Reclaiming Heritage​

The town of Chanco was one of the most damaged towns in the Maule region. The town had been recognized a status as a “Typical Zone” (Zona Típica) in 2000, which means that any intervention within a defined perimeter needs to be approved by the National Monuments Council (Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales, CMN) before being approved by the local government.

The vast destruction has led to a situation where no reconstruction is possible, since there is for the most part no heritage context left to ascribe new interventions to.

With the material of the first Seminar (SoSe 2010), which outlined the main problems to be adressed and methodologies to work with them, the work in the field was started with two preliminary trips, aiming at an evaluation meant to establish the real potential in Chanco for using reclamation materials in the re-construction of the houses lost after the catastrophic earthquake of March 2010. A report entitled "Potentials for the reclamation of Materials in Chanco" was produced.