Today we visited what was my most sought after destination, the innovation center. The reason I was so excited for this building was because it houses a business incubator program similar to the smaller scale one that I’m in the process of starting back in my hometown. I wanted to take my financial knowledge and couple it with my preliminary architectural ideas to see how well this building fit its purpose. More specifically, to see how the Chileans and the University of San Joaquin are able to create a thriving incubator program. The innovation center is breathtaking to say the least. As soon as the campus was visible via the metro, I was immediately drawn to the center. This was Elemental’s intention as the university wanted a landmark building. The momental concrete structure with large voids thanks to repressed windows created a beautiful building. I had two initial thoughts. First, that this building is just beckoning for individuals to explore it. The large scale and limited transparency on the exterior makes for the curious mind to run wild with imaginations of the building’s layout. That curiosity is amazing marketing, in the aggregate, for the program. Individuals will be drawn to enter the building and that proximity will allow for a higher consumer traffic through the tenants. While that is good, my second thought questions the transparency of the internal building as it relates to the limited transparency of the external. A common system in an incubator program is to have relative transparency between one member and the next. It is the intention to have the tenants be inspired by each other‘s work and determination in order to increase their own drive. I was initially worried that the lack of transparency on the eternal would also lead to a lack of transparency in the internal yet as I entered the building I knew right away that was perfect. Whether it was the open middle section allowing for visibility to nearly every tenant or the adaptable rooms so that companies are able to utilize their space to best suit their needs, building was tailored for multi-tenants, transparency, and innovation. I have made intentions to try and decipher the program structure of the innovation center and will still research that at the conclusion of this trip yet basing solely off the architecture of the center, tenants have a great opportunity at their hands to jump start their business due to the location, marketing, and passion found at El Centro de Innovacion.