_________________________________________________ ENRIQUE BROWNE & ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS
PROFILE COMPLETE CATALOGUE
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MINNING CENTER, SAN JOAQUIN CHILE (2013)
Location: San Joaquín Campus, Vicuña Mackenna Avenue Client: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Architect: Enrique Browne Associated Architects: Tomás Swett, Josefina del Río, Cristobal Teixidó Collaborating Architects: Paulina Fernández, Jorge Silva, Enrique Browne C, Verónica López. Site Surface: 3.723 m² Constructed surface: 2.650 m² Project category: Educational infrastructure Materials: Reinforced concrete under earth, termopanel glass Ilumination: Paulina Sir y Ramón López Landscaping: Juan Grimm Interior design: Enrique Browne y Arquitectos Asociados Photography Credits: Nicolás Saieh, Felipe Fontecilla, Enrique Browne Date: 2013 It was decided to build a Mining Center in the great Campus San Joaquin of the Catholic University of Chile. The site faces the wide Vicuña Mackenna Avenue where the elevated metro systems runs through. The initial assignment considered a volume of 6 floors with classrooms, professor rooms, auditorium and a small mining museum. We designed a type of constructed “rock” (option 1). However, the solution seemed insignificant given the large size of the avenue, the powerful presence of the elevated Metro station and the tall neighbouring buildings. We thus proposed another option: that the programme filter through the annexed buildings below ground level. As such, the areas above the buildings were given to the students as green spaces. Along the length there was a “crack” providing light and air to the programme. This proposal was attractive given that it increased the green areas, which is exactly the issue that has humanized and given coherence to the campus. Additionally, the green cover offered approximately 25% in energy savings. This option creates a “T”, leaving visible only a copper cylinder that serves as an access and visual reference of the complex. The Center also incorporates other items of energy efficiency. The offices and classrooms walls, which are next to the earth, generate a thermal ambience of high standards, with low cooling and heating energy demands.