The competition brief asked for a high-density mixed-use program with large quantities of public space on a site located at the intersection of three important avenues in the Las Condes neighborhood, in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Located alongside of the Alameda-Providencia-Apoquindo axis, one of Santiago’s major arterial roads, the site is characterised by a high urban density, while the short distance to the “espacio cordillerano” (“mountains range”) gives the site a strong presence of the San Ramón Mountain, a pre-view of the mountains between Maipo and the Mapocho, an icon in the Santiago Valley. Hence the name “Puerta Los Andes City” (“The Andes City Gate”), given that from this point and thanks to the void caused by the unusual intersection of three major thoroughfares – Apoquindo Avenue, Manquehue Avenue and Av. Alonso de Córdova – the view opens out onto the mountains range.

Our proposal for the new development and urban spaces takes maximum advantage of this inner city location with its unique character and strong relationship to the landscape while being firmly rooted in the immediacy of the urban intensity evident at this place: the amount of large developments done in the recent years around Apoquindo and Presidente Riesco, the commercial centers to the south of Apoquindo as well as the busy traffic explain this condition. (Metro Line 1, which runs along Av. Apoquindo, is the busiest line in the Santiago Metro network with a daily ridership of 700,000)

Two generous funnel-shaped atria connect Puerta Los Andes City to the immediate urban surroundings and the landscape beyond. One is oriented to the heart of the Las Condes neighbourhood in the North and offers direct access to the Metro station. Grand escalators lined with numerous shops provide a varied urban route that combines convenient amenity with architectural/spatial excitement. The other atrium is oriented towards the South. It offers a “Corporate Square” on Level 3 that is punctuated by a central “Vortex” guiding daylight deep into the basement floors below.