SANTIAGO, CHILE
21 November 2010
Calle Dieciocho is located close to the centre of Santiago, Chile, in an area of historical and architectural value. However, unlike other streets close by, such as,
República and
Avenida Brasil,
calle Dieciocho has not received a similar level of attention or recognition.
Sadly, important historical areas of Santiago, such as this, were badly damaged during the February 26, 2010 earthquake. In some cases, only the façade of some of these buildings stand as testimony of their architectural value.
Calle Dieciocho (en sepia) from
beatriz maturana on
Vimeo.
Modelos de desarrollo urbano y paisaje se abordarán en charlas convocadas en la U. Central
Source: Seconstruye.com
Se trata de encuentros abiertos y gratuitos dirigidos a estudiantes y docentes relacionadas con la arquitectura y disciplinas afines.
Dos actividades de conversación con expertos invitados se han programado para el miércoles 24 de noviembre en la Facultad de Arquitectura, urbanismo y Paisaje de la Universidad Central de Chile. La primera de éstas partirá a las 09.00 con “Evaluación y Panel. Modelos de Desarrollo y Proyecto Urbano”, organizado por el taller Urbanismo V de Escuela de Arquitectura, dirigido por el docente y geógrafo Ricardo Jordán y el ayudante Daniel González.
Find the article
here.
"XVII Bienal de Arquitectura: 8.8 RE-CONSTRUCCIÓN"
Reports Beatriz C. Maturana
After the 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile in February 27—a year in which Chile celebrates it bicentenary of independence—this biennale is not surprisingly characterized by a focus on reconstruction projects; among them, housing, public buildings, and infrastructure. In spite of the enormous reconstruction task, the overall mood of the display is optimistic and confident.
Many of these projects are proposals by various faculties of architecture located in cities representing the most devastated areas. Thus, often these projects are located in small coastal and country towns that would have seldom been featured at earlier biennales. This is one of the many important aspects of this biennale worth carrying into the future.
The city, where culture and the society’s realities are expressed, is described by Lewis Mumford in the following terms:
The city in its complete sense, then, is a geographic plexus, an economic organization, an institutional process, a theatre of social action, and an aesthetic symbol of collective unity. [1]
At the two extremes, I have been to magnificent cities of rather plain architecture and also visited mediocre cities with impressive pieces of architecture—pieces that do not contribute to give the city a coherent rhythm and which instead fight for attention. I was eager to travel to London and see with my own eyes those buildings that I had only seen in photographs, for instance Richard Rogers’ Lloyds building or Norman Foster’s Gherkin—prominent buildings that define the skyline and that, from afar, stand as a promise of a good city. Yet, when in close proximity the enchantment vanishes to expose the real self, a meagre and greedy architectural stance that interiorises anything that may be good about its architecture.
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| Figure 1 - One of the entries to Richard Rogers' Lloyds building. Photograph by author. |
