Yves R That is reflected in your publications. The connection with to- pography in your projects is remarkable. Max R Of course. The second important variable in my work is location, specifically the relationship between the building and the ground. Like the house I built in Malalcahuello, which is a vertical house, a kind of tower house. At first glance, that house looks like a strange object. We call it the Tree House. This house is a juxtaposition of three different structural systems. The first floor is like a tree, a spatial structure. This creates a protected exterior access space under a perimeter eave, where up to two meters of snow can accumulate in winter. Inside that first floor is the chiflonera, which is where all the mountain equipment is stored. The house touches the ground on only four supports, minimizing the transformation of the terrain. The idea was to interfere as little as possible with a forest of significant environmental value. Then, the structure of the second floor consists of bridge beams, which allow the entire structure to be moved to the perimeter of the house, freeing up the floor plan. There are three small bedrooms. On the third floor, where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are located, the space is resolved with an A-frame structure, that is, with two planes inclined at 60º. However, this roof is rotated with respect to the axis of the house's floor plan, making the interior space on the third floor very open. Three structural systems are juxtaposed in a small house. It is a strange object, but one that is strongly informed by the condi- tions of the location and the needs of a mountain house. Not necessarily something mimetic, nor a romantic mountain house, but something that contrasts yet is also from there. Pablo R And your house, Doble Bóveda? Does it have any connection to the greenhouse? Max R This house brings together different references. First, a typo- logical one: it is a “traditional” courtyard house, between party walls, very similar to the courtyard houses of De Groote or Jaime Sanfuentes. Typologically, its floor plan is very simple. That simplicity makes very good use of the site, occupying the entire plot without leaving any wasted or leftover space, while at the same time ensuring that all the rooms face an exterior courtyard. The variable added to the courtyard house is the spatiality I worked on in the Glass House: a concave, spacious, and symmetrical space, resolved by two vaults. A problem in the section. However, in this house, unlike the Glass House, where the vaults are made of glass, the vault is resolved by borrowing a construction system developed by Toyo Ito in his Silver Hut house in 1982. The glass block of the Glass House appears, but in the screen walls that allow levels of transparency be- tween the house and the street, and between common and intimate spaces inside the house. In short, this project is a cross between a courtyard house, the spatiality of the double vault of the Glass House, and the technical solution of Ito's Silver Hut. We could add the glass blocks of Chareau's Maison de Verre... It is a gathering of different obsessions, which coexist at that place. Yves R How do you get into larger-scale architecture? For example, the Atacama Regional Museum in Copiapó, or the New Library, Archive, and Repository of Los Ríos in Valdivia that are on a completely different scale. Max R The way a building is arranged on the site is fundamental. In the case of the Valdivia Library, the aim was to free up a significant part of the site to create a covered public space. This involved concentrating the archive and storage building in a vertical tower and the library in a ring suspended around the tower. These decisions immediately entailed structural challenges, which the project took on and transformed into its expression.
Yves & Pablo R Your work is characterized by its strong structure and diagonal lines. Can you explain how you do that? Max R When you start breaking down a structure into its basic compo- nents, into the pure expression of the structure, in a seismic country, horizontal loads appear, which translate into diagonals. The diagonal is a load vector that appears when the structure is reduced to a minimum. Looking back at my work, it appears in the second project we did in Portillo, the Ski Box, which is a metal structure on a concrete and stone foundation. In the wealth of that metal structure, I understood that there was a rich, tectonic, almost mechanical complexity that appeals to me. Yves R Construction mechanics. Max R An expressive mechanism of how the elements come together, and that is the resolution of the form. Today, I have taken the search for the expression of structure into very specific work, for example, columns; columns as an architectural element are something I am interested in working with, putting together different interpretations, or groups of columns. Pablo R Tell us more about the engineering behind the German House. Max R At first glance, the German House appears to be a simple and pure building, but its structure is quite sophisticated. That is why we worked with engineer Jorge Tobar from the outset. What is interesting about this building is that the earthquake-resistant core is the central courtyards, which are where these concrete grids appear around them. This also allows the seismic load to be removed from the elevator core, which can be located outside the building. Thus, the structural cores surrounding the central courtyards of each building allow for natural lighting and ventilation in each building. This is essential for a nursing home to ensure a good quality of life on all floors. In turn, this means that the elevator can be located outside the building, giving you a panoramic view of the outside every time you take the elevator. All these things that affect everyday life in the building are the result of a problem that originated in the development of the building's structure. The German House has an expressive duality in its use of concrete; it is a robust building, but at the same time light. It is a reinforced concrete building that has a rather light feel, which is not what one is used to seeing, for example, in Christian de Groote or Barragán, which are heavy architectures. Perhaps ours is more akin to Emilio Duhart in its use of concrete. That is an important reference for me. The Carozzi building, the ECLAC building, the houses he built in Jardín del Este... Yves & Pablo R How do you get clients to accept that architecture? Max R It requires clients who are willing to engage in a conversation with the architecture and with the potential that each site, each location has. I like to present it in a very concise way. For example, in the case of the German House, what is achieved with this entire structural scheme is that all the circulation areas, which are where the elderly walk, have natural lighting and ventilation; they are wide and have living spaces. All the terraces are connected to each other, so the residents can also meet there. Beyond a formal issue, there is an argument that validates the structural decisions. It is not form for form's sake, but rather it serves to create a certain condition of habitability that gives meaning to the form. Yves R This concise way of explaining the reason behind things is very interesting. People really appreciate it when they understand it and experience it for themselves. Max R Of course, without this clarity, no project can be sustained. In my work, developing the expression of the structure is fundamental, and this always involves a rationality that can be transferred to a client. This rationality has spatial and constructive consequences, and it is something that is reflected more in the section than in the floor plan. The emphasis of my work is definitely more on the section than on the floor plan.
Yves R The Regional Museum of Atacama also features the concept of
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