Professor Cristina Parreño, MIT

This project expands upon the architectural scale of the quarry in order to turn a place that produces buildings into an occupiable space itself. Through the systematic removal of stone, the same processes that build Tocanao can create a space of encounter for the people of Atacama. Here is a confluence of elements, a blending of natural and artificial landscape, a dynamic environment that would spread with the growth of the town. Geometries scale the existing quarry to the community, creating an abstracted three-dimensional mat of spaces that allows for a flexibility of program today and suggests future alternate purposes.