Ipiña+Nieto Arquitectos respect the existing envelope without altering its scenic function in the access and its interior is left emptied. The action of de-densifying the wall makes it possible to appropriate a place without inventing a material.
Description of project by Ipiña+Nieto Arquitectos
The Cultural Space Thiago de Mello is part of the Errazuriz Palace built in 1872 by the Italian architect Eusebio Chelli with the aim of imitating the Italian villas in the Renaissance style. It is located in the main way of Santiago de Chile, La Alameda, very close to La Moneda. And it is an integral part of the most important historical protection neighborhood in Santiago which, at the beginning of the last century, was the aristocratic nucleus of Chile. The abandonment by this aristocracy transforms it little by little into a neighborhood where nowadays urban degradation and vulnerability stand out, but with a lot of life and activity in the street. With this project of a public nature, the Government of Brazil seeks not only to recover a building but also to transform and recover its surroundings.
In 1941 the main body of the Palace became the residence of the Ambassador of Brazil and the annexed pavilion in a Center for Brazilian Studies. This has been working until in 2012 Brazil decided to restore, rehabilitate and expand the entire complex and transform this Study Center into a Cultural Space of Brazilian art open to the city.
The architectural proposal focuses on drawing a limit that clearly makes the public independent of the private and that serves to frame the historical heritage value of the Palace in front of the other buildings.
The Thiago de Mello Cultural Space works all of it as part of this limit that frames the Palace and in its thickness the fungible and variable qualities of its program are produced.
The existing envelope is respected without altering its scenic function in the access and its interior is left emptied. The action of de-densifying the wall makes it possible to appropriate a place without inventing a material. The thickness is inhabited by introducing a metal structure that differs and separates from the existing to house the new cultural use.
