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PUCLARO TOURIST CENTER
Specs
Architecture Team : Constanza Quioza, Juan Pablo Puigrredón, Francisca Santamaria.
Location : Puclaro Reservoir, IV Region, Chile.
Project Year: 2016 - in process.
Land Area: 2225 m2
Sup. Module A: 3 modules (35 m2)
Sup. Module B: 4 modules (52 m2)
Program: Tourist center.
Materiality: Earth, steel, stone, coligüe.
Project Memory
The first commission was a tourist center with "domes", on an important, dry and stony slope on the banks of the important Puclaro reservoir in the IV region, that is how after the visit to the land we realize that:
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1.-The hillside is the protagonist both for the shore, for the road, and for the town.
2.-The context is rich in stone materials (earth and stone), as it is also in endemic vegetation (coligüe, hawthorn, cactus).
3.-The budget is low, so we must avoid burial.
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The terrain indicates that the option of making domes should be rejected, because the topography would force the dome to be almost completely suspended.
Therefore, the tours and programs masterplan is projected as closely attached to the hillside, zigzagging along the elevation, finding viewpoints that are sheltered by the exaggeration of the vegetation of the place.
On the other hand, the cabins are broken to adapt to the difficult angle that relates the slope of the hill with the view towards the reservoir. To achieve this they are perched on a robust stone pier that cuts the body and supports its internal structures.
Due to issues of constructive agility (armed structures and difficult access to the hillside) it is proposed to make a light steel structure, confining land ( taken from the excavations in the same terrain) which will serve as thermal and acoustic insulation of the cabins. Towards the side of the hill the wall hides, while towards the side of the road the earth wall -with its raw color finish- tends to be lost with the same materiality of the environment.
At night, the transparent incisions (and aided by generally low light from the surroundings) show a starry face.
Finally, its horizontal roofs allow ornamental spaces with endemic vegetation (which contributes to the vertical thermal insulation of the building), and passable spaces, which serve as a viewpoint at height above each cabin. The image is completed by the conical reinforced concrete structures, skylights that provide natural and controlled lighting to the interior of the building.
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