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Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral
Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral
277, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago, Chile
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Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral
277, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago, Chile
YEAR
2010
SIZE
1,000,000 +
We live in times where demolishing a building is
easier than restoring and placing a value on it. There is a hidden history in
the objects and buildings that is necessary to discover or rediscover.
When we work with an existing structure we cannot
avoid to make a continuous reading of the elements and the background of the
original building work. For us this is the searching of a riddle and having the
opportunity to figure it out.
We like to think that this riddle can be solved, in the words
of Pierre Bourdien, as a “sense of play” and it does not depend necessarily on the designers but on the
passage of time and wear and on the
social agents involved. We believe that
this fact alone deserves to be unveiled, and in this case maybe it was our only
premise upon design.
We think restoring the Diego Portales building (or
what is left of it) is a gift. We saw a
challenge but also a golden opportunity of working with all this historical
burden that in our opinion could not be wasted on short-term political desires specially on some
atavistic declaration of “clean slate” of the architect on duty.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
This building, like no other, has been an important actor
in our recent history characterized by
an ideological and political polarization, and by the social division. It was
erected as a symbol of “the new man” during
the government of president
Salvador Allende and after the coupe became the seat of government of
General Pinochet’s regime, embodying the “Center of Power”
So,
in the last three decades, from the perspective of the city, this building has been surrounded by
railings, closed and guarded by security requirements required by the
government and after by the Ministry of Defence of four administrations. For
this reason the building has not been regarded as a beloved object and has a biography a kind of “bipolar”
The
original structure was designed and built in record time. As a strategy, a
large deck of colossal dimensions was conceived by the architects and
subsequently installed underneath the premises defined by the regulations
during the construction of the building.
From
the beginning the urban impact caused
was deep since a large building, on one
side, is perching on the sidewalk of the main avenue and on the other side is
invading a residential zone with little
french style buildings
On
March 5, 2006 a fire started in the east sector of the building destroying
completely the Great Hall of plenary
sessions with a capacity of 2,000 people.
This leads the government to make
a decision regarding its future and
calls for an international architecture competition in which our project won the first place among 55 proposals.
URBAN
PROPOSAL
The
way of how to face the problem, from an urban viewpoint, is not from the
building itself but from its environment,
that is, the piece of city that surround
it and which has not been connected with for many years. Therefore the first
thing that appeal to us were the block’s buildings and public spaces.
Our
design strategy was to determine its role in the city. The building just
adapted itself to an urban design that, in our view, re-establishes the
connection of the place with its context
becoming on the exact opposite of what
is today. Here the words of Jean Nouvel make all the sense: "A contemporary building being part of a site or an existing project is
successful when is able to enhance its surroundings and at the same time being
enhanced by them”
Our
proposal, from a technical and expressive perspective, is simple since it
adopts the architectural ideas and qualities of the original project and that
is interpreted in a contemporary way for the construction of a new group of
premises.
Four
main ideas stood out but we fused them into a single concept of “transparency”.
These are: the openness towards the city
and its urban relation by setting a large deck and loose volumes underneath;
the built of new public spaces; the
opening of the building to the community by including a community program;
legitimate the project by incorporating as many social agents to give shape to
a new benchmark for the city.
This
proposal seeks to segment this large
urban outline in three small-scale buildings being able to articulate a set of
new public spaces.
OPENNESS
AND TRANSPARENCY
We
choose to reveal and display part of the varied life inside the building to the
exterior and somehow show the activities and their protagonists and share them
with the passer- by.
The
building plays an important role in the spreading of what is going on inside. Furthermore,
from the urban perspective, is a gift to
the city providing it with new public roof covered and equipped spaces. A
building used for cultural and artistic activities should always have different
degrees of transparency and being shared not only with their direct users but
also with the community in general.
In
a context where showing everything is impossible (since inside the building
many halls are used for entertainment) the challenge is to know what to show
and how. This means the different degrees
of transparency are displayed through a façade system that gradually goes from
the wide open and transparent to the totally opaque and closed.
The
project displays these halls for performing arts as “boxes or containers” in
which music, dance and theater are performed. From outside we will not able to
see what is happening inside but we feel that it is something important.
The
most significant in a hall for performing arts is that it must be completely
dissociated from the exterior to create its own reality. The lights dim
bringing the darkness, there is silence. Only in that moment the fantasy is spread
as a new reality. The play has begun.
THE PREMISES AND BUILDING
LAYOUT
Horizontally
viewed, the building layout is based on three main volumes or “buildings”
containing the three major areas of the project. These are, from west to east
in the same order as the buildings are set out: The Documentation Center for
the Performing Arts and Music (Library); Training Room for Performing Arts and
Music (Rehearsal Rooms, Museums and Exhibition Halls) and the Great Concert
Hall (Theater for 2,000 people)
On the level of the public space, these three
buildings are separated and can be totally encircled by pedestrians and make
the most of the project, but in the lower levels they are all connected making
up one single building. The spaces between them have been transformed into covered
squares that are the main public spaces and invite the passer-by to occupy a
building that merge into the city.
The
first two structures facing eastwards are part of the redesigning of the
existing building which survived the fire whereas the remaining structure (The
great Concert Hall) is a new work.
Viewed vertically, the premises are connected through
triple height halls in which we have an overview of the project and find our bearing in each
building. These halls are connected
directly to each one of the squares being an extension of them. This is
reinforced by using the same type of
concrete indoors and outdoors avoiding the vertical structural elements in this
enclosure and achieving a high degree of
transparency .
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
All the main materials making up the building have
been found in the original structure and it is worth to stand out five of them:
Weathering steel (Corten steel), Exposed reinforced concrete, Glass, Steel and
Timber. We don’t think in the use of these materials as they appear listed on
catalogues but as construction materials
that are taken to the limit of their expressiveness.
Weathering steel is the perfect link between past,
present and future. This fine material is far from being part of the “pre-painted” solutions and
imitations. It is present in the original structure and now we try to take it
to the extreme in the new building by using it as coating for facades, ceilings
and concrete. This material has also been used in its varied forms such as
perforated, smooth, folded and standard. Its quality over time still amazes us.
This coating, which is mostly used in our facades alternating with glass
curtain walls and large windows follows two basic plays and several secondary
ones. In the first basic play we find perforated weathering steel that is the skin
of the building and tries to cover it all over, but when there are premises inside
the building and they deserve being watched from the exterior, the view of these elements is interrupted and
a glass volume appears revealing a fascinating interior. This is the case of
the dance rehearsal room, the reading
room in the library and other halls in the building. The second play is the
appearance of the glass boxes that deforms the weathering steel surface
producing folds that change completely
the way which the light is projected on the facades. Combining these two
plays it creates a curious sort of spontaneity
in the design preparing us to future readings. Only one type of concrete has
been used in the project both interior
and for the exterior squares and strips
of weathering steel of 3,9 x 46,8 inches
have been placed randomly on it.
RESTORATION AND RELOCATION OF UNCTAD
III ART COLLECTION
Many artists were convened by the original UNCTAD
III project to create pieces of art
specially made for the building. Many of
these works were already integrated to the architecture of the building such as
the vitraux ( stained-glass window) by Juan Bernal Ponce and the works of
Nemesio Antunez and Felix Maruenda. Only few of these works survived to the
passage of time and the different users of the building.
In this way fourteen pieces of art available in the
original building have been integrated harmoniously into the new project.
Sculptures by Sergio Mallol, Sergio Castillo, Marta Colvin and Samuel Román
were relocated in the new building. Juan
Egenau´s door was restored and installed as an access to the exhibition room of
the Museum of American Popular Art (MAPA). The vitraux by Juan Bernal Ponce was
restored with modern technology and relocated on one of the main square`s deck.
Door’s handles by Ricardo Meza and pictures by José Venturelli were also
relocated to cite some examples. However, we believe this is only a little part
of the task. From our point of view it would be ideal the retrieval of the
majority of the pieces from the UNCTAD III
art collection and outnumber the fourteen pieces retrieved (35% out of a total of 40 original pieces ). So we may
retrieve 5 works (two works by Roberto Matta, two by Roser Bru and one by
Gracia Barrios) currently being
exhibited in other museums, through administrative resources adding up 18 works(45%).
Other six works that might be rebuilt (four handcrafted works by Manzano_we
have information about a group of craftsman that are able to make similar
pieces from an existent model_1 relief by Iván Vilches from which there is a
scale model, 1 mural painting by Nuñez who is willing to assist in the restore
of his work. So we totalize 25 works of art retrieved, this is a 60% of the
total collection. The thirteen works remaining could be replaced by works of
the same artists.
It
is obvious that this course of action seems suitable given the UNCTAD III
Collection have a high patrimonial and artistic value and required additional
efforts by all parties involved, many of them anonymous, at the beginning of
the project but it is well worth mentioning.
STAGECRAFT
AND ACOUSTICS
The
building has a sophisticated acoustic and staging system necessary for the main
activities.
From
the acoustic point of view each room was treated independently seeking an
acoustic comfort according to each activity. Generally the acoustic solution
consists in a double inner layer separated from the structure which depending
on its position and function in each room so that they comply with spreading,
reflecting and absorbing functions. Each case went through a design proposed by
architecture in coordination with the acoustic engineer. In this way the Music
Hall presents a design of sloping planes
and hinge lines able to point the sound towards the audience in a good way and
at the same time bring a contemporary and
warm expressiveness to the hall. In the case of the
Dance-Theater Hall we opted for a more
sober expressiveness with a design of dark folded sheets made of tongue and
groove joint boards. Both halls have lighting and audio control rooms placed at
the back of each hall replacing the old translation booths.
The
building has also a staging system unique in the country including all the
elements and equipment necessary for a proper performance. As to the
Dance-Theater Hall this has a lighting grid system, illuminating rods and
state-of-the art lighting bridge system. Illuminating rods operates automatically
whereas the staging rods work manually by using ropes and pegboards.
The
Great concert hall has a complex stagecraft system including lighting and
audio&video booths; three illuminating bridges for the stage lighting,
fireproof curtain, staging and illuminating rods (manual and automatic) and the
appropriate space needed for the proper functioning of these facilities such as
lateral shoulders and the chapel. In addition the stage includes an automatic
system in order to switch sceneries which they can be prepared in the lower
levels and then mechanically move them upwards back to the stage.
easier than restoring and placing a value on it. There is a hidden history in
the objects and buildings that is necessary to discover or rediscover.
When we work with an existing structure we cannot
avoid to make a continuous reading of the elements and the background of the
original building work. For us this is the searching of a riddle and having the
opportunity to figure it out.
We like to think that this riddle can be solved, in the words
of Pierre Bourdien, as a “sense of play” and it does not depend necessarily on the designers but on the
passage of time and wear and on the
social agents involved. We believe that
this fact alone deserves to be unveiled, and in this case maybe it was our only
premise upon design.
We think restoring the Diego Portales building (or
what is left of it) is a gift. We saw a
challenge but also a golden opportunity of working with all this historical
burden that in our opinion could not be wasted on short-term political desires specially on some
atavistic declaration of “clean slate” of the architect on duty.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
This building, like no other, has been an important actor
in our recent history characterized by
an ideological and political polarization, and by the social division. It was
erected as a symbol of “the new man” during
the government of president
Salvador Allende and after the coupe became the seat of government of
General Pinochet’s regime, embodying the “Center of Power”
So,
in the last three decades, from the perspective of the city, this building has been surrounded by
railings, closed and guarded by security requirements required by the
government and after by the Ministry of Defence of four administrations. For
this reason the building has not been regarded as a beloved object and has a biography a kind of “bipolar”
The
original structure was designed and built in record time. As a strategy, a
large deck of colossal dimensions was conceived by the architects and
subsequently installed underneath the premises defined by the regulations
during the construction of the building.
From
the beginning the urban impact caused
was deep since a large building, on one
side, is perching on the sidewalk of the main avenue and on the other side is
invading a residential zone with little
french style buildings
On
March 5, 2006 a fire started in the east sector of the building destroying
completely the Great Hall of plenary
sessions with a capacity of 2,000 people.
This leads the government to make
a decision regarding its future and
calls for an international architecture competition in which our project won the first place among 55 proposals.
URBAN
PROPOSAL
The
way of how to face the problem, from an urban viewpoint, is not from the
building itself but from its environment,
that is, the piece of city that surround
it and which has not been connected with for many years. Therefore the first
thing that appeal to us were the block’s buildings and public spaces.
Our
design strategy was to determine its role in the city. The building just
adapted itself to an urban design that, in our view, re-establishes the
connection of the place with its context
becoming on the exact opposite of what
is today. Here the words of Jean Nouvel make all the sense: "A contemporary building being part of a site or an existing project is
successful when is able to enhance its surroundings and at the same time being
enhanced by them”
Our
proposal, from a technical and expressive perspective, is simple since it
adopts the architectural ideas and qualities of the original project and that
is interpreted in a contemporary way for the construction of a new group of
premises.
Four
main ideas stood out but we fused them into a single concept of “transparency”.
These are: the openness towards the city
and its urban relation by setting a large deck and loose volumes underneath;
the built of new public spaces; the
opening of the building to the community by including a community program;
legitimate the project by incorporating as many social agents to give shape to
a new benchmark for the city.
This
proposal seeks to segment this large
urban outline in three small-scale buildings being able to articulate a set of
new public spaces.
OPENNESS
AND TRANSPARENCY
We
choose to reveal and display part of the varied life inside the building to the
exterior and somehow show the activities and their protagonists and share them
with the passer- by.
The
building plays an important role in the spreading of what is going on inside. Furthermore,
from the urban perspective, is a gift to
the city providing it with new public roof covered and equipped spaces. A
building used for cultural and artistic activities should always have different
degrees of transparency and being shared not only with their direct users but
also with the community in general.
In
a context where showing everything is impossible (since inside the building
many halls are used for entertainment) the challenge is to know what to show
and how. This means the different degrees
of transparency are displayed through a façade system that gradually goes from
the wide open and transparent to the totally opaque and closed.
The
project displays these halls for performing arts as “boxes or containers” in
which music, dance and theater are performed. From outside we will not able to
see what is happening inside but we feel that it is something important.
The
most significant in a hall for performing arts is that it must be completely
dissociated from the exterior to create its own reality. The lights dim
bringing the darkness, there is silence. Only in that moment the fantasy is spread
as a new reality. The play has begun.
THE PREMISES AND BUILDING
LAYOUT
Horizontally
viewed, the building layout is based on three main volumes or “buildings”
containing the three major areas of the project. These are, from west to east
in the same order as the buildings are set out: The Documentation Center for
the Performing Arts and Music (Library); Training Room for Performing Arts and
Music (Rehearsal Rooms, Museums and Exhibition Halls) and the Great Concert
Hall (Theater for 2,000 people)
On the level of the public space, these three
buildings are separated and can be totally encircled by pedestrians and make
the most of the project, but in the lower levels they are all connected making
up one single building. The spaces between them have been transformed into covered
squares that are the main public spaces and invite the passer-by to occupy a
building that merge into the city.
The
first two structures facing eastwards are part of the redesigning of the
existing building which survived the fire whereas the remaining structure (The
great Concert Hall) is a new work.
Viewed vertically, the premises are connected through
triple height halls in which we have an overview of the project and find our bearing in each
building. These halls are connected
directly to each one of the squares being an extension of them. This is
reinforced by using the same type of
concrete indoors and outdoors avoiding the vertical structural elements in this
enclosure and achieving a high degree of
transparency .
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
All the main materials making up the building have
been found in the original structure and it is worth to stand out five of them:
Weathering steel (Corten steel), Exposed reinforced concrete, Glass, Steel and
Timber. We don’t think in the use of these materials as they appear listed on
catalogues but as construction materials
that are taken to the limit of their expressiveness.
Weathering steel is the perfect link between past,
present and future. This fine material is far from being part of the “pre-painted” solutions and
imitations. It is present in the original structure and now we try to take it
to the extreme in the new building by using it as coating for facades, ceilings
and concrete. This material has also been used in its varied forms such as
perforated, smooth, folded and standard. Its quality over time still amazes us.
This coating, which is mostly used in our facades alternating with glass
curtain walls and large windows follows two basic plays and several secondary
ones. In the first basic play we find perforated weathering steel that is the skin
of the building and tries to cover it all over, but when there are premises inside
the building and they deserve being watched from the exterior, the view of these elements is interrupted and
a glass volume appears revealing a fascinating interior. This is the case of
the dance rehearsal room, the reading
room in the library and other halls in the building. The second play is the
appearance of the glass boxes that deforms the weathering steel surface
producing folds that change completely
the way which the light is projected on the facades. Combining these two
plays it creates a curious sort of spontaneity
in the design preparing us to future readings. Only one type of concrete has
been used in the project both interior
and for the exterior squares and strips
of weathering steel of 3,9 x 46,8 inches
have been placed randomly on it.
RESTORATION AND RELOCATION OF UNCTAD
III ART COLLECTION
Many artists were convened by the original UNCTAD
III project to create pieces of art
specially made for the building. Many of
these works were already integrated to the architecture of the building such as
the vitraux ( stained-glass window) by Juan Bernal Ponce and the works of
Nemesio Antunez and Felix Maruenda. Only few of these works survived to the
passage of time and the different users of the building.
In this way fourteen pieces of art available in the
original building have been integrated harmoniously into the new project.
Sculptures by Sergio Mallol, Sergio Castillo, Marta Colvin and Samuel Román
were relocated in the new building. Juan
Egenau´s door was restored and installed as an access to the exhibition room of
the Museum of American Popular Art (MAPA). The vitraux by Juan Bernal Ponce was
restored with modern technology and relocated on one of the main square`s deck.
Door’s handles by Ricardo Meza and pictures by José Venturelli were also
relocated to cite some examples. However, we believe this is only a little part
of the task. From our point of view it would be ideal the retrieval of the
majority of the pieces from the UNCTAD III
art collection and outnumber the fourteen pieces retrieved (35% out of a total of 40 original pieces ). So we may
retrieve 5 works (two works by Roberto Matta, two by Roser Bru and one by
Gracia Barrios) currently being
exhibited in other museums, through administrative resources adding up 18 works(45%).
Other six works that might be rebuilt (four handcrafted works by Manzano_we
have information about a group of craftsman that are able to make similar
pieces from an existent model_1 relief by Iván Vilches from which there is a
scale model, 1 mural painting by Nuñez who is willing to assist in the restore
of his work. So we totalize 25 works of art retrieved, this is a 60% of the
total collection. The thirteen works remaining could be replaced by works of
the same artists.
It
is obvious that this course of action seems suitable given the UNCTAD III
Collection have a high patrimonial and artistic value and required additional
efforts by all parties involved, many of them anonymous, at the beginning of
the project but it is well worth mentioning.
STAGECRAFT
AND ACOUSTICS
The
building has a sophisticated acoustic and staging system necessary for the main
activities.
From
the acoustic point of view each room was treated independently seeking an
acoustic comfort according to each activity. Generally the acoustic solution
consists in a double inner layer separated from the structure which depending
on its position and function in each room so that they comply with spreading,
reflecting and absorbing functions. Each case went through a design proposed by
architecture in coordination with the acoustic engineer. In this way the Music
Hall presents a design of sloping planes
and hinge lines able to point the sound towards the audience in a good way and
at the same time bring a contemporary and
warm expressiveness to the hall. In the case of the
Dance-Theater Hall we opted for a more
sober expressiveness with a design of dark folded sheets made of tongue and
groove joint boards. Both halls have lighting and audio control rooms placed at
the back of each hall replacing the old translation booths.
The
building has also a staging system unique in the country including all the
elements and equipment necessary for a proper performance. As to the
Dance-Theater Hall this has a lighting grid system, illuminating rods and
state-of-the art lighting bridge system. Illuminating rods operates automatically
whereas the staging rods work manually by using ropes and pegboards.
The
Great concert hall has a complex stagecraft system including lighting and
audio&video booths; three illuminating bridges for the stage lighting,
fireproof curtain, staging and illuminating rods (manual and automatic) and the
appropriate space needed for the proper functioning of these facilities such as
lateral shoulders and the chapel. In addition the stage includes an automatic
system in order to switch sceneries which they can be prepared in the lower
levels and then mechanically move them upwards back to the stage.
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