Faculty of Architecture, Art and Design of Diego Portales University

by Ricardo Abuauad Abujatum

© Jose Antonio de Pablo

© Jose Antonio de Pablo

Architects: Ricardo Abuauad Abujatum
Collaborators: María Alejandra Effa - Maite Larrazábal - María Paz Zaldivar - Waldo Clavería O.
Owner: Diego Portales University
Location: República 180, Santiago de Chile.
General Contractor: Constructora DeMussy
Structural Engineering: Luis Soler y Cia. Ltda. - Juan Erenchun
Technical Inspection: Inspecta  S.A. - Javiera Sandoval / José Tomás Vargas
Electrical Project: Fleischmann S. A. - José Abarca / Luis Torres
Sanitation and Gas Engineering: Bárbara Simonati
Materials: Exposed concrete, transparent windowpanes, galvanized steel sheet netting, Profilit glass, acoustic wood paneling, acoustic ceiling panels of white lacquered compressed wood and thermal glass.
Built Area: 7282.79 M2
Design Year: 2003
Project Year: 2004
Photographs: José Antonio de Pablo

The Faculty of Architecture, Art and Design of Diego Portales University, has observed an increase in the number of students, faculty,  and as a result, requirements for them in the last years. Its original building date back to the year 1994, and has seen various extensions since then.

Building regulations for this sector are restrictive as regards height, but they make allowances for  building on 100% of the land, it also places the space allotted for a patio and university living in a difficult position.

In this way, the challenge is to create the greatest usable area with a minimum impact in the land. We decided to take that question to the extreme: From what point in the premises is it possible to generate a building constructed with significant size which would not sacrifice at all the existing patio and at the same time generate a ground different from the existing one, new, upon which to base itself?

Beginning with this vision, it was evident that this building would have to be elevated, with strategically points of foundation that would make it possible life around the patio and under it.

The two new facades (one of the structures created at the north delimit and the perforated frame structure) are planed monochromatic in a uniform dark grey that permits the coexistence of the pre-existing color facades. The task given to them is thus of engineering drawing, shades and textures. The new facade, with southern exposure, proposes a dynamic form in relation to the patio it faces, through a series of projected glass displays in different positions, which would be used by our students, their works and expositions that may arise from them. This facade is constituted, as a plot of vertical support available to be used and transformed according to the imagination and needs of their inhabitants.

In the interior, both facades (the one facing the patio and the one facing the skylight) allow access to light and ventilation. In case of requiring a black-out system for projections, sliding panels display through the length of it. In the case of the north facade, its interior paneling allows for them to be used as blackboards.