Urban Mine

This project intends to regenerate a large brownfield site in the city centre, of Antofagasta (Chile), a re-imagining of an urban community designed for the future, utilising waste materials for sustainable, resilient growth. It strives to establish a mixed purpose extension to the urban centre for both commerce and residential use.

Contaminants will be removed from the ground and the architecture rises to strike a balance between contextualising the scheme in the traditional (formal), as well as showcasing new, dynamic and innovative (informal) solutions to construction. 

Inspired in part from the informal settlements that form a perimeter boundary to the city, whereby construction is informed by the re-imagining of ‘cheap’, ‘available’ and often ‘waste’ materials. By employing similar ideas, constructing from ‘waste’ in a sustainable way, this project seeks to bridge the vernacular gap of architecture that exist within the city, homogenising urban growth in a common language that no longer speaks of a socio, economic platform.