Universidad Católica de Chile Innovation Center

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

Santiago’s climate requires to change the conventional approach to working space design. We substituted the contemporary typical glass skin, responsible for serious greenhouse effect in interiors, for a thermal mass on the perimeter that avoids undesired heat gains. On the other hand, innovation and knowledge creation requires increasing encounters among people, so openness is desired. We multiplied open air squares throughout the building’s entire height and proposed a permeable atrium core so that while circulating vertically, people could see what others are doing. This reversed placement of opaqueness and transparency is the way sustainability and human relationships informed the form.