The Wave: public performance space in Valparaiso, Chile
Sitio Eriazo, our client, is a collective whose aim is to recover empty, abandoned, urban spaces in the city of Valparaiso, Chile, which are currently rubbish dumps and attract vermin and delinquents. The members of the group are recent graduates from theater, art and architecture schools. The activities of the group rely on self-motivation, mutual support and a non-hierarchical organisation; they work to recover and make available to the community the urban patrimony of the city of Valparaiso which was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Sitio Eriazo begins its activities in 2012 by recovering an abandoned urban site in Escalera Becker, a site which was converted into a space for the diffusion of arts & crafts and which facilitates activities such as urban agriculture, theater, carpentry, and other self-sustaining undertakings. In 2014 Sitio Eriazo obtains legal status as an organization and move to an empty site in Ecuador 428 which it is currently developing. Sitio Eriazo recycles the wastes produced by society in order to generate tools of resistance, transformed into architecture, theatre, music, circus, painting, crafts and orchards, to help build alternative modes of working and learning which will alter our relationship to the environment.
Sitio Eriazo invited the Scarcity and Creativity Studio to help it to consolidate its activities in the Ecuador 428 site.
A flexible events space, to accommodate theater, circus, and music performances. At present up to 100 people attend Sitio Eriazo’s performances. Cooking facilities to prepare and serve food to those attending the organised events. The events which Sitio Eriazo organizes are free, but they do charge for food. At present they have built an adobe pizza oven and BBQ grill which they use for all the cooking. Space for workshops, which will be the places where arts and crafts are taught and where the community can come to realize their projects. Toilets for those attending the events. A vegetable garden, where Sitio Eriazo can plant vegetables and herbs to be used in the kitchen.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The building uses prefabricated concrete footings and a timber super-structure. An attmpt was made to maximise the use of recycled timber, as well as making sure that the remains of construction materials were either donated to other users or recycled.