El camino no es el camino. Some reflexions on the Valparaiso School and its architectural teaching

The teaching of architecture at the School of Architecture and Design at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso (the Valparaiso School) has very often been described as ‘very unusual’. One of the most exceptional and most often remarked upon aspects of the pedagogical approach are the installations designed and built by faculty and students. Often ephemeral, but sometimes permanent, these interventions in the landscape are situated in the school’s Open City – about one hour north of Valparaiso in Ritoque, Chile – but also in various locations throughout the South American continent. While not the only aspect of Valparaiso’s program, these constructions have come to be understood as a kind of shorthand for the school’s approach to architecture and to teaching: ‘poetic acts’ or distillations of design intent that open up larger stories. The relationship between architecture and poetry, the importance of travel and observation through drawing, and the explicit inclusion of improvisation are as meaningful to the school’s pedagogical approach as the architecture with which Valparaiso has come to be identified. In order to understand teaching at Valparaiso, it is important to return to the school’s founding poem, Amereida, to the travels called travesías (journeys), and to the Open City itself. A consideration of these three elements provides insight into the school’s idiosyncratic teaching and place the construction exercises in a larger ideological context.