EN MECANOO TRABAJAN MÁS DE 160 PROFESIONALES MULTIDISCIPLINARIOS DE MÁS DE 25 PAÍSES, MUCHOS DE ELLOS JÓVENES: “PENSAMOS QUE ES MÁS FÁCIL ENTENDER A LOS CLIENTES Y SU CONTEXTO, PORQUE EN NUESTRO EQUIPO TENEMOS GENTE QUE HA NACIDO O VIVIDO EN ESOS LUGARES". MORE THAN 160 MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONALS FROM MORE THAN 25 COUNTRIES, MANY OF THEM YOUNG PEOPLE, WORK IN MECANOO: “WE THINK IT IS EASIER TO UNDERSTAND THE CLIENTS AND THEIR CONTEXT, BECAUSE IN OUR TEAM WE HAVE PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN OR LIVED IN THOSE PLACES.”
EXPERIENCE AND INTUITION
- You often emphasize the significance of private participation in urban planning initiatives that allow to implement certain ideas as public policies. I am very proud to work alongside Transoceanica and the Schiess family. Public-private partnership is part of the collaboration, it is not and should not be an issue. It is not dogma that things must be resolved from top to bottom or from bottom to top, but to bring together the right people, whether from the left or right, businessmen or the state. And it does not matter because it’s a 10-year project or vision. - According to reports, Lo Recabarren would connect through a new bridge to the south sector of the Mapocho river. What area do you expect to impact? I hope to bring the two neighborhoods together. Soon, many people will live on the north side of the river, but today both banks are not well connected. Around the world there are new interventions on rivers, the river becomes the city park, and a connection, so why not work with that here. - How many people will live in the neighborhood? There will be close to a thousand houses, with typologies that have not been defined yet. In Chile, you have large houses where only a couple of people live, but in Lo Recabarren we want to have more persons per dwelling. We also want it to be a multi-generational place or include rental apartments for temporary residents, for example. There is also likely to be a university center, which would attract professors among its residents.
- How was the issue of sustainability managed in the project? First, sustainability has many levels: water, air, etc. It also has to do with how we design a building, because it is also not good to have only glass buildings. So, we tried to make a difference. It is, for example, what we did in Cordoba with the Palace of Justice, it is fascinating to give traditional architecture a new interpretation because this architecture is usually sustainable. In Lo Recabarren we also tried to capture the views and frame them, since the sights in Santiago are beautiful. That is also part of the concept of sustainability, the relationship with the environment, which in this case is magnificent. - How is the vegetation introduced? We had a big discussion about this. First, we have water courses there as part of the project. Historically there used to be basins to collect the water and then use it when it was needed, and it is still our idea to have a system like that. A dry garden is also an option because it does not need as much water, and we have already talked with landscapers who design these types of almost desert gardens. But at the same time, we have water so that the park can be green if we handle it well. - What does ‘analysis and intuition’ mean, one of the ten principles of Mecanoo’s work in your book People Place Purpose? At school, I was taught that everything had to be rational, but I really work in both analytical and intuitive ways. Intuition is based on experience, on the experience gained through time. The older I get, the more intuitively I work. It is also an academic form, which has nothing to do with being a woman or a man. As a child in the Netherlands I often moved with my parents, to the south, to the north, near the sea, etc., so I always saw my mother designing or building a new house. That taught me that I could adapt to different places, something that I do until today. I observe and adapt instead of coming with a preconceived idea.
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