Tall & Urban News

Designs for a new masterplan for La Fabrica in Santiago have been revealed. Designed by Foster + Partners, the project centers on the regeneration of an existing mid-twentieth century factory building to create a mixed-use urban quarter while introducing timber as a new primary building material. Located in the industrial neighborhood of San Joaquin, the project extends onto an adjacent site with a 550-unit residential development.

The historic factory was once a major contributor to the textile industry in the country. The workers in the factory were provided housing and day-care facilities on neighbouring sites, creating a large low-density community. The new masterplan seeks to re-establish the live/work links by creating a new mixed-use urban quarter with a significant residential component.

With half the building currently occupied by a retail mall, La Fabrica features a lightweight concrete vault roof that is characteristic of the industrial buildings of the time, with roof lights that allow daylight to flood the interior. The challenge was to extend the naturally ventilated mall to the entire building while densifying the edges of the site. One of the primary design moves creates a sheltered pedestrian boulevard through the center of the building, from the existing clocktower to the north to the southern edge of the site. With a raised roof over this central axis, it activates the heart of the building and allows visitors to appreciate the  profile of the vaulted roof. The edges of the site have similarly been animated by pedestrian routes with a mix of low-rise office spaces, sports, entertainment, medical facilities, market stalls, shops and restaurants. 

The mixed-use ground plane flows into an adjacent site towards the northwest corner of the factory, where a new low-rise, high density residential development is located. It features a central octagonal square at the intersection of two tree-lined boulevards that are lined with shops, cafes, and other neighborhood retail. Four eight-story residential blocks are arranged around the central square, with a series of smaller courtyards towards the interior of the site that mark the transition between public and private spaces. The apartments accommodate a range of different individual and family units, from compact studio flats to two-bed apartments.

Building on the Chilean tradition of timber construction, this is one of the first large-scale timber framed and cross laminated timber developments in the region. The project will use sustainably sourced timber. 

For more on this story, go to Foster + Partners.