- The team formed by Hugo Tello, Rodrigo Aliaga, Pablo Becerra and Javier Rojas, all of them 5th year students at the Architecture program of Universidad de Santiago, won the Alacero international competition. More than 700 students from different countries in Latin America participated in the 2016 version of the Contest that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
By the unanimous decision of the jury, a group of students at the Architecture program of Universidad de Santiago de Chile was awarded the first place and 5,000 dollars at the 9th version of the Alacero international competition that was held between October 22nd and 24th,in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Chilean team shared the first place with the Brazilian team.
704 students from different schools of architecture in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and the Dominican Republic participated in the competition. All of them participated first at a national level competition in their corresponding countries and presented their proposals for an inclusive cultural center using steel in a project to improve the quality of life of people in areas without this type of facilities.
The first prize
The Chilean and the Brazilian projects were awarded the first prize by the unanimous decision of the jury made up of the architects Sebastián Colle (Argentina), Carolina Fonseca (Brazil), Álvaro Donoso (Chile), Maritza Andrade (Ecuador), Luis Enrique López Cardiel (Mexico) and Juan Mubarak (Dominican Republic). Although the two proposals have different social, environmental, economic and geographical contexts, they are both high quality works and they are both a contribution to their communities.
For the final presentation, the team showed the proposal “Zócalo Cultural Bajos de Mena,” which was designed for the area of Puente Alto, at the Metropolitan region. The facilities designed join together the street culture and the traditional culture in order to reduce the overcrowding in that area, because the small blocks of departments provided as housing solutions there have led people to express their culture in the streets or other places.
Before presenting their model at the international contest, the students changed its base from cardboard to acrylic, as the Chilean jury had suggested in the 30th version of the CAP contest held in Chile. While they were in Brazil, they shared with other students and learned about their projects.
The competition was organized in the context of the Latin American Steel Conference organized by Alacero, the Latin American Steel Association, a non-profit civil organization that groups 49 companies in 12 Latin American countries, which production is about 70 million tons a year.
The yearly competition seeks to promote the use of steel as a construction element with different properties.
Óscar Luengo, professor at the Architecture program and tutor of the project, says that winning the first place at an international competition “shows what we are doing at the school and reinforces the way how we are working. In this way, the 5th year students strengthen their skills both at a national and international level,” he says.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
