2018 MCHAP
Lo Barnechea Municipality
Gonzalo Mardones V.
Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile
February 2017
PRIMARY AUTHOR
Gonzalo Mardones V.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Gonzalo Mardones Viviani Arquitectos (Architectural Firm)
CLIENT
Lo Barnechea Municipality
PHOTOGRAPHER
Nicolás Saieh Andrés Goñi Huneeus
OBJECTIVE
The project has been based on some architectural and programmatic principles which have been synthetize in a clear architectonic proposal. The Geometry composes a volumetric shape which perfectly fits with human and urban scale of the surrounding context and its proportions. The use of a single material gives harmony, simplicity and order. One of the main ideas was to create a complete-open-building, which could face all the surroundings without declaring a principal facade. The Municipality open itself all around, trying to show the public life inside of it. Following the same logic, from inside the building is possible to appreciate the exterior environment. The public space is the "heart" of the building. An empty space that runs through a set of double and triple heights. The building also includes the subsoil which is spatially connected by stairs and double heights to receive the main public activities and services. It is fundamental to take advantage of the potential that offer the fifth and sixth facades (roof and subsoil) as an expansion of the building spaces guaranteeing the benefit of natural light and ventilation. The interior spatial articulation always try to set a connection with the exterior landscape even through a simple panoramic or perspective view. This is the reason why of the presence of many squares and little balconies all around the building facades which will host many trees in future.
CONTEXT
Lo Barnechea is characterized for being an urban district situated on the eastern border of Santiago de Chile Metropolitan Area, with a direct contact with the Andes Mountain Range. The building, situated in a relevant urban position, is a place where inclusion, participation, identity, concentration and social relationship manifest themselves, as well as pride and sense of belonging. Nowadays the value of Social Inclusion has to be taken in consideration by any public institution, particularly in the case of a Lo Barnechea Municipality which counts a considerable percentage of needy people in its suburban areas. Every street, park and building is recognized by its own urban scale, proportion and architectural precision, and the City needs a recognizable urban figure. Architecture musts rescue and add value to indigenous essence with sensibility and interacts with the urban and natural surrounding environment and its elements, considering materiality, colour, textures and scale of volumes.
PERFORMANCE
In a public and private building, it is important to generate both functional and spatial relationships so that they can be interspersed in a continuum. The relationship between the outer space and the interior promoted through the permeability, which is expanded by double heights and use of the fifth façade, allows a set of cross relationships that dynamizes the whole. The multifunctionality allows the flexibility in the use of spaces and permit to prolong the useful life of the building and its responsive programme. All these functions and services work separately but in the same time coexist and are complementary between each other, serving a constant flow of people which animates the interior of the building and its public spaces.