Chile’s Regional Government has chosen New York-based Ennead Architects and local architects Cristian Sanhuerza and Cristian Ostertag to design a research center near Cape Horn, the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile.
The purpose of the Cape Horn Sub-Antarctic Research Center will be to promote study and ecological tourism in this ecologically diverse, albeit remote and sparsely populated, region, which includes a temperate rainforest. “It’s about as far south as you can get without going to Antarctica,” says Richard Olcott, a Principal at Ennead, reports Dezeen.
The site where the research center will be built is within the UNESCO Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in Puerto Williams.
The research facility is a collaborative venture among the University of Magallanes, the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, the Omoro Foundation in Chile, and the University of North Texas. The center will house the Biocultural Research and Conservation Program led by Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, a native Chilean who is a professor at North Texas.
Ennead’s recent commercial projects include the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City, the Standard Hotel near New York City’s High Line, and the renovation and expansion of Yale’s Art Gallery.
The research center’s exterior will be constructed with maintenance-free Corten steel that forms a self-sealing layer of rust around the structure. The interior’s auditorium will be wrapped in wood, which Olcott suggests would be a bit like the inside of a boat.
Ennead says there will be three programs at the center: education, sustainable tourism, and subantarctic transdisciplinary research, each with its own pavilion. The center will also include a lecture hall and café, exhibition space, and apartments for visiting researchers.
The project should be completed by 2017.
Related Stories
| Nov 20, 2012
PC Construction completes Juniper Hall at Champlain College
Juniper Hall is on track for LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
| Nov 11, 2012
Greenbuild 2012 Report: Higher Education
More and more colleges and universities see sustainainably designed buildings as a given
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Reconstruction centered on Building 91.1, a historic (1937) five-story former machine shop, with its distinctive façade of glass blocks, many of which were damaged. The Building Team repointed, relocated, or replaced 65,869 glass blocks.
| Sep 7, 2012
Net-zero energy pioneers on the el-hi frontier
Getting to net-zero is not easy, but the promise of eliminating energy bills and using state-of-the-art technology as a learning lab can make a compelling case to reach for net-zero.
| Aug 30, 2012
John S Clark Co. completes teaching lab at UNC Wilmington
Three-story building provides offices, classrooms, and labs.
| Aug 15, 2012
Skanska to build the Beacon High School in New York City
The Beacon High School will be located in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.
| Aug 7, 2012
Shedding light on the arts
Renovating Pietro Belluschi’s Juilliard School opens the once-cloistered institution to its Upper West Side community.
| Jul 25, 2012
KBE Building renovates UConn dining hall
Construction for McMahon Dining Hall will be completed in September 2012.
| Jul 20, 2012
2012 Giants 300 Special Report
Ranking the leading firms in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction.
| Jul 16, 2012
Business school goes for maximum vision, transparency, and safety with fire rated glass
Architects were able to create a 2-hour exit enclosure/stairwell that provided vision and maximum fire safety using fire rated glazing that seamlessly matched the look of other non-rated glazing systems.
