Author: Madison Weick

New Place, New People, New Perspective

Traveling to Chile was such an amazing, immersive experience that gave me knowledge that I could not have attained from within classroom walls. Being able to actually experience the architecture we are learning about helped me understand the projects much better. I could see the entire context, the little details, and the big pictures as the designers would see. While seeing images and videos in class is very helpful to learn about the different architecture, it is the feeling that the architecture evokes when you are present in front of it that is the most important quality to learn. We could only learn this by visiting these beautiful works.

While this trip continued my growth in architectural knowledge, it also greatly helped me in my sketching. I have become more confident in my abilities, a quicker sketcher, and more able to correctly portray the subject of my sketch. I also gained the experience in making plans and sections while on site, which I found extremely helpful.

Each city, Valparaiso and Santiago, had totally different feels. While Valparaiso was a large city, to me, it felt like a quaint, little sea-side town. The vibrant houses compact together create the city’s iconic identity and create a feeling of happiness and being content. Santiago felt like a huge city, having many tall buildings, bustling streets, and city traffic. However, the Andes Mountains surrounding the city allow people to be able to take a brief break from the busy city ongoings to just breathe. These cities are not the extend of what Chile has– it offers extreme natural beauty as well, which I got to experience in Maipo Valley and the hot springs that accompanied it.

Experiencing the Chilean culture makes me excited for my future travels and eager to go and explore more of the world immediately. Trying new foods, seeing the typical ways of life, and experiencing the culture gave me insights that I never had before the trip. The rushing Metros that could pack large amounts of people in them, the bright street art in Valparaiso, and the Andes Mountains surrounding Santiago evoked emotion that one can only experience in Chile.

 

Chile: A Country of Many Identities

By spending all of our time in and around Chile’s major cities Santiago and Valparaíso, we had not gotten to see much of the natural beauty. On Friday, our free day, a group and I traveled to Maipo Valley and to the hot springs; it was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. While it was a fun day, we learned much about the Chilean culture outside of the major cities.

Our tour guide explained to us that the Maipo Valley area is experiencing an issue with the hydraulic drilling that is occurring. It pollutes their natural streams and disrupts the ecosystem. However, they don’t have many other options for income. Their income source used to be mining until it was shut down due to the danger regarding drilling and earthquakes. Now, the little Chilean towns rely on tourism. 

I found this particularly interesting that tourism is the main source of income in the smaller towns. They don’t look like typical tourist traps that one would see in major tourist destinations in America. For our tour, we stopped at the same quaint restaurant for breakfast and a nice little tapas dinner. While I was expecting the tour to be great, it blew away my expectations. 

Along with the economic aspects, we learned about the environment and the vegetation’s that can only grow in Maipo Valley due to the specific climate and altitude. We learned about the three types of trees that grow there— soap bark tree, the Baldo/doctor tree, and a litre tree that causes allergic reactions. The cacti there also only grows 900 km above sea level and can be surrounded by snow. 

With our tour, we hiked a 18,000 foot volcano and went in seven hot springs, with the hottest one being 60° celsius, or 140° Fahrenheit. It was two kilometer hike up and another two kilometer hike back down. While it was a long day, it was an experience that I will never regret or forget.

The heart of Maipo Valley, showing off it’s amazing views in the mountains and natural streams.

My sketch of my favorite place we saw in Maipo Valley.

One of the natural springs on our tour.

Santiago’s Sacred Places— Religiously Similar, Yet So Different

I found the difference between the two religiously-significant buildings, Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral and the Benedictine Monastery, very interesting due to the fact that their styles and messages have such a stark contrast to each other. While they are relatively close in location, each in Santiago, they do not connect in any sense. The Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral boasts a large, grand facade in the bustling Plaza de Armas. The cathedral, which was rebuilt many times due to earthquakes, finally settled on a Neoclassical style. The three naves are huge and the crypt was slightly bigger and more well-lit than I was expecting it to be. The crypt did a nice job slowing down the distractions and overwhelming qualities of the large and highly-ornamented interior of the church. The simple and plain materials allowed all of the focus to draw on the hierarchy of the crypt— Jesus. The Cathedral, overall seemed to restrict the natural light, allowing it to come in from the stained glass windows and an oculus. It is such a large space that it makes you forget where you are. The multiple chapels provide various sacred areas along with the crypt.

The largest nave in the Cathedral leading to the main alter.

The simpler and calmer crypt within the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral.

The exterior of the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral, with its context being located in Plaza de Armas.

This newer, simpler, more-modern Benedictine Monastery has a very different first impression than the Cathedral. The location, for one thing, provides a clue on what the intended effect of the building is. The Monastery is tucked away in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. It gives an amazing view of the surrounding mountains and towns below. It is not trying to fight for attention, as opposed to the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral, which is competing with three other pieces of architecture around Plaza de Armas. The simple white exterior was beautiful against the blue sky, making any colors pop even more. The Monastery, while situated to admire the amazing view, does not have any windows to directly highlight the beauty. Instead, windows are tucked into the sides of the walls, at different angles, so they cannot be seen unless you’re looking for them. However, the building incorporates natural light in many ways: above and behind the alter, above the entrance, and behind the statue of Mary and Jesus. I found this use of light incredible since we went to the Monastery in the morning, which highlighted all the amazing features of the Monastery. The inside also was not ornamented like the Cathedral, which allowed you to focus on the statues, crosses, beautiful wood benches, and the glowing yellow light coming from within the chapel.

The exterior of the Monastery, along with a sketch I did, capturing the mountains in the distance.

The natural light streaming in above the alter at the Monastery.

Another example of the natural light highlighting a statue of significance— Mary and baby Jesus.

The glowing yellow light from within the chapel, shown from the main space of the congregation.

Personally, I found the slowed down pace and simple beauty of the Monastery more appealing because it allowed you to let go of any distractions or stress. The location and being able to see many mountains was quite amazing. The morning light also was a beautiful quality in and out of the space, shining over the white interior and exterior, showing the Monastery’s amazing qualities.

A Moment of Contrasting Light

The aspect in Smiljan Radic’s design of the Pre-Columbian Museum that I found most interesting was regarding the light. All throughout the space, the light that was allowed to come into the building or a specific space was controlled by design. As we decended into the lowest level of the museum, the light gradually got dimmer and lessened. Soon, the light of the railings on the stairs was the only lighting to get to the lower level. When on the lower level, the light demonstrated the hierarchy in the space, which was the statues. On the opposite end of the statues, light also highlighted the other main artifacts.

The main level had the most light, especially with the open courtyard with the bright orange, pink, and purple installation. I found this to be one of my favorite parts of the museum. The vibrant colors of the installation allowed it to be a focal point, since the museum itself has a white exterior and the surrounding buildings are dull colors.

On the second level of the museum, the light allowed in was very controlled. This was demonstrated through the transparent shades on the windows that surrounded the courtyard. The purpose of this was to allow the light in the exhibits to be dimmer and show the best qualities of the space. While it would have been nice without the transparent shades blocking our views across the courtyard, it is very understandable why they are present.

This is the vibrant courtyard on the ground level of the Pre-Columbuian Art Museum. On the second level, you can see the black, but transparent, shades that are used to control the natural light on the second level.

This shows the reduced light on the lower level of the museum. The statues that are the main hierarchy are across from these artifacts, on the opposing side of the space. These are still important, as shown with the light above them.

On the ground level of the museum, there is the most amount of natural light in. On the left of this main stairwell was the ETFE courtyard, and to the right was the outside courtyard, both allowing natural light to filter throughout the space.

This is my interpretation of the courtyard using multiple media types- pencil, pen, poche marker, and water colors.

 

Madison’s Pre-Departure Post

It’s so hard to believe that we depart for Santiago in two days! While this semester has flown by, it still doesn’t feel like we should be leaving in less than 48 hours. With all the work in classes piling up and the weather resorting more and more into a winter feeling, I can’t wait to be in the warm weather and feel the sunshine.

I have never been to South America before so this will be a new experience! I have, however, been on long flights, some of my longest ones being to Hawaii, Ireland, and Germany. I am hoping to sleep on our long 10 hour flight so I can have lots of energy for our first day in Chile! I am most excited to see the Andes Mountains and the amazing architecture we have been learning about. I feel like when we get to see all of the architecture for the first time, it won’t even compare to the pictures and videos we’ve been seeing.

Another thing I’m excited about is all of the sketching. I feel like my sketchbook will be an amazing reminder and memory of this trip. I hope that my sketches can become more of how I envision them to be.