Call for Proposals: Design an Urban Park in Chile’s Coastal Region of Viña del Mar

The international call for proposals aims to find an architecture office to design the new Las Salinas Urban Park (Parque Urbano Las Salinas), a beach-side complex in the city of Viña Del Mar, Chile. The project seeks to transform the area into a multifunctional green space for the future neighborhood with a high standard for its residents. The objective is to project a large park which will become an important integration project for the city: an open space for public use and accessible for everyone – a place for social, cultural, sporting and educational gatherings.

To define and organize the event of the project within the absolute best way, Las Salinas and AOA (Chilean Association of Architecture Offices) launched an open competition to architecture offices globally, with the support of an area office. this may provide a worldwide view for the project, while respecting the identity and culture of the people of Viña Del Mar.

“We decided to make an open competition, and not an invitation limited to at least one office, so on open ourselves to good ideas which will surprise us as landowners and therefore the city as future users. additionally , we’ve done a careful selection of the jury that’s comprised of prestigious and recognized leaders with long-standing professional trajectories within the region, counting with notable national and international recognition. that’s how we would like to make sure both the standard of the proposals and therefore the preservation of the identity of Viña del Mar”, says Esteban Undurraga, Las Salinas Development Manager.

The competition includes aspects of sustainability, operation, territorial integration, and connection. additionally , democratic space and efficient operation are at the guts of a technique of territorial and socioeconomic integration. it’ll allow to determine a biological reference to the wild environments of the region, because of the utilization of native flora, which allows the regeneration of the native ecosystem and may be a well-known strategy to face the consequences of global climate change .

“The Las Salinas Urban Park are going to be connected with the region’s wild parks, which successively are going to be connected to other public spaces, including the longer term neighborhood. this may generate a green circuit that meets multiple objectives: at a biological level, it’ll allow the ecosystem of Las Salinas to be united with those already existing within the city, because of the incorporation of the region’s native flora; but this circuit also hopes to become a social and cultural meeting space, by incorporating spaces that leave activities related sports, education, leisure, tourism, or the other type that the town is curious about incorporating,” says Undurraga.

The participating teams must include professionals from various specialties: architects, landscapers, biologists, specialists in water infiltration, structural engineers, etc. they need to be multidisciplinary teams to technically support the proposal.

The composition of the jury is important to draw in high-quality participants and to settle on the simplest proposals. It incorporates renowned architects and specialists with experience within the area. The AOA are going to be the entity responsible of organizing the competition in conjunction with Las Salinas.

“This contest seeks to get a first-level public urban space for the inhabitants of Viña del Mar, with a program that permits it to satisfy various functions, which can be technically sustainable and also sustainable over time. that’s why this competition seeks to get an innovative, attractive proposal, with an integrated program and in whose development multiple professionals and specialties intervene that enrich the result”, adds Lucía Ríos, Director of the Las Salinas Urban Park Competition and secretary of AOA.

The concept of Las Salinas Urban Park implies not only highlighting the biological aspects, but also the importance of the uses that are integrated; it must be an area for free of charge use, but that generates enough income to form its maintenance possible over time, in an autonomous and sustainable way.

Download the competition rules here.