Client Universidad Diego Portales
Colaborators Alejandro Beals, Rodrigo Duque, Baltasar Sanchez
Construction Comp. Bravo e Izquierdo
Engineers Luis Soler
Año de construcción/Construction date 2003 - 2004
Completion date: 2004
Superficie de terreno/terrain surface 1500 m²
Superficie construida:/built surface 8.077m²
Location Ejercito 219 al 239, Santiago, Chile
Technical Inspection Inspecta
Sanitaries Patricio Moya
Electricity Fleischmann
Climatization Cintec
Lightning Fleischmann
Ticsa

The project is located in three lands of the Ejercito street N°s 219 al 239. Two of these lands are occupied by real estate with category of Historical Conservation (N°s 223-237/239), in which the administrative program of the new Faculty will be located.

Of these constructions their remarkable facades and interiors will be conserved, rescuing, by this way, not only what it is at sight from the street, but all the inner enclosures. These will be put under a restoration process to give back them to their original condition.

The smaller constructions in the bottoms of lands, warehouses and enclosures are eliminated, due to their advanced state of deterioration and little architectonic value.

Of the house located in Ejercito 219 only its facade will be conserved and recovered, while the interiors are cleared to lodge the new program.

The works that constitute the new building are located at the end of the lands, being separated of the existing houses to build an emptiness by means of which both constructions are related, generating new relations and new observing points.

On the old houses a marquee is constructed that replaces a series of added attics later. These existing invasive constructions, as much by their form, materiality and location respect to the lead of the original constructions, cause a strong alteration on the patrimony, being confused with this one of bad form, distorting the original image of the set.

One sets out, however, the construction on the three houses of a marquee of light structure, that unifies the set and demonstrates its new condition of building, retiring it of the lead of the facade to diminish the impact on the patrimonial street and constructions.

The material used in the facades is mainly glass, with the purpose of constituting itself like planes of reflections, which next to the spacing of the plane of the preexisting facades, will contribute to the idea "to disappear", causing a minimum impact on the built surroundings.

On the patio of the neighboring Communication Faculty, a ceiling has risen to 15 meters of height of way to serve as sunshade the same one, to protect to the glazed facade of rooms and laboratories of the west, at the same time that to give scale of great hall instead of small patio among the buildings to the patio.

Programmatic, the project is divided into three parts: 1°, the old houses, where the administrative functions will be located and the deanship. 2°, the building of the Odontology Faculty, that has direct connection with the street and 3°, The building of the Medicine Faculty, where besides are located the casino and the library in the two last flats.

The houses converted in offices, have a capacity of 60 people, the building of Odontology of 280 students, and that of Medicine a total capacity of 790 students.

This building intends to solve, in an advisable way, the disadvantage of becoming a space in a place in where there is not. The project has always worked in cut and intends to introduce light where there is not, to give views to whom they are in second row, and to equip with great areas of expansion and air for the students, in a overbuilt land.