Mario R That is a very interesting topic. Many of my colleagues in Canada sometimes have students design projects without considering the social context or the site’s location, whether it will benefit the community, or if there are any risks. And we have realized that there is a gap in education regarding climate change, for example. What happens if there is going to be more rain, more snow, or more wildfires? At Carleton, we have an undergraduate program in heritage and sustainability. So, I teach two courses: one on surveying techniques and another on building pathology. And in the latter, I teach students about climate change risks. AOA R In your experience, what mistakes do architects make when dealing with existing buildings? Mario R First and foremost, the preliminary design. The problem is diving right in without first identifying the factors that can highlight the site’s heritage values and, in turn, the potential for architectural innovation. AOA R Here, there is strong criticism of the National Monuments Council, which needs to take into account everything you say, but also the fact that preservation alone is not enough; we need to also be concerned about the community that lives there. The social and economic role of heritage. Mario R It is true. It often happens that you see abandoned buildings because they have heritage value, and the organization managing them does not decide to restore them for various reasons. Then they are left to fall into disrepair, and after a few years, you have to tear them down. In Canada, there are many important buildings that are unused and completely vacant. You see the masonry walls, but you do not see any activity. On the other hand, there are some churches that have been converted into restaurants or wedding venues. It is fascinating. The community uses them—people go there for coffee… they are used and maintained. There has been a change in function. There are other oppo- site cases where the government itself revokes their heritage status so they can be demolished due to their extremely high maintenance costs. Often, when a site is designated as a heritage site, important factors are overlooked. What is the impact of designating a site as a heritage site? Why let it fall into disrepair? Why can it not be a community center, a nightclub, or a business? AOA R Adaptive reuse. Mario R Everyone agrees that renovating an existing building is more energy-efficient than building a new one. The problem is that if you tear down the building—if you just throw it away—no one will buy anything from you. So, it is cheaper to build something else. AOA R In your experience, what are the greatest strengths and weak- nesses of Latin America’s architectural heritage? Mario R There is a problem with political consistency in all Latin American countries. In Chile, there is a change in government every four years. Her- itage should be addressed through national policies, not sector-specific ones. Another interesting point is that governments must recognize the importance of their heritage. If you go to Korea, all the heritage sites are in perfect condition. That is cultural identity. In Latin America, on the other hand, many World Heritage sites are neglected. On the other hand, every time you visit any Latin American country, you realize there’s a large group of people working on innovative, interesting projects, but they don’t promote them internationally. There’s also no culture of publishing at the international level. AOA R What do you think of the Valparaíso management plan? Mario R I have not seen the management plan, but I have had the oppor- tunity to hold numerous meetings with the people at the corporation. The thing is, the World Heritage Convention does not have Blue Hel- mets of Culture, so we cannot send them to Chile to come and restore Valparaíso. But we do have the list of sites in danger, and I think those
I began my career. I then worked at two locations in Syria and later in Afghanistan and India.
AOA R What was your first exposure to the uprising like? Mario R At the time, Professor Jansen was looking for someone who could work with a total station and AutoCAD to conduct surveys. And I was an expert in photographic and photogrammetric surveying. Later, when I worked at UNESCO, we held a course in Egypt for young Arabs on documentation, and that is where I met Gaetano Palumbo, who worked at the World Monuments Fund (WMF), an NGO in New York that carries out restoration projects all over the world. In fact, he works quite a bit in Chile on Rapa Nui. AOA R Tell us why you are in Chile? Mario R In 2020, a group of people was involved in a Convention Con- cerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, including Francesco Bandarin, who served as UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture—a position previously held by Chilean Ernesto Ottone. Also involved were Cristina Cameron, Mike Turner, and Fernando Pérez Oyarzún. They form the group Our World Heritage and host 12 debates. One per month. And Cristina invited me as an expert in digital documentation to lead the first discussion. We did everything online. We were in the midst of a pandemic. After four or five months, Umberto Bonomo and Fernando Pérez took over the discussion. I met with them, and we held an online seminar called Globinar. AOA R Even during the pandemic? Mario R Sure, in fact, all my researchers were bored at home, so they volunteered a lot of their time. We accomplished some great things, like a report on how technology contributes to the monitoring and interpre- tation of World Heritage sites. That is when Umberto said to me, “Why don’t you lead a session on digital technologies during our month-long event”? And when I met with his team, I met Karen Golle. She told me she wanted to come to Canada; we met up there, then we came to Chile for an official visit to Universidad Católica, and our daughter Antonia was born—she is the strongest connection I have to Chile. AOA R Did this time bring you a more family-oriented topic? Mario R At Carleton, we are entitled to a sabbatical every six years. This is my second sabbatical, and I took a year off from teaching undergraduate classes and administrative work. I still had to continue working with my graduate students, but that gave me the freedom to, for example, spend three months in Korea. Then we went to Belgium for a month, and after that we came to Chile to conduct the intensive in-person documentation workshop because we have organized numerous online courses with Universidad Católica. That is part of my visit: the workshop. I also had the opportunity to connect with people from the Valparaíso Corporation, and we have discussed the possibility of collaborating in the future. AOA R If you studied as an architect, at what point did you shift from being a design architect to focusing on heritage and public policy? Mario R When I was doing my master’s degree in Belgium, it taught me about the social aspects, but it also covered materials and their deterioration, site documentation, and many other things. I loved the program, but I liked the digital component much more because there was a gap in that area at the time. People working in conservation did not use AutoCAD because it was very limited—you could not draw a damaged object; everything was just straight lines. So, in my master’s program, I demonstrated that it can be used and has many advantages.
AOA R How do you convey the importance of pre-existence to your students?
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