Tag: santiago-de-chile | ArchDaily

The Chilean Architecture Biennial Revives a Church Ruin as a Temporary Pavilion

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Between September 25 and October 5, 2025, the XXIII Chilean Architecture and Urbanism Biennial took place in Santiago. Under the title "DOUBLE EXPOSURE: (re)program · (re)adapt · (re)construct," the event was organized around the idea of "understanding architecture not as the production of the new, but as the ability to reactivate what already exists." Based on this premise, the curatorial team, composed of Ángela Carvajal and Sebastián López (Anagramma Arquitectes) together with Óscar Aceves, conceived a circuit of eight venues located in downtown Santiago. Their goal was to revive and reclaim urban spaces through a series of free public activities that drew around 70,000 visitors. Among the reactivated sites, the ruins of the San Francisco de Borja Church stood out. Burned during the social outburst of October 2019, the site hosted a temporary pavilion that served as a venue for talks, readings, art installations, discussions, and community events.

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.

UMWELT and Plan Común to Transform Partially Demolished Housing Block Into a Museum in Villa San Luis, Chile

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The residential project Villa San Luis, originally named Villa Compañero Ministro Carlos Cortés, was built between 1971 and 1972 on land that today lies in one of the highest-income areas of Santiago, Chile. Initially designed as an urban center for 60,000 middle-income residents, with staggered buildings and a civic center covering 3.4 of its 50 hectares, the project was redefined in the 1970s to accommodate the unhoused population in the eastern sector of the Chilean capital. The process was not without conflict. During the dictatorship, the new residents of the complex were evicted, and the land was acquired by the military. From then on, the complex entered a process of reappropriation and resignification that now appears to be reaching a new milestone: the conversion of one of its buildings into a memorial site and museum, through a project by UMWELT and Plan Común.

Exploring Vulnerable Habitats in the XXII Chile Architecture Biennial

Fabian Dejtiar — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 04:30:00 +0000

After the interruption of the 2019 edition due to the Social crisis in Chile, the Chilean Architecture Biennial returned to Santiago in January 2023 under the theme of 'Vulnerable Habitats', addressing issues such as "the emergence of the housing deficit in a context in which slums, informality, and illegal land takeovers have increased in recent years" and "the vulnerability and deterioration of public spaces; the urgent protection of tangible heritage; and environmental vulnerability in a context of a climate crisis."

Entremuros Event Center / Triangular + Gonzalo de la Parra

Benjamin Zapico — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The assignment consisted of the design of an event center for 1,000 people located in Santiago de Chile. The ruins of an old 19th-century mansion are located on a small hill on the lot.