Workers’ quarter in Isla Teja, Valdivia, 1939. The modernizing action of the Compulsory Workers’ Insurance Fund

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of architectural production and the approach of the Compulsory Workers’ Insurance Fund (the Chilean Seguro Obrero) under the management of architect Luciano Kulczewski (1939-1940), which is reflected in the Isla Teja Workers’ Quarters in Valdivia, built by the CWIF and inaugurated personally by Kulczewski on July 23, 1939 (image 1). The Workers’ Quarters was, both for Valdivia and for southern Chile, a model of modernity appropriation. It was a complex built in wood and developed under the new approaches of modern urbanism. This should be understood as a unique case of appropriation and adaptation to the local context of modern architecture, which is characterized by a strong wood construction tradition. Thus, the study suggests looking at the modernity appropriation phenomenon through the specific object of the Workers’ Quarters in Isla Teja, Valdivia.