We were asked to design a building with the function of bottling water from a cascade which is formed by a glacier. The cascade is visible from the site that is situated at the border of Queulat National Park in Patagonia, 3 hours away from Coyhaique, the nearest city. Regarding the building, we decided to propose a construction that would depend on its context to reduce to the maximum its presence in the Patagonian landscape; this is how reflection was the most asserted principle to work on. Reflection as the ornament and presence. The situation of harsh climate conditions and isolation compromised the material and construction logistic decisions to secure its construction quality and ageing.
The building is a square volume of 18 by 18 meters and 6 meters height with its four facades
clad in toughened glass with a black opaque coating. The building is set on top of a 1.5 meter tapered soil base to avoid floods of the nearby river in winter. Because of the weather conditions glass offered a good skin solution plus the reflections of the surroundings, on the other hand the steel structure which is bolted was thought to ensure recycling as much as possible.
In the interior the program is organized in two areas, each related to a different scale. The bottling process utilizes the full height of the building and the rest of the administrative programs are disposed in wood modules of lower height. Openings to the exterior in every working zones minimize isolation and make the waterfall present through out the process.
Cristobal Valdes: Photography
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