- The winning project of one of the most important architecture competitions –the CAP Student Competition- was selected among 34 proposals from different schools of architecture in Chile. Now the winners will represent our country in the 9th version of the Alacero international competition, in Brazil.
For the third consecutive year, students at the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago de Chile won the first place in one the most important contests of the national steel and iron industry organized by CAP Acero, one of the subsidiaries of CAP, a Chilean holding company of the mining and steel sectors. In the 30th version of this national competition, the students who prepared the 34 participating drafts had to develop a cultural center using steel. The idea was to create inclusive facilities for a city where there is a lack of this type of infrastructure.
Hugo Tello, one of the members of the winning team, says that their proposal emerges from the search for a close relation with the area of Puente Alto, at the Metropolitan region. “We understand the dynamics, the social problems, the historical neglect of the area, and the total lack of public policies for it.”
The innovative proposal convinced the jury. “We analyzed the requirements and the needs. The cultural center was required but we supplemented it with a cultural street platform to strengthen and promote the culture of the place,” the student says.
Innovative cultural center in Puente Alto
The jury unanimously awarded the first place to the proposal N°10 “Zócalo Cultural Bajos de Mena-Puente Alto.” According to the architect Yves Besançon, “the project chose an area that has been forgotten by our society and authorities, architects and urban planners. We particularly value the interest in implementing a cultural center in an area that totally lacks of this type of infrastructure. The proposal solves the problem posed by an existing gradient in that place by using a light and realistic structure,” he says.
The architects of the jury agree in that the selected draft is a suitable solution to the social segregation problem in Santiago.
Óscar Luego, professor at the School of Architecture and tutor of the project, says that the CAP competition is part of the students’ training at the school. “The tools they acquire allow them to participate in competitions at an international level,” he says.
The winners will represent Chile in the 9th version of the Alacero international competition organized by the Latin American Steel Association that will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between October 22nd and 24ththis year. The prize for the first place will be USD 10,000 and for the second place, USD 3,000.
Another member of the team, Javier Rojas, says that the competition means the consolidation of what they have learned in four years of the program. “Representing the school is important and it helps us to position its name. The feedback shows us that we are doing things well,” he concludes.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
