Ever since we announced the results of the competition for the “New Biobío Regional Theater,” an initiative led by the Regional Government and the Architecture Area of the Council of Culture and the Arts, we had been eagerly looking forward to seeing the winning proposal finally built.
The challenge accepted by the 28 Chilean and international architecture firms that participated in this public competition was no small feat. The projects had to accommodate a structure of approximately 9,000 square meters to create a venue for regional cultural performances while simultaneously withstanding the specific climatic and geographical conditions of the city of Concepción.
It took five years and five months to see the built proposal, inspired by the ideas of Tadeusz Kantor:
True to this concept, the project designed by Smiljan Radic, Eduardo Castillo, and Gabriela Medrano has become the "possible skeleton of a packaged theater." It is a performing arts space that highlights the backstage and turns the pre-show spaces into sensory and aesthetic experiences. From an urban perspective, the theater seems to have landed on the banks of the Biobío River to complete the 27F Memorial. The dialogue between the lightweight and the stone-like offers the city a new urban experience that revitalizes the forgotten riverfront.
Through a saturated spatial grid, visitors can visually explore the interior of the building from the lobby, which is illuminated in its double-height center by the artwork "Es Telar" (It's a Loom) by Chilean visual artist Iván Navarro. In this same space, the artistic legacy of Eduardo Castillo is present through a series of robust wooden pieces resting peacefully among the pillars. In dialogue with them, a volume clad in coconut fiber is suspended from the ceiling, hiding the Chamber Hall inside. A double central staircase leads visitors to the second floor to access the Main Hall, where the grid density dissipates to provide "the necessary air for the performance."
The building is slightly rotated in relation to the path of the river, far enough to allow views of the 27F Memorial from the pathways inside the theater, while creating a new urban space that the architects have named "Arena." This hardscape plaza is organized by a grid of spotlighting that projects the building's columns onto the ground, presenting itself as a public pedestrian area with no defined use:
From the "Arena," as dusk begins to fall, the reinforced concrete structure can be seen glowing from within the building through its facade. The lit-up theater signals that a cultural event is about to take place inside, making it one of the most compelling aspects of the design. The PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) perimeter membrane contributes to the building's thermal performance and also plays a leading role in the experience the architects wished to convey:
Video Production: Manuel Albornoz in collaboration with Mundo Medios
Photographs: María González
Text: Pola Mora
Smiljan Radic y el Teatro Regional del Bío Bío: 'Esconder siempre significa mostrar algo de otra manera'
El anhelado Teatro Regional del Bío Bío abrió finalmente sus puertas al público en una inauguración que contó con la presencia de la Presidenta de Chile, Michele Bachelet. Esta apertura era esperada con ansias y Bachelet así lo manifestó en su discurso de bienvenida: "El concurso internacional de arquitectura lo ganó Smiljan Radic en 2011, y recién en 2015 pudimos empezar a construirlo.
This article was written by Pola Mora. The translation is powered by AI.
