18th. Firemen’s Brigade design by Gonzalo Mardones Viviani

The new headquarters for 18 Vitacura Fire Company is structured on the basis of different areas. These areas in turn, are organized spatially around the engine room of double height and with total transparency to the street. The headquarters also transparent in their 3-level balconied producing an open and easy connectivity. Finally, in the back are located the homes of resident drivers and their families through a concrete language with the same but with a more muraria, so as not to violate the privacy of homes. The main building facing the street is shown as a white concrete box suspended in a glass prism that is floating. The asymmetry of the facade allows the engine room out producing an interior-exterior relationship, so to be transparent in day activities of the pump and produce a neutral interior light at night.

Constructively the building is reinforced concrete with titanium dioxide and a formwork system, which have been designed and modulated based on the geometry of openings, beams, railings, porches and walls. In the manner of a fauve on the top floor, you see a red facade element (Alucobond), which stands over the uniformity of the material.

Location: Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
Architects: Gonzalo Mardones Viviani
Project: 2005
Completion: 2006
Type: Public Building
Client: Cuerpo de Bomberos de Santiago
Area: 2020 m²
Cost: 1000000 €
Images: Andres Nunez