The design calls for a 7,000-square meter cultural center topped by an elevated plaza. A stage will open toward both the plaza and a 300-seat theater with a removable roof. The center will be built mainly with reinforced concrete.

Niemeyer created his design as a gift to the port city. The 100-year-old architect overhauled his initial plan for the center after Valparaíso residents expressed concern for the preservation of the Polvorín, an early nineteenth-century gunpowder magazine threatened by the original design. The new design, in contrast, will renovate the Polvorín and incorporate it as a permanent exhibition.

Public Works Minister Sergio Bitar called the design “an exceptional work (…) for a city that will bring worldwide acclaim to the city.” He said the cultural center will benefit Valparaíso residents “because children will have access to a level of culture they haven’t had before. The fight against poverty isn’t just material.”

Valparaíso Mayor Aldo Cornejo said the aim of the new cultural center is to provide a “participatory space” that will allow artists to pursue projects that previously “had no space in the city.” He explained the municipality is currently searching for a new building to allow the people currently using the former jail grounds to “continue their artistic and cultural activities.”

Niemeyer first received international attention for his work in 1956 when he designed a large number of residential, commercial, and government buildings in the new Brazilian capital, Brasilia. Following this success, Niemeyer traveled the world designing buildings such as the United Nations in New York, the headquarters of the French Communist Party in Paris, and the University of Constantine in Algeria.

Although he has designed more than 200 projects over his 71-year career, the Valparaíso cultural center will be Niemeyer’s first project in Chile. The architect has never been to Valparaíso, but said he was drawn to the project because of close friendships with former Chilean President Salvador Allende and Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, both strongly identified with Valparaíso (ST, Oct. 8, 2007).

The Public Works Ministry’s Architecture Office and Valparaíso’s municipal government will carry out the project. The design will undergo further development during 2008, and construction will begin during the first trimester of 2009. Officials project the cultural center will be complete in time for Chile’s September 2010 bicentennial celebration.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN
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