Teodoro Fernandez

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Although the international limelight has not shined on Teodoro Fernandez, in his adopted country of Chile he plays a significant role in her architectural development. By the virtue of his longevity, travels and influences, his impacts span horizontally both in the professional and academic settings. Shortly after being born in Spain, Fernandez’s family immigrated to Chile; perhaps his family, like a lot of other European families, saw prospect in starting a new life. Later he attend Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile (U. Catolica), however he did not finish his studies there, he later briefly moved back to Spain to finish his schooling and worked for a few years . Fernandez later moved back to Chile and worked under Mario Perez Arce for …show more content…

It is the largest of the universities system campus and it adopts the ‘american’ style urban layout; detached buildings with plenty of green spaces in between. In the heart of the campus is the Chapel; it is meant to provide an introspective and personal refuge from the demands of schooling and life. It is not the tallest building on campus nor does it prominently stand out (unlike Aravena’s Siamese Towers); minus the bell tower, if one did not look hard enough they might confuse the Chapel for a typical classroom building. Personally, as someone with a more conservative background I am not sure, considering that it is a Catholic institution, that such characteristics are appropriate. St. Thomas University’s Chapel of Saint Basil is the most prominent building on her campus with its playful façade that is different from the typical style of the rest of its campus; it is a place of importance. In addition to the San Joaquin campus being designed as an ‘American’ style campus, the chapel itself takes ‘Protestant’ floor plan, Fernandez does not hide this fact stating takes precedence with the “historical allusion to the courts of the American temples of evangelization” . Nevertheless, the characteristics are emphasize placed on the acoustics and visual connection to the pulpit with seating taking an auditorium style layout in the square or rectangular space. This goes against the classical Catholic churches and chapels which place emphasize on the plan. Other than taking the shape of the cross, many churches try to tell a story as one walks from the doors to the pulpit, which allows for the possibility of a ‘transformative’ experience to the user. As one enters the door through the San Joaquin Chapel they have an immediate 180 degree view of roughly three-quarter of the chapel which I feel can lead to stimulus overload and lack of concentration. I also find it did not help

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