Located in the commune of Providencia, this early 20th-century former hat factory has become engulfed by the urban expansion of Santiago. The factory occupies a prominent corner lot that serves as a gateway to “Barrio Italia”—a neighborhood that, after undergoing processes of gentrification, has emerged as Santiago’s alternative design district. This area is now populated with cafés, galleries, and design shops that have repurposed old residential houses, complementing the long-standing presence of antique dealers and woodworkers across several blocks.
The former industrial complex was nearly demolished on several occasions, as it holds no official heritage protection. Fortunately, a group of investors recognized its unique potential and organized a design competition to propose a mixed-use program aligned with the character and identity of the neighborhood. The “Factoría Italia” project thus emerges as an urban intervention aimed at activating and enhancing one of Santiago’s most distinctive and rapidly evolving districts.
The masterplan concentrates the majority of the built area below ground level in order to preserve the existing architectural ensemble and free up a public plaza. Levels –1 to –6 accommodate approximately 500 parking spaces, a supermarket, an events center, and a mini-storage facility. Above grade, the existing buildings are adapted to host shops and restaurants, a gourmet market, and a cultural center located at the site’s main corner. New buildings are designed to engage in a volumetric and material dialogue with the pre-existing structures, offering a contemporary architectural response.
A seven-story volume designated for creative industry office spaces rises to match the height of the former theater—now repurposed as a cultural center—and frames the main entrance to the plaza. A second building, located at the far end of the site and facing a secondary street, will house a boutique hotel.
Subterranean works were scheduled for completion by late 2017, with the above-grade construction expected to finish in 2019.
Project: Factoría Italia
Client: Inmobiliaria Factoría Italia
Architects (TCL): Albert Tidy, Gabriel Cáceres, Daniel Lazo
Collaborators: Víctor Bustos, Tomás Mascaró, Sebastián Cruz, Sebastián Provoste, Ken Qiu Sun, Alejandra Sepúlveda
Location: Avenida Italia & Avenida Bilbao, Providencia, Santiago, Chile
Area: 40,000 m²
Construction: Constructora EBCO Ltda.
Materiality: Reinforced Concrete, Masonry Cladding, Steel
Project Year: 2013