Between Nature and Artifice

written by José Luis Uribe Ortiz
architect Cristián Axl Valdés

 
There are various ways to approach the Chilean territory and its landscape. According to poet Nicanor Parra, in Chile, We think we are a country and the truth is we are barely a landscape. According to Sato, in the language of the Aymara, Chilli means where land ends, which for one of the most advanced cultures of pre-Columbian America explained the origin of Chile. That piece of territory was the land’s end, a finisterrae. Pérez Oyarzún states that, in accordance with the peripheral nature of the country and its size, the variety of its landscapes and climates has generated a new architectural narrative that tends to interpret the existing landscape and territory as a fundamental part of architectural design, taking utmost care in the way buildings are constructed.