Pabellón de Exposiciones para la industria Bayer en el Parque Gran Bretaña (1932) / Exhibition Hall for the Bayer factory in Parque Gran Bretaña (1932).
Academic work
Public Contribution and Union Work
Upon returning to Chile in 1929, the architect also took a leading role in modernizing the teaching of architecture. He proposed the hiring of Karl Brunner to start professional training in urban planning in the country and to advise the Ministry of Public Works on issues relevant to the city. His extensive academic work is characterized by the ongoing revision of the cultural and social values of architecture. Between 1931 and 1932 he took over as assistant teacher to Karl Brunner in the School of Architecture of the University of Chile, and from 1931 to 1934 he led the Architectural Composition Workshop. After the departure of Brunner in 1932, Oyarzún replaced him as chair of Urbanism – a position he held for 14 years - and established a workshop of modern theories and practices. As president of the Urban Planning Institute he participated in the creation of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Chile, which gained independence from the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Always at the University of Chile, he taught the Fundamental Corresponding Concepts of the Visual Arts course from 1957 to 1967, posing the need to integrate the arts with scientific advances. Later, between 1971 and 1981 he held the position of Professor of History of Architecture, at the School of Architecture and Design at the State Technical University in Concepción (now University of Biobío). In 1980 he was named professor emeritus at the University of Chile and the University of Biobío in 1982.
Another side to his profession was Oyarzún Philippi’s participation in union activities from early on. Concerned about the role of the architect in society, he reflected on the responsibility for social welfare, worker housing sanitation and urban and regional planning. After the Talca earthquake in 1928, he participated in the public discussion on the need to issue a General Ordinance for Construction and Urban Planning, defined in 1929. He became chairman, council member and co-founder of the Association of Architects, as well as co-founder of the National Institute of Urban Planning, which he chaired between 1934 and 1939 and then between 1944 and 1957, when the institute closed. From this platform he proposed the creation of a Center for Planning at the University of Chile, and in 1939 after the Chillán earthquake, he also promoted the creation of a Ministry of Reconstruction to define the guidelines and regulations for the planning of the cities to be rebuilt. During the decade of the 30s and 40s, he gave lectures and seminars and published numerous articles, not only concerning architecture and spatial planning, but also painting and music reviews. Motivated and committed to his artistic side, in 1934 he founded the Art Magazine of the University of Chile.
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