Copyright

Fabiola Solari Irribarra, Guillermo Rojas Alfaro

Published On

2024-04-10

Page Range

pp. 177–200

Language

  • English

Print Length

23 pages

10. Integrity and Authenticity

Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile)

Chapter of: Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation(pp. 177–200)
Fabiola Solari Irribarra and Guillermo Rojas Alfaro consider the vulnerability of urban and industrial constructions and their deterioration in arid climates. They question the authenticity of Humberstone and Santa Laura Salpeter Works in Chile according to the original fabrics and structures of this industrial heritage, the integrity of which has been harmed by the natural environment over time. In the last decade, several security measures and consolidation and stabilisation works were undertaken to conserve the tangible assets of this site. While conservation works partially compromised the original fabric and material aspects of the site, this change can be viewed as positive because the material decay of these mining complexes coexisted with efforts to keep them standing. In this way, these buildings and the choices made in conserving them bear witness to the key historical, industrial, and social processes associated with the heritage site.

Contributors

Fabiola Solari Irribarra

(author)
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0799-6338

Fabiola Solari Irribarra is an architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and Master of Urban and Cultural Heritage, University of Melbourne (UoM). Between 2013 and 2019, she taught design and research studios at the PUC School of Architecture, where she was coordinator and instructor of three versions of the Cultural Heritage Diploma. She worked as chief architect and coordinator of built heritage projects in the Chilean firm Tándem for four years, where she collaborated in multiple interdisciplinary public projects. She currently works for the Melbourne-based heritage firm Conservation Studio and is a member of the PUC Heritage and Modernity Research Cluster.

Guillermo Rojas Alfaro

(author)
PhD Candidate at the Melbourne School of Design (MSD) at University of Melbourne
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2699-0930

Guillermo Rojas Alfaro is an architect (2012), MSc The Bartlett University College London (2015), and PhD candidate at the Melbourne School of Design (MSD). Before starting his PhD research in Atmospheres, Guillermo was an Assistant Professor of the MArch and Head of the Cultural Heritage Diploma at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). For the past ten years, he has been an educator in architecture, teaching at several universities in Chile, Brazil, Germany, Belgium and Australia. His work as an architect has been awarded, published and presented in different exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale and the Chilean Architecture Biennial. Currently, he teaches at the MSD and is a member of the PUC Heritage and Modernity Research Cluster.