UMWELT . photos: © Felipe Fontecilla . + archdaily
Four storey office building in the city of Osorno in the south of Chile. The building is located in a city of 145,000 inhabitants with low density and a shortage of offices, a few blocks away from the historic center in a possible new development area. The site conditions, regulatory and climatic, coupled with the structural system define the main project constrictions.
The building is located in a low-density area with a diverse occupation of houses, cafes, workshops, schools, etc. Sites are narrow and deep determining a possible free plan of 30.5 meters long by 9.2 meters wide. The climatic conditions of Osorno with a long rainy and dark winter determine the time of construction and the atmosphere of the site.
From this basis, the project is defined by dialectic between internal organization and materialization.
The structure is made out of a system of precast reinforced concrete elements, usually used for parking buildings. A series of 40 x 100cm pillars placed along the perimeter of the plan, aloud freeing most of the internal area and allowing 2.25 meters cantilevers at the extremes. Only two walls in the services area complete the bracing of the structure. The system can be understood as the Domino model adapted to a seismic context transforming pillars into small walls.
Architects: UMWELT
Location: Osorno, Osorno, Los Lagos Region, Chile
Architects in Charge: Arturo Scheidegger, Ignacio García Partarrieu
