Public Transportation

First time in Chile but not my last…

The Santiago trip exceeded my expectations immensely. As my first study abroad trip, I’ve never expected to have such a entertaining time in Chile yet still be a teaching experience. I not only gained an understanding of the Chilean culture, but I also gained insight on architecture from a different continent. I understood the difference and between Chile and Ohio in terms of architecture and I’d admit that Chile is way beyond Ohio in design. Chile has been undertaking these urban ideas that have a SOCIAL PURPOSE and creating a meaningful architecture, which the landscape and climate having a huge role.

The landscapes of Chile incorporated throughout all of Santiago creates an interesting architectural promenade. Every street, every walk you took, you were surrounded by trees that bordered the road or trees/plants and created spaces for outdoor seating areas or provided shade. The heat during the day that hardly reaches 80 degrees with a constant breeze throughout the valley that keeps you cool. I’d say over all the countries I’ve traveled I’ve never experienced such an ideal weather.

One of my goals for this trip was to come back in one piece, since this was my first time traveling on the air without family members. I think I learned a lot about myself.  To be more responsible with my items. How to take care of myself independently, in terms of money. I also learned that maybe Ohio isn’t where I want to study for Graduate school… I was really impressed by the programs offered for architecture, more specifically Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, and they how they don’t label architecture as it is, but into multiple categories of design, philosophy, engineering, etc.

Santiago reminded me of a cleaner New York…. I won’t forget the guy who was selling ice cream on those hot days, screaming “HELADOHELADOHELADO!”. I definitely won’t forget the food, which were mostly meat based, really heavy to digest and was always too much to take in, but never regretful. The people of Chile were patient even with our language barriers, they always tried to understand or communicate even if it was through hand motions.  It felt more like New York when we took the metro bus and artists were performing on the bus. But what Chile has that New York doesn’t is green spaces; hills, trees, multiple parks, mountains in the distance and a whole body of ocean along the country.

I don’t think I can pinpoint a favorite project we visited or restaurant we ate, but I know I had special memories that I hold for ever place. I won’t forget this spring break trip!

¡Adiós Chile!

Learning from Santiago

When I arrived home yesterday I had many thoughts about what I was exposed to in Santiago. I realize I had many preconceptions before I arrived there that were proven false. For one, I thought that the city would be larger in terms of surface area. However, in reality it was a bit denser than I expected. This density provided a liveliness to the city and a necessity for well operating public transportation. Actually, I think above everything I was most impressed by the transportation and infrastructure in Santiago. For example, the roads and tunnels were well maintained and none of the roads we encountered were rough like we have here in the United States. Also, the metro station had pretty consistent arrival times between stops and across different lines as well.

So, what could big cities in the United States learn from Santiago in terms of infrastructure? I think what I noticed above all is that there was an effort to improve on what is working. In the United States bureaucrats have a tendency to accept that what is working is acceptable. While most places in the United States do not have the density to run an efficient metro or bus like Santiago does, we should be invested in improving the infrastructure we already have. There is no incentive to fix things until they become a problem. Admittedly, this might be a societal problem that we as Americans face which is where the difference in amenities occur. So, while it does dishearten me to see my home running so inefficiently, I also see it as an opportunity to plan on what I can do as an architect. On this trip we had so many types of students. There were architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, business, and law students in attendance. The amount of talent and different insight on the trip made me optimistic that we as a generation can use this knowledge moving forward to design or plan projects that give back to society. We all play a role in the process of making spaces that give back to society.

Materiality & Structures in Chilean Infrastructures

Chilean architecture often shows or mimic the materiality. Throughout the duration of the trip, I have learned that many buildings in Chile embraces  materiality and expose structures and mechanical works. Many buildings around here are made of strengthen concrete in order for it to withstand earthquakes. The concrete is then left exposed to show the infrastructure of the building. This occurs in many types of infrastructure ranging from metro stations, museum, monasteries and museum and school. They were all build in different eras but still represent the same idea.

First are metro stations. Some were built more than 20 years ago and some were built this past year.a majority of them are located underground, but there are exceptions. Underground infrastructures are made of concrete. The concrete are often smashed like brutalist concrete with a large structural beam supporting the weight above and mechanical wiring exposed. The stations above ground are often made of copper or metal. The different pieces are then bolted together to create the infrastructure. All the bolts and metal are left exposed like the stations underground. 

Underground Station Structures

Underground Station Material Patterns

 

Above Ground Station Materiality

 

Underground Station Structural Joint

Second are local monasteries and museums in Santiago. The Precolombino Museum and the monastery are both made of concrete and glass. The glass shows the lightness of the structure and the concrete shows the roughness of it. The way concrete is pour in Chile often leaves a unique pattern that looks like wood on the surface of the concrete. Sometime Chilean architecture uses one material to mimic another. In this case it is wood, because there are more than 100 difference species of trees. This technique allows the concrete to keep up its materiality and let it mimic wood. 

Monastery Material Pattern

 

Third are educational institution. Many schools  we visited uses the same materials. University Adolfo Ibanez is made entirely of concrete. However, it breaks away form the traditional style of Chilean concrete pouring. Instead of a rough pattern, it embraced a smooth concrete surface and still embrace the idea of exposing the material. The school also brings back the importance of wood to Chilean culture by utilizing it in the architecture. 

 

Educational Insitution Materiality Differentiation

Stop and see that Metro Stop!

I would like to discuss something that we all saw, and occupied, today at the PUC campus: the metro stop. I’ve included pictures, but there are a few of these large, raised tunnel structures along the green line that we took to get to PUC. As soon as I saw these, I was reminded of a very similar metro stop, specifically the L stop on Mies’ IIT campus in Chicago, IL. The stop on PUCs campus has a lot of framework on the end of it currently; however, the others (visible from the top of the Innovation Center) did not have these so try to ignore that, focusing more on the actual structure. The PUC stop has lots of visible ventilation, and less prominent ridges on the exterior. The IIT one has no visible ventilation (cold Chicago Winters) and large ridges on the sides (reference to Mies’ tendency to use external structural beams, or even add unnecessary ones?). Additionally, if we look at how they effect the surroundings, while the PUC one feels very alone and additive, the IIT one effects the building it crosses over, ‘bending’ it to allow it to pass. Unlike IIT, the PUC campus is a collection of works by many

PUC campus – green line metro stop

L stop IIT campus 

The Brown Line (Blog 1 B)

On our way back to the hotel from the Plaza de Armas we decided to take the new brown brown line. I wanted to compare it with the red line a bit. The brown metro was at least 7 stories underground and in a much more open and larger than the red. The brown had a a sleeker and more modern design. The red line used wall art to make the space interesting and used a yellow line painted on the ground to mark a safe place to stand waiting for the metro. Then the newer brown like used the curved walls and exposed structural features to create an interesting space and had automatic glass gates for safety.

 

Puente Cal y Canto Metro Station (One-Point Sketch)