Location: 1082 Providencia

Typ of Protection type: Architectural Heritage of Chile

Las Torres de Tajamar is a residential complex located in the community of Providencia, in the city of Santiago, and a fundamental part of the architectural heritage of the country. The complex was inaugurated in 1967, as a residential high-rise with a clear sense of new Chilean architecture. The term skyscraper begins to appear in the world of Chilean architecture.

The complex was designed by Luis Prieto Vial, and developed by the office of architects Carlos Bresciani, Héctor Valdés, Fernando Castillo, and Carlos Huidobro, who were also the creators of works such as the Unidad Vecinal Portales and the Casino de Arica. Three of the four architects were awarded the National Prize for Architecture: Bresciani in 1970, Valdés in 1976 and Castillo in 1983.

The project was extremely avant-garde and was a real estate transaction that was very important for the development of the community of Providencia, where, due to the price of the land, architects were forced to build all homes and businesses as towers. The complex sought to have access to the eastern area of the city, integrating itself harmoniously to the Parque Balmaceda and the Mapocho River.

The work spanned from 1964 (Presidency of Jorge Alessandri) to 1967 (Presidency of Eduardo Frei Montalva).

Fernando Castillo Velasco said that the Torres de Tajamar were conceived under the advent of the skyscraper, as an ideal major housing site, where it was intended to organize the intimate space and integrate it to the commercial and cultural facilities of a privileged urban sector of our capital.  “The complex sought to transform itself into a sculpture within the natural environment, as the completion of the park, and at the same time, the door to a distinct urban sector,” Editores Torres de Tajamar, Revista AUCA, n°16, Santiago de Chile.1996.