Undurraga Deves Arquitectos, LTDA.

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone

SAN ALBERTO HURTADO'S MEMORIAL

Undurraga Devés Arquitectos

ARCHITECTS
Undurraga Devés Arquitectos

LOCATION
Santiago, Chile

YEAR
2010

PHOTOGRAPHS
Sergio Pirrone

AREA
708.0 m²

CONSTRUCTOR
Brotec-Icafal

CATEGORY
Religious Architecture, Memorial Center

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Rodrigo Mujica- VMB Ingeniería Estructural

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Cristián Undurraga

DESIGN TEAM
Soledad Fernández

Text description provided by architect.

The land where this memorial is located is a small park to the west of the Historic Center of Santiago, surrounded by a series of detached two to three story buildings constructed during the first half of the 20th century.

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone

It was here that the most neglected souls in city were accommodated, together with a small hospital, a church and the office of the Hogar de Cristo, a charity founded by Father Hurtado in 1944.

The continuity of the facades gave way to a protected interior where, in 1995, we built the Sanctuary of Father Hurtado. The strategy, at that time, was to create a green area that would also serve the series of buildings for workers that surrounded this Sanctuary.

The spinal column of the project is a passageway that run lengthwise, dropping as far as 5 meters below the level of the park. At the far end is the tomb of the saint and a small chapel.

These buildings can hardly be seen in the midst of the gardens which, with clever landscaping, establishes a complementary relationship with the preexisting buildings.

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone

The Solidarity Memorial, erected to honor the work of Father Hurtado, a Chilean saint who devoted his life to the most underprivileged in society, is a small concrete building to the east of this park and from where one can still glimpse a splendid view of the magnificent Andes mountains in the background.

In this sector, the most open inside the small park and where geography prevails over and above the urban surrounds, this new edifice goes no higher than the preexisting buildings around the perimeter.

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone

The new memorial is attached to these buildings acting as a kind of hinge that articulates the original constructions to the more recent one that characterize the Sanctuary.

The silence and tranquility a project of these characteristics demands led us to explore the possibilities of one dense and translucent mass that appears as a wall on the outside with light inside. It was then that this wall of concrete and blocks of glass arose where the density and color of both materials fuses into one sole façade, whilst inside, the wall appears fragmented and perforated by the light.

Once we cross the threshold and the door to the inside, we are confronted with a compressed space which, making one turn, opens to begin the ascent up the ramps that connect the different levels of the building.

The light that filters through the glass bricks confers a spiritual character to the space; a quality that reaffirms the austerity of the materials: visual concrete, bleached pine timbers and walls painted white.

The different diagonal views that arise during the ascent intensify the three-dimensionality of the inside.

San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
© Sergio Pirrone


San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Underground Floor Plan
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Ground Floor Plan
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Second Floor Plan
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Roof Plan
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Site Plan


San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
East Elevation
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
West Elevation
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
South Elevation


San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section X2
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section X4
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section X5
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section X7
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section X8
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section Y2
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial
Section Y3

Undurraga Deves Arquitectos, LTDA.
T +56 2 24980650
Undurraga Deves Arquitectos, LTDA.
Pdte Errázuriz 2999, 7550357 Las Condes, Región Metropolitana, Chile