Cortesía de Amunátegui Valdés
- Architects: Amunátegui Valdés Architects
- Location: Av. Italia 1601, Ñuñoa, Metropolitan Region, Chile
- Author Architects: Alejandro Valdés, Cristobal Amunátegui
- Design Team: Sebastián Zarhi
- Area: 105.0 m2
- Project Year: 2015
- Construction: Secco Constructora ltda
- Structure: Amunátegui Valdés Architects
- Lighting Design: Estudio Par
Cortesía de Amunátegui Valdés
Text description provided by the architects. Avenida Italia Shop was organized around a series of architectural references. Whereas the façade draws from some of Loos’ densely composed commercial building elevations, the shop itself celebrates the still lively galleries and passages located in the neighboring downtown of Santiago.
Cortesía de Amunátegui Valdés
Floor Plan and Section
Cortesía de Amunátegui Valdés
Here, the narrowness of the plot is emphasized through a set of three freestanding columns supporting a 21m long double-vaulted ceiling. These elements enhance the already pronounced perspective of the site, which at the back features a small tower with facilities—a reenactment of so many self-referential architectural experiments of the 1970s—, and a patio mediating between these two interiors.
Constructive Detail
If the shop is long, narrow, and evenly-lit, the walls enclosing the backyard are tall and dark, amounting for a more dramatic “room” whose light changes with the hours of the day. Considered as a whole, Avenida Italia Shop is the addition of four different architectural artifacts—the Loosian façade, the passage-like interior, the room-like backyard, and the self-referential tower.
Cortesía de Amunátegui Valdés