The proposal for the new municipality of Alto del Carmen was developed for an isolated and extreme location in the Andes mountain range, in northern Chile, and was intended to build a simple and emblematic building that would accommodate all the municipal facilities scattered throughout the town within a symbolic and modern space that would gather the whole town and the various surrounding communities living under different situations, whether in terms of work, administration or social life. The municipality was conceived to function as a great common house for the locals and the design, although it is meant to be hermetic to protect from radiation, it opens up to the square and the street to extend the existing public space due to the civic and social role that the enclosure plays in the citizenry. In this way, through this building we proposed to interpret and adapt the particular aesthetics of the place and enhance its potential as a meeting space for citizens.
This project has been published in different mediums, highlighting its appearance in the webpage Archdaily, in the event Time Space Existence during the Biennale Architettura 2016 of La Biennale di Venezia, and in the Archmarathon Awards 2017 where it was finalist in its category.
Architect
León Duval with Espiral, in association with Iglesis Prat Arquitectos
Locality
Alto del Carmen, Atacama
Country
Chile
Area
1.147 m²
Builder
Constructora Rencoret
Structures
R. G. Ingenieros
Electric Engineering
Ingenel
Climate
Termovac
Energy Efficiency
Javier Del Río
Category
Infrastructure