First Prize Lafarge Industrial Building Competition

Memory of project

We can assume that the best way to make a limit visible is to make it disappear.

The isle of Lafarge has a double border. The outer border simply limits with the exterior. The inner border is an unlikely balance between a small forest and an overacting productivity. The former thermal station is located exactly on this limit, where an unequal dialogue between the repopulated nature and the industrial nature takes place under the tension of a synthetic ecotone. The building in its current state takes part in this conflict through a sequence of facades that appear incoherent from an architectural point of view and surprisingly logical from a scenic point of view. Each facade has a different character: If one is translucent the other is opaque, if one is orthodox the other one is fragmented, if one is flat the other has volume, etc. The espace inside is also paradoxically simple and complex, with multiple faces, multiple entrances and a combination of materials for a rectangular, neutral space. It is all thought in order to create a neutral room that acts as a trade and management lock of information.

The fourth wall is the element that should (and shouldn't) be present so that the border for this exchange is visible. The pavillion use requires a higher degree of permeability, which suggests giving up one of the facades. The empty plan allows to condense the necessary distance between the guest and the argument. The stage and hall are reversible, and the wall can be respected or crossed in both directions. The viewer can be on one side or the other of the wall (or both sides). Something similar happens with the exhibition materials, which may be arranged methodically or invade the room indiscriminately. The pavillion's distribution is planned to allow the use of the main rooms to be as flexible and open as possible. The main space is left free to accommodate  a museum and exhibitions and is associated to the factory's production facilities and the green area. The moving wall makes it possible to connnect the esplanade outside and the exhibition area. The bridge crane works as an assembly and organization mechanism. The lower level is treated as a versatile surface that can be used as an open space or be divided with mobile partitions. This space hosts a meeting point and working areas. The annexes on the north side of the building are planned to be functional units serving the two main rooms. A training area is situated on the ground floor and two lecture rooms in the basement. This rooms have overhead light and act as light patios for the central space on the lower level. On the north side are also located the staircase, toilets and a service lift that connects and unifies the functions on the two levels.

Text.- Bastidas and Jorquera