The project fits in the reconstruction of a building belonging to Lycée Maria Auxiliadora, which was severely damaged by the earthquake of 27/F. This stood in the opposition corner of the Main Square of Linares, seventh region, in an important position within the city.
The opportunity to rebuild on the same site allowed that along with the building was proposed to reorder an establishment that grew up without an apparent programmatic order according to age; Thus focused on the new building the entire administrative and curriculum, previously scattered program at the College, in addition to rooms of attention of parents and the main entrance to the College, thus replacing a precarious access and a few classrooms, a place with a more public condition under the logic of the place where it is inserted.
On the other hand the building seeks, through the architecture, take a reading of the next iconic elements that could influence its resolution, where a rusty steel pediment facing the patina of the brick of the city's Cathedral, and on the opposite axis, a deciduous plant wall accompanied by the greenery of the Main Square. The intersection of both fronts forms access double height that houses an image of the virgin becoming a sort of urban grotto.
This is how the corner has dematerialized access with eave in double height, welcoming the pedestrian and mediating between the scale of the city and the Lycée. On the other hand it has been looking for to continue with the axes of the existing pavilions hiding, somehow, the trapezoidal layout of the city of Linares, which prevents the search of orthogonality in the vertex. The double-height access to turn penetrates and qualifies the interior of the building, creating multiple views between different levels and campuses, becoming also the prelude to the old chapel.
The solution should also fit a budget bounded by government reconstruction funds awarded to the work, which removed completion operations, causing the expressiveness of each stock, concrete, steel and wood, together with the structural design of the building, provide atmosphere to work and thus the final image.
CREDITS:
Main architect: Surco Arquitectura (Juan Paulo Alarcón Carreño, Felipe Alarcón Carreño).
Date project: 2011.
Surface: 367,7 m2 (Land area), 735,4 m2 (Total floor area).
Predominant Materials: To view, D.V.H. glass, steel and steel reinforced concrete cutting and radiata pine.
Site: O'Higgins and Kurt Möller corner faced square, Linares, in the Maule Region, Chile.
