and before them the Moche, who created our oasis. That makes the landscape of the valleys artificial, not natural; it follows the watercourses. The mountains and hills, from where the sun rises and the rivers come were also considered sacred. That is why we are in “front” and not behind the mountain range. In Argentina the pampa is so poor that its only possibility is to raise grass and cows, while on this side we grow potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, fruit, everything. These valleys are full of locations, valleys and ravines that follow the courses of water. In Buenos Aires, for example, rain is democratic, the same for all. In Santiago water comes from the top of the mountain range, which has organized and also given hierarchy to our city with its canals: the further downriver, the dirtier the water. EB: Architecture looks its best when it’s newly built, however a year old park is a promise. Twenty years later, the Park is in its splendor, while architecture is soiled and blemished. How do you deal with this condition when designing a park? We design parks with plenty of architecture and structures. If you put a pergola, its shape and usage is instant, and the park is immediately structured by means of paths, pavements and circulations. RL: Landscaping relates with something simple and unadorned, a form of natural austerity that we can also see in your architecture. In this sense, of which of your recent works you can most say, “here I am”? I think all of us, when faced with a problem of architecture and construction in our hands, strive for a solution with a certain economy of forms and means, but also that produces something. In landscaping it’s easier because the landscape always triggers some feeling, it is never invisible. With the Bicentennial Park the single purpose was for people to recognize this park existed for them and make it their own, we just had to conceal some streets that had spoiled the place. With built works one also hopes to provoke something. I’m thinking of one of my recent buildings, the Fine Arts building of the Nido de Aguilas School (2013), won in a competition. What more can an architect want than be asked to design a building dedicated to the arts in these conditions, almost without limits! We ended up with a magnificent theatre with over 800 seats, ballet studios, music studios, etc., where the aesthetics are also justified by the technical requirements. Another one is the venue for the UC Sports Club in San Carlos de Apoquindo (2008), also won in a competition, where freedom was granted to build on top of the former, smaller building or on a different site. The funny
studied architecture when Prager designed the Providencia Park and the way in which the German re-discovered Chilean trees marked him. When I did the Quinta Normal project, I saw how relevant Claudio Gay was in the “invention” of the Mediterranean landscape in Chile, introducing many trees and creating a republican landscape that was assimilated as our own. When Prager arrived in 1930 people rejected him, he was considered a crazy gentleman for placing quillayes (soap bark trees) and arrayanes (Chilean myrtles) when we had such beautiful trees such as poplars, willows and cypress trees, which were all actually introduced by Gay... CAU: You have said that the lush landscapes of the Amazonian forest are more “uniform” in comparison to the ones on this side of America, which is drier but remarkably with a richer landscape. What makes us so unique? In the western watershed of America we generally live in oasis, considering that oddly enough we get rain not when it’s needed but when it’s cold. Vegetation needs heat and water to grow, which here do not coincide. When I was young, in my travels in America I could elucidate several things, like thinking that when it rains, the soil is richer, but as it happens rainwater is pure water that washes the soil and produces fairly poor land. Our mountain water is different; it is enriched in its descent to the sea. That was something the Incas observed
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