October 20, 2008 

René Davids, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, and Taylor Medlin, Master of Architecture Option 2 student, have won First Prize (out of 733 international entries) in the 43rd Central Glass Architectural Design Competition: "Architecture Coexisting with World Heritage Sites," co-sponsored by Shinkenchiku-sha and judged by Toyo Ito of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, Riken Yamamoto of Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, and Kengo Kuma Kengo of Kuma & Associates, among other distinguished jurors. The competition called for proposals that would continue encouraging the visit of UNESCO world heritages sites while simultaneously preventing the damage and environmental destruction and the wear and strain that crowds of visitors create. The program was open.

Project Statement

The city of Valparaíso was established as a world heritage site in 2003 to a large extent to protect the environment in which the ascensores (incline elevators) thrived and still function as memorable machines. The city offered the opportunity to design and develop ideas in connection to a heritage site that was both an important element of everyday life and the most potent features of the landscape – form, symbol and function all at once.

The Chilean port of Valparaíso is one of the most distinctive urban environments in all of South America. Prosperous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century it decayed when the Panama Canal was opened reducing much of the ship traffic around Cape Horn. The move to consolidate industry and commerce in the capital further damaged Valparaíso’s prosperity.

An abrupt change of level occurs between the coastal strip and the foothills rising in an arc to a height of almost 2,000 feet, forming steep cliffs which separate the city of Valparaiso into two levels hundreds of feet apart. Upper and lower areas of the city cities are tenuously connected by streets winding up the ravines, steep stairways and a network of fifteen nearly vertical pedestrian elevators or ascensores.

The Elevators are presently in decline. There are more paved streets for cars and buses and new facilities for mass transit in the hills. Commerce has moved north to the neighboring city of Viña del Mar, or to Santiago.

We propose to celebrate the elevators heritage site by providing the city with wind-generated electricity a new technology that like the old elevators would spawn commercial expansion while continuing to foster a sense of community. The proposal would produce new icons re-enforcing the presence of the ascensores while establishing the beginnings of a twenty first economic urban revival.

Our proposal involves two connected proposals:

1) Taking advantage of Valparaiso’s extremely windy condition we propose the creation of wind-powered electric generators on Vaparaiso’s plateau above its slopes. The electricity would be generated through lighter than air tethered wind turbines that rotate about a horizontal axis in response to wind. This electrical energy, more efficient and economic than more traditional wind turbines, would be transferred down the 1000-foot tether for immediate use. The turbines would be located in direct line with the elevators acting like icons for a new era and highlighting in the process the old “heritage” ascensores technology.

2) Creating “plug-in pavilions” in connection to the top elevators stations that would distribute free electricity for the impoverished inhabitants of Valparaiso. People would be able to plug sewing machines, electric hardware, computers, electric cook-tops and so on. This would re-enforce both community, create commerce and establish a focus for people from other communities and or tourists to reach the top of the elevators. Made out of permanent inflatable material the pavilions would shift in size according to the wind conditions and glow during the night. The inflatable structures would be made of inflatable technology.