Consorcio : Enrique Browne Arquitectos

Consorcio Santiago Offices 1993 Enrique Browne and Borja Huidobro Photographs : Luis Poirot and Guy Wenborne ABSTRACT The site is bordered by Avenida El Bosque and also by two small streets. But its virtual limit to the South is Av. Tobalaba which crosses diagonally the area along with Canal San Carlos. The project involves two long volumes that create a gallery which contains access. A volume attached to the neighbor house has three levels, while the main volume has 17 levels and 75 meters long. This volume is bent at its west facade to align with the axes of El Bosque and Tobalaba. The acute angle that is produced serves as a symbolic beginning of Av. El Bosque. The building was divided vertically, leaving the lower floors to Consorcio Company and the fourteen others to rent. Both areas have independent access and vertical circulations. The entrances are at the end of the gallery. For Consorcio the entrance is to the South, while the offices to rent have their access to the North, on the second level. This area forms a balcony to the first, leaving both areas visually linked. The treatment of the facades deserves special attention. A western facade in Santiago produces serious heat problems during the summer. Therefore, the building was worked with technical and natural resources, producing a double facade: an inner with curtain wall and an outer with vegetation. This "double vegetal facade" reduces the solar absorption. In addition it transforms the building into a vertical garden of about 2,700 sqm, equivalent to the gardens of the houses that were in place. Metaphorically the existent green rises vertically. This vegetation cheers up the building and gives a changing look during the different seasons. The two higher levels of the building are protected by a large metal visor that tops off the building and protects the upper level. Consorcio Santiago Offices Images / text from Enrique Browne Arquitecto 280708 Chile Architecture CONSORCIO - SANTIAGO BUILDING - 1st Prize, X Architecture Biennale of Chile, 1995 - BEST WORK of the decade 1990 in Chile (Vivienda y Decoración Magazine) - Best buildings of the past 30 years in Chile (El Mercurio 2002) - Finalist Mies Van der Rohe Prize. Barcelona 1998 - Finalist. Prize I Biennale for Latin American Architecture and Engineering. Madrid, Spain, 1998 Architects: Enrique Browne and Borja Huidobro Associated Architect: Ricardo Judson Collaborator: Rodrigo Iturriaga Landscape: Juan Grim, Maria Angela Schade Photographer: Luis Poirot and Guy Wenborne Built Area: 26,720 sqm Land Area: 3,781 sqm Year: 1990-93