ALAMEDA MIXED USE COMPLEX

COPIAPO, CHILE

Area: 1.500.000sqft

Status: Cancelled

Client: EMS Development LLP.

Team: Christian Ulloa, Nadia Airas

Description: The commission was to design a large complex in the city of Copiapo, a city supported by mining in the middle of the Atacama Desert. It presented a very difficult problem in terms of the effects of its scale. The scale of this project finds itself in deep contrast with the one of the existing constructions around it. So , by acknowledging the rapid rate transformation of the city due the high price of the copper, it was decided for both commercial and financial factors as well as for architectural factors to divide the project in several phases as the city would catch up with the scale in a couple of years.

We also decided to use common elements form the desert's industrial imaginary. Corten steel cladding and railroad pieces were applied as a asignificant part of its character .

The public green areas, convention centers and the museum are thought to be the biggest contribution to be returned to the community.