new residence is located in the center of London. It replaces a typical post-war building located on a modest cobbled street within a local conservation area dominated by luxurious terraced houses along picturesque passages and streets, reflecting the rich history of English residential architecture from the 18th to the 20th century. The client sought a quiet place away from the hustle and bustle of the local area in the heart of Mayfair and the city in general.

The Bathroom Behind the Bed: 8 Bedrooms With Integrated Bathrooms

José Tomás Franco — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 07:30:00 +0000

Unlike classical architecture, characterized by a series of rooms with very defined functions and spaces, the current architectural design seeks to integrate spaces to achieve high degrees of adaptability and flexibility. In this way, the boundaries of the enclosures are blurred and new solutions appear that are worth analyzing. In the case of bedrooms, bathrooms are often no longer a small and secluded adjoining room – instead, they are now integrated to form a multifunctional space that is subtly concealed. Just like Mies van der Rohe, who used to group services in strategic areas to create open floors, let's review some cases that have adopted the specific solution of the hidden bathroom just behind the bed.

Guest Pavilion / TIRONI BARTLAU

Clara Ott — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The Guest Pavilion is a freestanding extension of a beach house located at the rear of a long, narrow site that faces the Pacific Ocean.

Enfermedades Preciosas Installation / Iván Bravo Arquitectos

Andreas Luco — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

There are many reasons why we can find plant species inside an architectural space and in almost every one of them is evident the desire of architecture to differentiate itself from the plant and reduce it, at best, to ornamentation contained in an autonomous device called building. Hiding in the process all traces of a common origin. The museum room is one of these places where architecture strives to hide its natural reality in order to become a curtain that hides behind it everything, we think we know. Where the planet disappears to make room only for representations of it.

3D Printing, Prefabrication, and Interior Design: Construction Trends for 2022

Materials — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 07:30:00 +0000

Jorge Drexler sings, in one of his songs, that “we always look at the river, contemplating the other riverbank”. Beyond understanding everything that was done, looking back at the past year can serve to get some clues about the future. This 2021, we published more than 160 articles in the Materials & Products section, covering a wide range of topics. From complex concepts such as 4D printing or very little processed materials such as hempcrete and bamboo, drawing a retrospective of the covered themes and understanding what interested our readers the most is an interesting exercise to foreshadow some trends in the future of the construction field. Looking at our most viewed articles, three large themes are evident: 3D printing, pre-fabrication, and interior renovation. Below, we present a compilation of each topic, reflecting on what we can dare to say about the trends in the construction industry that should consolidate in 2022.

Residence 195 / Ampuero Yutronic

Valeria Silva — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 17:00:00 +0000

The project is located in an eastern district of Santiago, Chile. Residence 195 is a complete renovation of an apartment on the19th floor of a residential high-rise building, which is orientated to provide expansive views towards the Manquehue hills surrounding the east of the city and the Andes mountains beyond.

East Extension Center / Arquitectura DESE UC

Pilar Caballero — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0000

The project for the Facade and Covered Courtyard Building of the Eastern Extension Center is part of a larger plan, commissioned in 2013, which proposed to give new life and incorporate new functions to the built complex of the Eastern Campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. The original project belongs to Juan Lyon and Luis Azócar and was built around 1930. Various partial orders were articulated around the original plan. Now was the turn for the Academic Building of the Faculty of Arts and the remodelling of two groups of rooms of the old building. The fundamental question that accompanied these interventions was how to work with a building close to one hundred years old, whose materiality, brick and concrete, and whose venerable spaces enjoyed considerable appreciation on the part of its users.

Beals Lyon Architects Wins the 2020 Oscar Niemeyer Award in Latin American Architecture

Fabian Dejtiar — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 05:00:00 +0000

On November 18, the Panamerican Architecture Biennial of Quito announced the winning projects of the 2020 Oscar Niemeyer Award for Latin American Architecture.

Public Spaces and Human Scale: The City at Eye Level While Moving at 5 KM/H

Santiago Baraya — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 07:30:00 +0000

During the first days of the quarantine, we noticed a drastic change throughout the world's cities—streets, plazas, and parks deserted and devoid of life, putting into perspective the powerful effect that humans have on urban spaces. Here, we have compiled a list of projects and spaces that show just how humans bring life to the places they inhabit.

Zagreb Office / Oficina Bravo

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Zagreb Office is a transformation project to turn a pre-existing structure into office spaces. The building is located on a corner site in Santiago, in an urban renewal zone that combines residential buildings and workshops.

36 Architecture Firms from the Global South You Should Know

ArchDaily Team — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 08:45:00 +0000

Countries that are part of the so-called “global south” have undergone many transformations in their cities and urban contexts in recent years due to the economic and social challenges they face. Urban growth, sustainable development, quality of life and health in emerging cities, and the development of their own cultural identity have been some of the issues that local architecture had to incorporate.

Young architects have understood the importance of making an architecture that is deeply rooted in their own territory while giving this architecture a clear local identity. By generating new typologies and using their own resources and materials, they have presented innovative, site-specific, and, above all, solutions with a new fresh focus towards what represents them as creators of this architecture.

Mendes da Rocha and Al Borde among Winners of the XI Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial (XI BIAU)

Nicolás Valencia — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In Asunción (Paraguay), the XI Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial (XI BIAU) have presented the winners of the Panorama de Obras section (Projects Panorama) of this contest edition, "all faithful to the spirit of the XI BIAU: living, the inhabitant," according to the organization.

New City Hall in Nancagua / Beals Lyon Arquitectos

Daniel Tapia — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 13:00:00 +0000

The new City Hall in Nancagua, a small rural town in Central Chile, aims to create a space able to accommodate various public situations and events. Because of its location, close to an old public park and to several historical buildings, it also makes possible the recovery and enhancement of the local heritage, both natural and manmade. The project, winner of a public competition, focuses not on the construction of an iconic volume, but rather on the creation of a memorable and public void that effectively connects the city with the valuable, but previously overlooked the public park.

Hualle House / Ampuero Yutronic

Daniel Tapia — Fri, 04 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Hualle House is a 230m2 family home located in the southern Araucania region of Chile, renowned for its natural beauty.

Tierras Blancas House / Gonzalo Claro

Daniel Tapia — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 13:00:00 +0000

The Tierras Blancas house is located in a rural zone in the central valley of Chile were the Norwest wind sweeps the place most of the year and water shortage doesn't allow the presence of high vegetation. The dueling is set on soft slope hillside between three Hawthorns that were considered valuable to preserve due to their height and age. The project was conceived as a system rather than a finished piece, with the ability to be flexible in its use and allow future growth, thus defining what could be modified and what should be permanent. The program was developed through two pavilions arranged in parallel with a north- south orientation.

Lacaton & Vassal and UMWELT Awarded the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennale's Lifetime Achievement and Début Awards

Romullo Baratto — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 13:30:00 +0000

French studio Lacaton & Vassal and Chilean studio UMWELT have been revealed as the recipients of the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennale's Lifetime Achievement Award and Début Award, respectively. An award ceremony will take place on the 15th November 2016 at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), followed by a conference convened by Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal.