The town of Valparaiso (Chile) has a morphology and a urban structure that required the construction of urban elevators in the XX Century in order to connect the lower part (el plano, with the harbour and the commercial activities) with the several sierros where the housing are located. These elevators, defined World Heritage by UNESCO in 2003, characterised the town’s history until the widespread availability of the cars and motorcycles took them to a gradual abandonment; nowadays there are only 15 working or under restoration (on a total of 31). In 2010, the Chilean Government understood that was loosing a relevant historic and cultural heritage, so decided to launch a set of architectural competitions to restore and revalorize some elevators, not only as elements to link the different parts of the town, but also as spaces for social inclusion and youth centre. Each elevator has a downstream station and an upstream one that are buildings able to host different activities. The paper aims to show the projects for the restoration of two elevators (Villaseca and Las Mojas) developed by an international group (Chilean, Italian and German professionals) as example of an approach oriented both to the conservation of the identity values and to the functional and technological innovation; the projects are based on an in-depth and analytic knowledge, essential condition for a re-qualifying design; the building solutions, the materials and the functional choices (pointed out also through a participated process) are defined by a methodological procedure that can be applied also to others elevators in Valparaiso or in similar contexts.
Accessibility and usability in Valparaiso (Chile): a new life for the urban elevators Villaseca and Las Monjas
Alessandro Greco
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
2019-01-01
Abstract
The town of Valparaiso (Chile) has a morphology and a urban structure that required the construction of urban elevators in the XX Century in order to connect the lower part (el plano, with the harbour and the commercial activities) with the several sierros where the housing are located. These elevators, defined World Heritage by UNESCO in 2003, characterised the town’s history until the widespread availability of the cars and motorcycles took them to a gradual abandonment; nowadays there are only 15 working or under restoration (on a total of 31). In 2010, the Chilean Government understood that was loosing a relevant historic and cultural heritage, so decided to launch a set of architectural competitions to restore and revalorize some elevators, not only as elements to link the different parts of the town, but also as spaces for social inclusion and youth centre. Each elevator has a downstream station and an upstream one that are buildings able to host different activities. The paper aims to show the projects for the restoration of two elevators (Villaseca and Las Mojas) developed by an international group (Chilean, Italian and German professionals) as example of an approach oriented both to the conservation of the identity values and to the functional and technological innovation; the projects are based on an in-depth and analytic knowledge, essential condition for a re-qualifying design; the building solutions, the materials and the functional choices (pointed out also through a participated process) are defined by a methodological procedure that can be applied also to others elevators in Valparaiso or in similar contexts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
