Planta segundo y quinto piso / 2 nd and 5 th floor plan
Planta primer piso / 1 st floor plan
Planta tercer y sexto piso / 3 rd and 6 th floor plan
Designed in 1944, this residential building consists of two rectangular six-story volumes. The entrance from Providencia Avenue crosses a central hall, which incorporates the main staircase of the compound, configured as the articulating element between the two bodies. The original floor plans contain the full development of the project, but construction was carried out in two stages spanning 15 years, probably due to real estate development issues. The drawings define each block with its respective letter. Block A towards Providencia and Block B towards the interior of the city block. Block A (north) is configured with single level apartments in the first and fourth floor and duplex apartments on the second, third, fifth and sixth. The first level contains three types of apartments, two with a minimum program for a single bedroom destined for the concierge, something very typical of the period, while the third with a large program with two bedrooms plus service quarters. The program for the duplexes proposes the public functions on the lower level. An access hall contains the main staircase to the bedroom area. This stairway is for family use. The service bedroom, also located on the top floor, has its own access via a spiral staircase from the kitchen. The fourth floor contains two apartments with two bedrooms plus service quarters.
Although the program occupies one floor, the privacy of the functions for public and private use is maintained through a corridor containing the pantry. A framework-type double façade with balconies is superimposed over the east façade of Block A, which in parallel identifies the one and two level apartment types with the corresponding double height in the case of the duplexes. While the original drawings for the project proposed an eight story building topped by a garden terrace (roof garden according to the floor plans) that served as a solarium-pergola covered by a roof with circular holes, the project was downsized to a six-story building that kept the size and program of the apartments. Block B, which was built in 1959, has one apartment per level. The program consists of three bedrooms plus service quarters. In this block the separation of functions is maintained, marked in these units by a large entrance lobby sized by the structural bay of the building. The structural concept of the building is based on a system of rigid frames of reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry. On the south façade of Block B Despouy applied the use of technology in the design of the curtain wall, developing a solution with tubular profiles marking the beginning of the use of curtain wall in Chile.
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