LEVITATING OVER BULNES
To celebrate Chile’s Bicentennial, the government launched an international competition to revitalize and consolidate one of Santiago’s most emblematic public spaces. The jury, chaired by Rafael Moneo, praised the project’s ability to solve both the infill of vacant lots and the completion of the promenade through a bold cantilevered volume.
The proposal envisions an urban project that stitches together the surrounding fabrics of Paseo Bulnes while reinforcing its solemn and civic character. The new landmark building becomes an articulation between the promenade and Almagro Park, creating a contemporary focal point that shines at the end of the axis.
Six key concepts underpin the design: diversity of public spaces, transition from the Caja cívica to the park, interplay of symmetry and asymmetry, a unitary gesture through a horizontal “skyscraper,” new road connections, and an underground network.
The final discovery is a hovering building-observatory that levitates above Bulnes and Almagro Park, offering a unique view of the city: the tree-lined Bulnes axis with La Moneda Palace at one end and the wooded park mass at the other. The project reinterprets the completion of the axis as a threshold between the Civic District and Almagro Park, balancing monumental architecture with the softness of urban nature.
For further insight into this proposal, you can read the article published by the author at the following link: Levitando sobre Bulnes (UPC Commons).
