Archinect - News

Arquine showcases the beauty of Chilean and Mexican architecture in two new books

2020-05-06T13:45:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Arquine

Images of Contemporary Chilean Architecture

In the winter, 15 photographers visited some of the most iconic contemporary architecture projects that have put Chile on the map over the last three decades. A collection of new images presents the singularity of these works that have shaped the recent imaginary and brought visibility to this area of Chile’s cultural development. The photographs hover over details, forms, textures, lights and colors, in spaces, landscapes or natural environments.

Image © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of Arquine

Documentary excerpts show the ways of life, the relations between buildings and cities or natural environments. This new view of these constructions highlights their contributions, intrinsic value, and the possible contemporary currents affecting the local culture. This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition Winter: Images of Contemporary Chilean Architecture within the...

The War on Cliché; A Conversation with Alejandro Aravena

2019-09-20T18:46:00-04:00

On this episode, we're joined by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. A long-familiar name to most of our listeners, Aravena’s work gained significant media attention upon winning the Pritzker Prize in 2016, elevating his reputation for working to address some of today’s most difficult issues through participatory design, engaging users, groups, experts, and the public-at-large. His most notable projects are his “incremental housing” developments, a partially subsidized low-income solution for displaced families providing half-built homes for families to complete on their own, within their own budgets and tastes. Elemental has since released the plans for these projects for free, via download from their website.

Quinta Monroy, by Elemental

Villa Verde, one of the four projects whose plans have been released to the public by Elemental. From Archinect's article "Inside Aravena's open source plans for low-cost yet upgradable housing"

This week Aravena was awarded another significant priz...

Alejandro Arevena's alluring concrete vacation home

2018-10-12T20:28:00-04:00

The radical, four-bedroom vacation house is part of the Ochoalcubo project – a pioneering ‘architectural laboratory’ led by the entrepreneur and architecture lover Eduardo Godoy. Leading Chilean and Japanese practices including Aravena, Smiljan Radic, Toyo Ito and Sou Fujimoto were asked to design a series of ground-breaking homes on the coast of Ochoquebradas.

Pritzker Prize-winner Alejandro Aravena uses the Chilean landscape of Coquimbo to create a weekend home oozing with dramatic appeal and a moody ancient beauty. The vacation home is comprised of three large concrete volumes specifically stacked one against the other. Sitting on a hilltop overlooking the Chilean coast, the home, at first glance exudes an "ancient" looking quality.

Image via Chile Sotheby’s International Realty

The massively rugged, boulder like structure was heavily influenced by primitivistic values. Its simplistic exterior is carried through out the entire house. The interiority of the space reflects modernist principles that focus on a flow of indoor/outdoor space and a loyalty to basic materials.

Image via Chile Sotheby’s International Realty

At the center of the home is a large fire pit that accents the room without frills. The exposed concrete surfaces found through out the structure complement the floor-to-ceiling glass walls that can be found in each of the fo...

Mountaineer's Refuge provides a home base for trekking in Chile

2018-01-04T16:04:00-05:00

Located in San Esteban, Chile, the Mountaineer's Refuge was designed by Gonzalo Iturriaga Arquitectos as a small cabin to be a point of arrival and departure for mountaineer treks. The space functions as a shelter and lookout for contemplation and relaxation and requires only the bare necessities for a mountain expedition rest stop: a roof, kitchen, bedroom, mountaineering equipment storage, and stunning panoramic views.

With a pine finished exterior, cuts and folds define the structure's access points. Mountaineer's Refuge rests on piles, making it a self-contained object suspended above the ground. The building is ventilated on all sides provided from the mountain's updraft into a series of dedicated openings.

Chile's local hero: Michael Kimmelman profiles Alejandro Aravena

2016-05-23T12:59:00-04:00

Aravena polished off his beer when a stranger sidled up to the table. It happens all the time now. Drivers in passing cars stop him in the street. Shop clerks, politicians, long-lost acquaintances and schoolteachers ask for selfies with him. They all say the same thing. “Thank you,” the stranger said to Aravena, who smiled and posed arm in arm with the man for a picture. Thank you — as if the Pritzker prize...had been awarded on behalf of everybody in Chile.

Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for the New York Times, profiles Alejandro Aravena's projects in his native Chile, on the cusp of this year's Venice Biennale opening (which Aravena is also directing). The profile largely focuses on Aravena's social practice, and its attempts at coordinating efforts among the Chilean government, construction companies and actual citizens – most prominently, after the 2010 earthquake in Constitución.

For a comparative take on Aravena, from before he won the Pritzker or was named director of the 2016 Venice Biennale, check out Carolina A. Miranda's (art critic for the Los Angeles Times) piece profiling Chile's emerging group of promising and talented architects.

For more on Aravena and the Chilean architecture scene: