First Prize MIM Mirador Interactive Museum Contest.
XII Bienal de Arquitectura de Chile 2000 Selection
The task was to design the Masterplan and several buildings, “Time-Tunnel”, “Hill”, offices, administration, restaurants, IMAX and an expositions hall. The CIC Museum has been designed by Baixas and Del Rio architects.
The Mirador Interactive Museum is a cultural operation placed in Brazil Park, an unrecognizable place in Santiago.
It is important that the center cold transform the place in an architectonic space, to add a cultural value to the park, to create a place where memory could have strong roots related to Chile and its geographical main elements, the Andes, the central Valley and the Chilean Sea.
Through this operation the “Tiempos Nuevos” Foundation creates an international cultural space because it presents a relation between America and the rest of the world.
The process to articulate this masterplan has been the transformation of the topography.
The proposal tries to create a shape able to be a recognizable and memorable place.
The project is a soil-bridge.
The bridge hidden meaning is “connecting”, in a spatial and metaphysic sense.
The “Hill” building is an important landmark in Santiago. This project proposes two accesses, the main one on the North facing the Estadio Avenue and Manquehue Hill.
The buildings assume primary shapes, easily understandable by children and adults. They have to be attracted by the buildings almost in a casual way. In the middle there is a water sheet, which represent the Chilean Sea and reflect the Andes mountain range.
Generally speaking, there is no a unique path of exposition, the curiosity suggests the order. The buildings show themselves in the main axe as a celebration where the main activity of the people is to walk around driven by their curiosity. It is an invitation to follow the instincts and curiosity related to science, art, technology and knowledge.
As the words of our language, the buildings and the spaces of this masterplan have to be known and defined for its name and shape.
Therefore, some names were established for these spaces.
The places and words of our poets (Mistral, Neruda, Huidobro and Zurita) will have a permanent relation thanks to these names.
