The 27 February 2010 earthquake in Chile, one of the strongest ever recorded, devastated the country, especially rural communities where buildings were made of adobe. One of the worst hit towns was Pumanque, where 80% of its buildings became uninhabitable. In 2013 Chile a Soñar, a community development group who had been working in the town since the earthquake, and the Municipality of Pumanque invited The Scarcity and Creativity Studio to design and build a facility to be used for community development, craft training workshops, and social events. A timber screen-wall wraps the project and mitigates the strong sun while allowing cross ventilation. There are two main rooms for diverse activities separated by an outdoor entrance lobby. Above, a roof terrace shaded by an auxiliary membrane canopy encourages outdoor activities in the shade while enjoying distant views. To encourage the use of the terrace by children it has been provided with two outdoor stair entrances and one slide to descend to the ground floor.
Teaching Staff: Christian Hermansen Cordua, Michael U. Hensel, Solveig Sandness, Joakim Hoen, Haakon Matre Aaserød
Students: Harold Vermeiren, Christiana Thorsen Clarke, Margarita Chaskopoulou, Marte Guldvik, Marina Haga, Jonas Osthagen Hamar, Anniken Høgset, Shohreh Kheirati, Kaja Gladhus Kolstad, Kamilla Merete Kristiansen, Gro Krüger, Caroline Krenc, Taavi Löoke, Ranveig Hesselberg Meland, Annette Katherine Mohr, Eskil Frøyen Nybø, Liv Mari Oppebøen, Brianne Parquier, Elissavet Pertigkiozoglou, Randi Ravndal, Erik Reiten, Kinga Rusin, Truls Schiefloe Sandbakk, Hedvig Margrethe Sanderud, Øistein Magnus Schive, Eirik Stiansen, Gustav Mattias Jitzhak Tellqvist, Magnus Vågan.
Sponsors: AAAD, Astrup & Hellern Architects, Halvorsen & Reine Architects, IARK, Marwin, NORDIC Office of Architecture, ØKAW, Norwegian Steel Assocication, Ratio Architects, Vink AS.
Awards: Excellence in the use of Wood in Architecture Award 2013 (TreFocus)
