On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its founding in Santiago, the School of Architecture at Universidad San Sebastián decided to relocate its facilities from their original location in the Bellavista neighborhood to the historic Los Leones campus. The campus buildings, originally constructed in the 1930s to house Santiago College until its relocation in 2009, are of significant architectural and heritage value. Designed by architects José Smith Solar and Josué Smith Müller, these buildings offer generous ceiling heights and ample natural light, having been initially conceived as classrooms for primary and secondary education.
The architectural intervention involved the complete removal of all non-structural elements in order to fully open up the four floors, which are distributed across three structurally independent yet spatially continuous units. The resulting open floor plans support the school’s integrated studio model, an educational and spatial approach in which no partitions separate different academic levels, thereby fostering a collaborative working environment among students.
All partitions within the space are transparent, constructed using electro-painted steel frames and laminated glass panes installed with structural silicone in an overlapping system. These partitions delineate critique rooms, exhibition spaces, computer labs, and prototyping laboratories, which require acoustic isolation for independent operation.
The central corridors that run axially through levels 1 and 2 are conceived as “display zones,” where student work is presented on perforated steel panels designed to hold presentation boards using magnets. These panels operate on a mechanical counterweight system that allows them to be fixed in place during use or lifted to visually clear the space. Each studio sub-area is further defined by low storage furniture, which subtly organizes and frames the working zones.
Flooring throughout the building is composed of grey vinyl, with red accents introduced in selected rooms and offices to visually highlight specific programmatic areas.Albert Tidy was a co-founder of the School of Architecture, together with Cristian Boza (RIP) and Cecilia Aldunate. He served as Program Director and later as School Director across the Santiago, Concepción, and Puerto Montt campuses. In 2015, he was appointed Dean, leading the academic project of the School of Architecture at Universidad San Sebastián to become one of the most successful initiatives in the field of private higher education in Chile.
Architects: Albert Tidy Arquitectos
Collaborators: Ken Qiu Sun, Sebastián Simonetti
Construction: Infrastructure Unit, Universidad San Sebastián
Location: Providencia, Santiago, Chile
Year: 2019
Photography: Nicolás Saieh