2016 MCHAP
Valparaiso Pavilion
Sebastian Irarrazaval
Valparaiso, Chile
April 2015
PRIMARY AUTHOR
Sebastian Irarrázaval
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Macarena Burdiles (Collaborator) Not S.A. (Wood Manufacturing) Ficticios Gigantes (Balloon Manufacturing) Francisco Quintana & Trinidad Sánchez (Content Production)
CLIENT
Dirección Escuela de Arquitectura Universidad Catolica de Chile
PHOTOGRAPHER
Felipe Fontecilla Cristobal Palma
OBJECTIVE
The implementation needed to comply with the following requirements: firstly, that it could be assembled and disassembled in many different locations, and secondly, that it could host conferences and exhibitions. In response to these needs, the project was designed based on the repetition of a wooden modular unit, 5 meters high, which like a folding beach chair could be deployed for use and then folded for transportation and storage. In order to generate on one side, a steady and stable space and on the other, to create the necessary conditions to host conferences and exhibitions, this module was repeated 36 times around a rotation axis so that a ring-shaped podium of 14 meters in diameter and 5 meters high is produced, containing a circular corridor for exhibitions towards the exterior, and a circular bench for conferences towards the interior. The cover of this wooden ring is provided by a PVC inflatable sphere with a diameter of 12 meters which, while covering and illuminating the space, acts as a sign, announcing the pavilion from a distance.
CONTEXT
The commission consisted in developing a pavilion to celebrate the 120 years since the foundation of the School of Architecture of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, which was first to be installed in the faculty’s campus and later moved to Valparaíso to be reused as an exhibition space. In this sense the commission had two main aspects: first, a material concern associated with its physical implementation, and second, the immaterial or symbolic aspect connected to the question for the proper type of space to celebrate a reunion or solemn act such as this.
PERFORMANCE
the symbolic character of the proposal, the circular shape reminds of the solemn sense of community that has been forged over these 120 years of existence at the School of Architecture UC, and makes explicit reference to a long tradition of building monuments by using platonic shapes. After the celebration of the 120 years and in the context of the XIX Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, the pavilion, this time under the name of Valparaíso Pavilion, was moved to the ruins of the Subercaseaux Palace in Valparaíso to host 64 student and teachers’ projects from the Schools of Architecture of the Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Valparaíso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, who in collaboration proposed a common view for the waterfront of the city of Valparaíso.
