Siamese Towers
San Joaquín Campus, Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, University classrooms and offices · 2005
Photo · Photo by Cristobal Palma
A striking precedent for a mid-rise institutional landmark that uses tilted, interlocking glass volumes to establish a dialogue with a dramatic mountain landscape.
- What we like about this project
- The way the two towers appear to merge at the base but split into distinct leaning volumes near the top.
Materials
- glass
- aluminum-framing
- dark-metal-cladding
Visual identifiers
- siamese-towers
- tilted-massing
- glass-skin
- mountain-backdrop
- crystalline-geometry
Style tags
- contemporary
- expressive
- crystalline
Visual tags
- institutional
- campus-landmark
- double-skin
- slanted-walls
- monumental-landscape
- Geometry
- The building consists of two interlocking, slightly tilted towers that split and lean away from each other, creating a dynamic, faceted crystalline massing.
- Facade system
- Glass curtain wall outer skin with an inner thermal envelope.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core with perimeter steel framing supporting the tilted glass skin.
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise institutional building of approximately nine stories, scaled to stand out as a landmark above the tree line.
- Lighting
- Soft, warm twilight or dawn light casting a pinkish-purple glow across the mountain range, with the building's glass facade reflecting the cool sky.
- Atmosphere
- A serene yet powerful atmosphere where sharp, human-made geometry meets the vast, glowing scale of nature.
- Environmental context
- Set within a lush university campus valley with a dramatic, high-altitude mountain range dominating the background.
- Spatial experience
- The towers rise above a dense canopy of green trees, contrasting their sharp, geometric forms against the massive, soft backdrop of the Andes mountains.
- Composition rhythm
- The composition is split horizontally, with the dark green tree canopy anchoring the bottom, the towers rising in the lower-left quadrant, and the massive mountains filling the upper half.
- Style reading
- Contemporary expressive rationalism
- Program
- University classrooms and offices
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- glass, aluminum-framing, dark-metal-cladding
- Visual identifiers
- siamese-towers, tilted-massing, glass-skin, mountain-backdrop, crystalline-geometry
- Style tags
- contemporary, expressive, crystalline
- Visual tags
- institutional, campus-landmark, double-skin, slanted-walls, monumental-landscape
- Geometry
- The building consists of two interlocking, slightly tilted towers that split and lean away from each other, creating a dynamic, faceted crystalline massing.
- Facade system
- Glass curtain wall outer skin with an inner thermal envelope.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core with perimeter steel framing supporting the tilted glass skin.
- Spatial scale
- A mid-rise institutional building of approximately nine stories, scaled to stand out as a landmark above the tree line.
- Lighting
- Soft, warm twilight or dawn light casting a pinkish-purple glow across the mountain range, with the building's glass facade reflecting the cool sky.
- Atmosphere
- A serene yet powerful atmosphere where sharp, human-made geometry meets the vast, glowing scale of nature.
- Environmental context
- Set within a lush university campus valley with a dramatic, high-altitude mountain range dominating the background.
- Spatial experience
- The towers rise above a dense canopy of green trees, contrasting their sharp, geometric forms against the massive, soft backdrop of the Andes mountains.
- Composition rhythm
- The composition is split horizontally, with the dark green tree canopy anchoring the bottom, the towers rising in the lower-left quadrant, and the massive mountains filling the upper half.
- Style reading
- Contemporary expressive rationalism
- Program
- University classrooms and offices
- Perspective
- Aerial/Site
- Discipline
- architecture