Chile Day: Emerging Chilean Architecture

Join us for a program that discusses innovation and sustainability in Chilean architecture. The event will feature an overview of Chile's emerging generation of architects, presented by Jeannette Plaut and Marcelo Sarovic, the directors of CONSTRUCTO and CAMPUS AULA curators. Following their introduction, renowned Chilean architects Cristián Izquierdo and Max Núñez will discuss their design processes, with Izquierdo focusing on his work on timber architecture and sustainability and Nuñez exploring issues around form and program.

Speakers:
Cristián Izquierdo, Founding Partner, Izquierdo Lehmann; Director, Taller Tecton
Max Núñez, Founding Principal, Max Núñez Arquitectos
Jeannette Plaut, Director, CONSTRUCTO
Marcelo Sarovic, Director, CONSTRUCTO

About the Speakers:
Cristián Izquierdo is Founding Partner of Izquierdo Lehmann Arquitectos and director of Taller Tecton. His firm focuses on low-emission construction technologies (mainly in prefabricated wood) and the design of buildings with low energy consumption that encourage collaborative ways of life. His work seeks to reflect and expand the culture in which they are implanted. In 2022 he founded Taller Tecton, a firm dedicated to managing, planning, and building low-emission architectural buildings through protocols that integrate analysis, design, coordination, manufacturing and construction in a continuous process. His projects have been exhibited internationally in cities including New York, Chicago, Quito, Ljubiana, Nis, Santiago, and Tokyo. His work has also been featured in publications including Arquitectura Viva, Casabella, GA Houses, Architectural Record, and AMC, among others. Awards include Major Minimum Work (Santiago, 2016), Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard (2020), and the AOA Medal for Outstanding Young Architect (2021). Izquierdo has taught courses and workshops at universities in Santiago, Quito, London, and Venice, and has spoken at conferences in the US, Japan, Italy, and England. He is also an architectural critic with bylines in several published magazines and books. He currently teaches at the Catholic University in Chile, where he serves as the director of the inaugural workshop for the Master’s in Architecture. In addition, he teaches a course on architectural composition theory. His work oscillates between the profession and the academy, between creation and reflection, seeking to explore and exploit their gaps, to specify where their insurmountable distances lie, to mediate, with integrity and awareness, the complex relationship between theory and practice.

Max Núñez graduated as an architect from the Universidad Católica de Chile in 2004. In 2010, he obtained an MSc in Advanced Architectural Design from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize and the William Ware Prize for Excellence in Design. Between 2005 and 2010, he worked in association with Nicolás del Río at dRN Arquitectos. Since 2010 he has directed Max Núñez Architects developing different types of projects both in Chile and abroad. He has been invited to present his work at various biennials and universities in Chile, America and Europe. In parallel to his professional work, between 2016 and 2020, he was Head of the Masters Program in Architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile, where he is a regular Workshop professor. In 2018 and 2019 he was visiting professor at the IUAV University of Venice, Italy. His work has been recognized with the Design Vanguard 2017 from Architectural Record, and the Design Award 2013, 2018 and 2020 from Wallpaper*. He has won various public competitions, including for the Atacama Regional Museum in Copiapó, Chile, and the Visitor Center for the Laguna San Rafael National Park and the Jeinimeni Reserve in Aysén, Chile. His projects have been published in different international media, including A+U, GA, Mark, Wallpaper*, Architectural Record, PLOT, 2G, Baumeister, and Interni. His firm has also published two monographs: Max Núñez Arquitectos: Pista de Despegue (Editorial Constructo, 2015) and Max Núñez Arquitectos: Colección de Ideas (Editorial ARQ, 2018).

Jeannette Plaut is an architect trained at the University of Chile as well as an architectural critic and academic. Along with Marcelo Sarovic, she is co-founder and director of CONSTRUCTO and director of YAP_CONSTRUCTO, a Young Architects Program developed in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art. In 2016, she was selected by MoMA to be part of the museum’s International Curatorial Institute in Modern and Contemporary Art. Plaut and Sarovic also led the team that created the models for the MoMA’s 2015 exhibition Latin America in Construction. Plaut has worked as a Latin American correspondent for several media outlets and has served as editor-in-chief of Trace magazine since 2010. From 2000 to 2009, she was architectural editor of Ambientes magazine. Plaut was curator of the Chilean Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, Director of the XV Chilean Architecture Biennial (2006), Director of the International Conference of Architects at the XIV Chilean Architecture Biennial (2004), and Coordinator of the International Conference of Architects at the XIV Chilean Architecture Biennial (2002). From 2004 to 2010, she was a consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s Division of Sustainable Development and Human Settlements. She is the author of several books, including PULSO: New Architecture in Chile, PULSO 2: New Architecture in Latin America, LATAM: Contemporary Latin American Architecture, and LATAM 2. Plaut has taught architectural studios at the Catholic University in Chile and at Andrés Bello University and has spoken at several institutions, including the University of Leipzig, Diego Portales University, and Federico Santa María University. She currently serves on the jury for the Rolex Mentor & Protégés Arts Initiative and has served on the juries for the Ibero-American Biennia, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, and the Dhaka Art Summit. She also co-curated EXTRA-ORDINARY: New Practices in Chilean Architecture at the Center for Architecture.

Marcelo Sarovic is an architect from Universidad Católica de Chile. In 1999, he joined the faculty at the Universidad Católica School of Architecture, where he has taught undergraduate- and graduate-level studios, research seminars, and courses on architectural theory, modern history, and contemporary art and architecture. Along with Jeannette Plaut, he is co-founder and director of CONSTRUCTO and director of YAP_CONSTRUCTO, a Young Architects Program developed in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art. Sarovic and Plaut are also co-editors of the magazine, Traces, and led the team that created the models for the MoMA’s 2015 exhibition Latin America in Construction. Previously, Sarovic served as editor of CA magazine, published by the Chilean College of Architects, and was curator of the Chilean Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, Matta: The Architect Exposed at the UC Outreach Center in 2012, and the Heritage Exhibition at the XVI Chilean Architecture Biennial in 2007. He is the author of the books LATAM: Contemporary Latin American Architecture and PULSO 2: New Architecture in Latin America. He also co-curated EXTRA-ORDINARY: New Practices in Chilean Architecture at the Center for Architecture.

This event is offered in person; COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.