Today we took the metro to visit Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Campus San Joaquin. While visiting the Innovation center on campus, I was intrigued by these cement spheres that were situated in front of the Innovation center due to their unique design and diverse purposes. There were three sets of the cement spheres containing roughly thirty various sized spheres in close proximity to each other. The texture of the spheres looked like a mixture of cement and other aggregates. As I was observing how the spheres related to the campus, I noticed they were being used more so as a place for gathering, sitting, and elemental design instead of relating to its context. Multiple people were sitting on the spheres, including our Santiago group, to rest or meet people to go inside the innovation center. The cement spheres acted as its own location marker due to how easily it was to spot and notice them.
While walking around campus, there was also a stone garden that was behind the Complejo Andronico Luksic Abaroa (the cylinder brass looking building). The rock garden contained a rigid path passing through the empty space of two adjacent buildings and included various metamorphic rock types on each side. Lapis Lazuli, a very deep blue color, was one of the rock types shown in the stone garden and an important one to learn about because of its mining origins and how native the rock is to Chile. The major source of mining for Lapis Lazuli is mined from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Andes mountains within Chile.
Cement Spheres
Lapis Lazuli
Sketch of Spheres in front of Innovation Center