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Architects: Martin Hurtado Covarrubias, Sergio Quintana Felice Arquitectos Asociados: Martin Hurtado Covarrubias & Sergio Quintana Felice Arquitectos Asociados
- Area: 27030 m²
- Year: 2009
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Photographs:Leonardo Finotti
Text description provided by the architects. San Francisco School is an institution linked to the jesuits, which founded the school towards 1,850, in Puerto Montt's downtown. It was in fact the first church and parish and part of its installations are now National Monument. The development and densification of the area, along with the citizens moving to new residential zones located in the suburbs forced the school to relocate. This new building is located at the heart of Pelluhue Alto, a new residential zone east of the city.
After a private competition, we are chosen to develop the complex program that had to include the actual school, as well as new programs to design a building that should last 150 years. ¿How to design the installations and buildings needed to host the educational space of a school that wants to be leader and accommodate the actual and future forms of education?
Places, spaces, technologies, buildings and programs. Many of them unknown today needed to exist in a consistent architectonic body.
We thought that the first jesuits that came to America faced a similar problem. Their installations and buildings needed to last and resist the passing years as witnesses of a mission. Studying the settlement patterns of these buildings we discovered a series of topics that repeated in each of their missions. These are part of of the 'American Baroque', which is a "synthesis" between the christian latin greek european cultures and the indigenous american local cultures.
¿What does the jesuits missions of Chiquitanía, Chiloé or El Paraná have in common? Simple rules and order in a chaotic and dispersed world. The foundation of these religious centers during missions had the purpose of evangelize these thousands of infidel souls.
We discovered certain patterns like the use of roman-greek structures surrounding the closed patios, the use of regular orthogonal frames that overlap over inhospitable american soil, the construction of an horizontal plinth as a solid base from which they built blocks and patios, all elements of classic architecture (influenced maybe by architectonic treaties published during that time, like the one by Jacopo Vignola, basis of the church of Gesu in Rome).
The original school of 1859 shows this same spirit, in a different scenario.
After the jesuits were expelled of America in 1757, this second evangelizing mission arrives to help establish German settlers, that arrived to that zone during mid-nineteenth century in search of a christian education for their kids.
These priests, educated in the classic technics of carpentry, built a church and a building that would become the school, with a model that follows many patterns of the former missioners.
The project for the new school is born with the idea to rescue these patterns:
The construction of a plinth at the top of the hill, new grounds that will harbor all the school installations. All the program is projected over one single building. One body with multiple parts to form one unique central inner patio protected from the wind.
The construction with local technics and materials, a modular system that allows an easy growing by stages, wood carpentry, a single body with multiple parts, a hall protecting itself from the weather and everything surrounding a big inner space with a protected inner patio. Windows treatment to help protection from the rain and wind, a compact building easy to heat and great details for the interiors. A single body that domains the profile of the future residential neighborhood of Puerto Montt.
