In 2008, a devastating fire destroyed the most significant building on the Isla Teja Campus of the Universidad Austral de Chile, in the city of Valdivia. Alongside the physical loss of the structure, the fire consumed years of research, irreplaceable documents, and collections of incalculable value, leaving only the reinforced concrete frame as a remnant. In 2009, the university launched a public competition to rehabilitate the 10,000 m² damaged structure—a competition in which our proposal was awarded first place.
The surviving structure from the fire consists of a rigid frame structural system with a footprint of 19 by 55 meters, distributed over four levels. On one side, it sits at ground level, while on the other, it is partially buried, one story below the main avenue—Avenida Rector Dr. Eduardo Morales Miranda—which runs through the campus. The architectural strategy proposes freeing the second floor to connect directly to the street level, thereby creating a public circulation axis that allows passage through the building in various directions toward the imposing botanical garden located opposite.
This second level becomes a transitional zone that separates the public and student services areas from the secured-access levels housing the faculty’s academic institutes, located above and below the mezzanine level.
Interior spaces retain the original ceiling height of 4.20 meters in the common areas and circulation zones and are «colonized» by programmatic containers—office spaces along the perimeter and laboratories concentrated at the core.
The intervention redefines vertical circulation through the demolition of an 8-by-8-meter central void, into which a sculptural staircase is inserted. This element not only connects all levels but also functions as a dynamic space for movement, interaction, and gathering.
Project: Faculty of Sciences – Emilio Pugín Building
Client: Universidad Austral de Chile
Architects: Albert Tidy, Daniel Lazo
Collaborators: Eduardo Tapia, Nicolás Solís de Ovando, Valentina Marín, Víctor Bustos
Coordination: José Miguel Biscupovik, Felipe Stolzenbach
Location: Isla Teja Campus, Valdivia, Los Ríos Region, Chile
Area: 11,700 m²
Structural Engineering: Pedro Bartolomé
Lighting Design: Paulina Sir
External Reviewer: Carlos Cepeda
Construction: Constructora Capreva
Materiality: Reinforced Concrete, Steel, Glass
Year of Completion: 2011
Photography: Pablo Casals