UTSOA

Course Description

In spite of the continued advances in technology, there are times and domains when and where contemporary civilization is thrown back to unadulterated processes of nature. The fragility of such moments of reimmersion into states of civilizatory unprotectedness can be the theme of design interventions; they can identify such possible thresholds of reimmersion. ...

For many decades, if not centuries, western civilization has sought to gloss over the possibility of the free fall into nature by idealizing its restorative characteristics. Nature is thus seen as synonymous with health, beauty, and moral rectitude. Underlying the glossing over is the fear of unfettered nature and exposure to it without the umbilical cord of civilization.

The primitive hut as a theme on the edge of a motorway in an otherwise untouched environment, the handrail marking the edge between civilized support and the free fall into nature, the provision for human sanitation in open countryside, all invoke the possibility of the suppressed other. Their character of reality is primitive. The use of materials is direct. The shapes and spaces are primary. The construction is precise. ...

Each time, the turn to architecture's foundations has shed a different light on the threshold dividing civilization and nature, but each turn has only revealed a significant contribution to architecture's discourse if it has touched the precariousness of architecture's assertion as an extension of everyday lives.

Wilfried Wang, "Primitive, primary and precise: The work of Jensen & Skodvin and colleagues", 1998

The studio will prepare designs for basic infrastructure to accommodate short term visitors in one of Chile's most spectacular national parks: El Morado. Covering some 7500 acres and stretching from 5000' to 15000' feet above sea level, the Parque Nacional El Morado is close to Santiago de Chile, the nation's capital. A central part of the park is the Cajon del Maipo (canyon of the river Maipo) as well as a section of the Andes mountain range.

The studio will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the landscape, topography, climate as well as local masonry and timberwork in order to propose facilities that belong to the site and that provide appropriate protection to its inhabitants.

The design of the facilities should be essential, such that the use of resources is minimal and that the facilities may be easily maintained. Furthermore, these designs should offer inspiration for similar situations in other national parks in and outside Chile.

The studio will travel to Chile to experience the Parque Nacional El Morado, Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso during the first week of the semester (3 to 10 Sep 05). The country will thus be travelled along its short section from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes.

The work of contemporary architects such as Rodrigo Perez de Arce, Smiljan Radic, Mathias Klotz, Alejandro Aravena and Sebastian Irrarrazaval will be visited.