“El Pórtico de los Huéspedes”: Exploring other ways of building at the Open City in Valparaiso, Chile

This chapter examines the pedagogical approach of the Valparaiso School of Architecture and Design (Valparaiso), its position within the Chilean academic landscape and the current collaboration with the Open City Research Platform. Since 2014, this collaboration has brought together students from Switzerland and Chile, in a collaborative project, with limited resources and low-tech technologies, to work on the incremental building of El Pórtico de los Huéspedes for the Open City in Ritoque, Chile. The Open City Research Platform explores other ways of learning and building that may open up an authentic educational experience: an encounter and knowledge exchange between two cultures of techne, broadening our understanding of how the built environment, sustainability and development are linked to a local context. The essay reviews research and pedagogy through the act of making which includes observation and testing as methods for addressing some of the most important concerns of contemporary architectural design: resilient construction, economies of material and a rooted relationship to place.