Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Atacama Desert and the Pacific Coast: even
today the apperception of Chile remains remote and indistinct. There is
no doubt that its geographical location – confined between the Pacific
Ocean and the Andes mountain range – has had a role to play in the
relative nescience, although it was the former political situation that
led to the country’s isolation for almost twenty years. In fact, it is
only in these last fifteen years that Chilean architecture has appeared
on the international stage, mostly owing to Mathias Klotz, Alejandro
Aravena, Smiljan Radic and Pezo von Ellrichsausen, amongst others. Chile
can take pride in having built some genuine Modern masterpieces whilst
having preserved a close relationship with its culture. During the
twentieth century Europe provided Chile with sources of inspiration. Le
Corbusier had a great influence on Chilean architects despite never
having visited the country; his followers, such as Emilio Duhart,
Roberto Dávila and the BVCH office, realised buildings which are today
internalised deep in the Chilean psyche. The Bauhaus movement served as
another influence for architects such as Sergio Larraín. Overall, this
book aims to be a practical reference source of the best architectural
works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Chile.
