signed with considerable latitude given that the construction company operated as a private entity,” said Oscar Macclure in an interview in 2008.
“This project was designed and built twice in a fairly short period of time, although we cannot speak of two stages, as this implies the existence of a previous program”, said Héctor Valdés in an interview in 2008. The first project in 1957 was a municipal stadium for five thousand people with a perimeter border made of canted stone from Arica's morro. The second project was carried out when the city of Arica hosted the 1962 World Soccer Championship and had to expand its capacity to 22,000 spectators. An independent perimeter structure of vertical slabs and slanted beams, in reinforced concrete, was designed to support the upper bleachers, which also support a shaded outdoor perimeter promenade. Arica's Gaming Casino & Parque Brasil Architects: Carlos Bresciani, Héctor Valdés, Fernando Castillo Velasco, Carlos Huidobro & Gastón Saint-Jean Year: 1960-1962 Location: The block between Velázquez and Chacabuco Streets, and Chile Ave. Predominant materials: Reinforced concrete. A municipal gaming casino and a large urban park were planned. The design of the park, with a layout of organic stone paths, included a set of small groves of tree species brought from Mato Grosso, Brazil. At the site, there were freshwater beds where plant species grew. This desert oasis condition led to the use of “water as a connecting element of the casino program,” stated architect Héctor Valdés in a 2008 interview. Inside, the volumes converge towards a central open courtyard, laid out in terraces, which visually connects to another volume, called “la boîte”, which opens onto the courtyard. A bridge connects the city level with the interior game room.
Conjunto Población Lastarria Architect: Jorge Vallejos Arco Year: 1961-1966 Location: The block between 18 de septiembre, Caupolicán and Pedro Aguirre Cerda streets. Floors: Six-story duplex apartment blocks and 1-story courtyard dwellings. Predominant materials: Reinforced concrete The complex consists of a six-story monoblock with 78 duplex apart- ments and a group of 21 courtyard houses with 100 square meters. The building is set back and projects a public park towards the main street. “For the main block construction, about ten meters of soil were re- moved due to an error in the studies, causing a large area of unevenness that was not originally planned” (Interview with Jorge Vallejo, 2022), this created sunken gardens in the apartments on the second floors. The facade presents a module of filigree permeable walls and recesses that form balconies and give texture to this modern landscape.
University Center Of Universidad De Chile Architect: Mauricio Despouy Recart Year: 1966 Builder: Junta de Adelanto de Arica Location: Av. Gral. Velásquez N°1775 Floors: 1, 2 & 3 Predominant materials: Reinforced concrete
Due to the geographic condition of the site's soil, in a swampy and sunken area with streams of water on a steep slope and unevenness, piles were used as an anti-seismic and anti-tsunami structural foundation solution, which form a grid in the design of the building's spaces. The first level of the longitudinal block rises to create a large public plaza covered with a ribbed slab, and this public space projects towards the sloping park. The facades have structural reinforced concrete lattices that regulate the sunlight inside the buildings. The main entrance ex- tends the level of the city towards the interior of the complex, ending as a lookout overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Conjunto Habitacional Estadio Architects: Carlos Bresciani, Héctor Valdés, Fernando Castillo Velasco & Carlos García Year: 1957 Builder: Sociedad Modernizadora de Arica Location: The block between Lastarria, General Velásquez and General Lagos streets Floors: Six-story blocks and one-story courtyard dwellings Predominant materials: Reinforced concrete The project has views of the Morro and the Pacific Ocean, with a direct connection to the avenue that connects to the city center. The social housing program included 60-square-meter double-bay apart- ment blocks on six floors arranged to take advantage of the views, and one-story homes. The apartment blocks, at their ends, implement the use of pilotis, freeing the building floor as a public space. The court- yard-style dwellings were grouped together by making an overlapping slope. “When designing the houses, we called them the houses of the valley because of their topographic condition,” says Fernando Castillo Velasco in an interview in 2008. Conclusions The set of laws and special policies that Arica was subject to between 1953 and 1976, the explosive growth of the population, and its particular geographic conditions -with a desert climate and lack of rainfall- allowed some of the country's most prominent architects and planners to dis-
Olympic Pool Architects: Nelson Berthelon, Alicia Meza & Sergio Román Year: 1968-1970 Location: Playa Chinchorro Predominant materials: Exposed reinforced concrete
“Considering the quality of the terrain's marshy soil, it was very diffi- cult to lay down an architectural foundation, so the pool was designed above ground level, upwards, as a sort of a trough on a foundation slab”, recalled Nelson Berthelon in an interview conducted in 2023. The access esplanade begins with an architectural promenade, a large ramp that is broken to raise the spectator three stories high, overlooking the interior public space and the exterior landscape, ending in the formation of a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean under the shade of the bleachers that favor the north-eastern sun. The ornamental tower presents a neoplasticist model based on regular drawings. The construction system was very innovative for that time, using pre- and post-tensioned reinforced concrete.
A School for Girls (Liceo A-5) Architect: Oscar Macclure Alamos Year: 1960-1962
Builder: Sociedad constructora de establecimientos educacionales SA Location: The block between Dr. Juan Noé, General Lagos, Lastarria, and Patricio Lynch streets Floors: 1, 2 & 3 Predominant materials: Reinforced concrete An urban widening project promoted by the Urban Improvement Corporation merges the areas´ blocks, allowing the design of large residential and educational infrastructures. The project is located at its north and south ends with two large three-story pavilions closing the site from side to side, connected by a central shaded walkway. As part of its development, it includes on the sides, workshops, a gymnasium, a laboratory, and a dining room, including a reinforced concrete parabolic slab structure supported by a single central cross column, “It was de-
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