Nave

Performing Arts Hall

Smiljan Radic
Profesor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,
Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile
2010 -2015

Declaring a building as heritage assumes that a

property is exceptional enough to be protected
(i.e., excluded from the dynamics of urban
renewal). Such a legal exception, however,
often sentences a building to ruin by preventing
any possible operation on it. In this case,
paradoxically, the deterioration itself generated
by the declaration allowed almost complete
renovation of the building, enabling a truly
exceptional project.
Keywords · heritage, recovery, theater, Santiago, Chile

The project for this experimental arts hall proposes an

emptying operation, in which the same municipal regulations
that halted the building’s renovation and brought on its
current disrepair are used to our advantage. The facade is
the only structure that remained intact after the fire in 2006
and the earthquake in 2010. These disasters opened up the
interior and erased forever the remains of eight houses that
had occupied the site.
The project totally empties the property, reproducing
the original facade until it is complete in every detail,
making it a sort of friendly disguise. The city can be seen
from inside through the gaps, forming part of the backdrop
for some of the events.
Few structural elements touch the ground on the first
floor: the lift, a staircase and the support wall for mobile
tiers. The pathway for the theatralized audience hangs from
a center girder and culminates on the roof-terrace, proposed
for a popular circus. Everything seems to have been measured
from above. The circus is the first, the most primitive and
the most austere place imaginable for shows. A strange

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 Arquitecto / Architect
Smiljan Radic
Colaboradores / Collaborators
Eduardo Castillo, Danilo Lazcano, Patricio Alvarado,
Alejandro Lüer
Ubicación / Location
Libertad 410, Santiago, Chile
Cliente / Client
Fundación Patrimonio Creativo
Ingeniería estructural / Structural engineering
byb ingeniería Estructural Ltda.
Materiales / Materials
Hormigón Armado / Reinforced Concrete
Superficie construida / Built surface Vista aérea sitio original / Aerial view of original site
1.770 m2 © Smiljan Radic
Superficie terreno / Site surface
1.270 m2
Año de Proyecto / Project year
2010-2014
Año de construcción / Construction year
2015

Vista aérea obra concluida / Aerial view of completed building

© Smiljan Radic

Isométrica del conjunto / Isometric of the complex

S. E. / N. S.

Le yenda / Legend
1. Nave
2. Cité Yungay

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Planta nivel ±0,00 m / Floor plan level ±0,00 m Planta nivel +3,75 m / Floor plan level +3,75 m
E. / S. 1: 500 E. / S. 1: 500
Santa Marta

Libertad

2
2
2

2
1
1

Compañía de Jesús

Maqueta Nave / Nave Model Maqueta Nave / Nave Model

© Gonzalo Puga © Gonzalo Puga

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Planta nivel +10,14 m / Floor plan level +10,14 m Isométrica proyectada Yungay /
E. / S. 1: 500 Isometric Yungay
S. E. / N. S.

Nave, carpa de circo / Nave, circus tent

© Smiljan Radic

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 Elevación sur / South Elevation
E. / S. 1: 500

+12,29 +12,29 +12,29

+0,00
-0,35

Cité Yungay Nave

Elevación poniente / West Elevation

E. / S. 1: 500
88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2
88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2

88.2
88.2

88.2

88.2

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88.2
88.2

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88.2
Compañia

Corte AA / AA Section
E. / S. 1: 500

Corte BB / BB Section Corte CC / CC Section

E. / S. 1: 500 E. / S. 1: 500

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 © Cristóbal Palma

© Cristóbal Palma

Interior Nave / Nave Interior

objet trouvé, a long way from its home, will appear above
the theatre; a source of delight for the neighborhood. The
rehearsal rooms, offices and services occupy other houses in
the complex, turning the entire building as it stands into a
new internally interrelated organism. ARQ

Smiljan R adic
Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 1989. Studies in
Architectural History at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia
and in Design at the Istituto Andrea Palladio in Vicenza. His work has been
widely published and exhibited internationally. He has lectured in Mexico,
Spain, Norway, Austria, Japan and usa . In 2001 was awarded Best Chilean
architect under 35 years by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile. In 2008
achieves the Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard Award and in 2009 is
appointed honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. In 2013
was summoned to design the 2014 pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in
London. He currently works with the sculptress Marcela Correa.

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