From a familystry to a social condenser. The Chollín Collective as a modern archetype

Abstract

The Chollín Collective (Ramón Acuña, Alberto Risopatrón, Mario Valdivieso, 1943-1 950) of Schwager coal company, featuring an unprecedented modern language and an unusual size, becomes part of the industrial city of Puchoco, Schwager, south of Chile, declared a typical site in 2010. This work reveals that it introduces at least three references of the architectonic avant-garde, the first two of a formal-ideological nature: the reforming interest of the utopian cities of the nineteenth century, and the progressive interests of the socialist avant-garde of the twentieth century; and the third one of an experiential nature: the perceptual phenomena of the architectural promenade. Its architectonic organization led a mixed and innovative set, unknown until then to the Latin-American historiography. Its design has promoted community relations, stressing the experiences about ownership and identity, aspects that ratify its introduction to the modern heritage.