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Award: Chile House

Penco, Chile / Johnston Marklee

1 MIN READ

By Thomas Fisher

February 7, 2012

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Courtesy Johnston Marklee

Exterior with view to shoreline beyond

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

The Chile House is one of 10 projects commissioned by the Chilea… Read More The Chile House is one of 10 projects commissioned by the Chilean government to help rebuild the cultural infrastructure destroyed during the 2010 earthquake. The pavilion’s bucolic setting on a hill overlooking the sea and the city offer a vantage point to not only view the art on display, but also to oversee the progress being made on the revitalization of Penco’s city center.

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

Floor Plan

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

View of courtyard

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

Diagram showing tree-trunk forms for the concrete walls in the c… Read More Diagram showing tree-trunk forms for the concrete walls in the courtyard.

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

View diagram for gallery and courtyard.

Courtesy Johnston Marklee

View of gallery with view out through sliding glass wall to ocea… Read More View of gallery with view out through sliding glass wall to ocean beyond.

Site The edge of a forested hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Penco, a Chilean city devastated by the February 2010 earthquake.

Program A 4,465-square-foot pavilion with an enclosed gallery, one of 10 projects by different firms intended to help the region rebuild its cultural infrastructure.

Solution The poured-concrete, flat-roofed pavilion contains two semielliptical volumes: an open-air courtyard with two entry points at the corners, and an enclosed gallery with a sliding-glass end wall overlooking the ocean. The entrance to the gallery from the courtyard occurs at the point where the two semiellipses touch. Offices, washrooms, and storage occur in the interstitial spaces between the two volumes.

Though identical in plan, the two volumes have divergent characters. The courtyard has concrete walls cast in forms made from tree trunks to give the surface a rough, scalloped texture that recalls the trees and buildings that were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. The gallery’s polished, curved wall recalls the ocean—seen beyond the glass end wall—from which a tsunami originated. Juror Joseph Rosa called the pavilion “a viewing device,” and it does carefully modulate the visitor experience: The courtyard focuses attention on the sky, while the gallery’s folded ceiling directs the eye toward the horizon.

It has “the simplicity of a shed, but … [with] more building there,” juror Mary-Ann Ray said. And juror Cathy Simon noted that “within this context of heavily built space, the idea of the sanctuary is a positive thing.”

Project Credits

Chile House, Penco, Chile
Client Ilustre Municipalidad de Penco
Architect Johnston Marklee, Los Angeles—Mark Lee, Sharon Johnston, AIA (principals-in-charge); Lindsay Erickson (project designer); Karl Wruck, David Gray (design team)
Organizer Casapoli Foundation
Curator Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects
Master Plan PRBC (Plan Reconstruccion Borde Costero)
Funding Innova-Chile CORFO Program, Chilean Government
Size 4,465 square feet (total floor area)