Carole Critchlow

CEE 33X, Prof. Kunz

12 de mayo, 2005

Query #5

Torre Telefónica, Plaza Baquedano

1. Photo

Santiago’s Torre Telefónica, shown here on a sunny autumn day, houses the Chilean branch of Spanish cellular phone company Telefónica. One of the tallest buildings in the city, it stands at 143 meters high with 34 floors. A giant among its surroundings, and with an interesting, curiously cell-phone-like shape, it has become a distinctive landmark visible from many parts of the city. It sits in Plaza Baquedano (known as Plaza Italia), a popular gathering place near the center of the city, where many protests and national celebrations are held. With its glass and metallic-looking exterior, it is at the forefront of the city’s development and modernization.

2. Sketch

3. Formal symbolic model

Functions

· Office building for Telefónica

· Symbolize modernization, capitalism, making money

· Recall a cell phone

Forms

· Very tall

· Shiny, glass

· Looks like a giant cell phone

· “Postmodern” style – not ornate, smooth exterior, but slightly funky shape

Behaviors

· Attracts tourists’ attention

· Used as a sort of landmark so that one can locate oneself from different places in the city

· Used by employees for offices for work

Relationships among functions, forms, and behaviors:

Its shape, that recalls the form of a cell phone, is definitely related to the fact that it is a building for a cellular company, Telefónica, as they must have intended it to be that way (hence the function of recalling a cell phone) (1, 2). The function of symbolizing modernization is manifested in its skyscraper height, its shiny glass exterior, as well as the ‘postmodern’ architectural style (3). These features are also what attracts the attention of tourists (4). Finally, its height enables it to be used as a landmark to locate oneself in the city (5).

4. Pluses/Deltas on Behaviors

· Attracts tourists attention +/D

o It’s certainly an intriguing building, and if tourists enjoy learning about it, then this behavior can be good. But, if they dislike the building and feel like it intrudes on the rest of the city, it’s not good if it overwhelms their experience of the city.

· Used as a landmark +

o It’s always good to be able to know where one is and to locate places or things that can help one find their way somewhere

· Used by employees for work +

o Clearly this is the building’s primary intention, and it enables the workers to do their jobs and the company to make money

5. Architectural critic review:

“Torre Telefónica demonstrates the modern face of Santiago”

Recently built, Torre Telefónica in downtown Santiago still has a feeling of novelty in the city, as its distinctiveness continues calling attention. Pushing the envelope on modernization development in Santiago when it was built, it now successfully demonstrates the modern face of the city.

The building itself is just an office building, housing the Chilean branch of the Spanish cellular phone company Telefónica. It takes advantage of a prominent location, as it stands in Plaza Baquedano (commonly known as Plaza Italia), a popular and important gathering place near the center of the city, where many protests and national celebrations are held. It is one of the tallest buildings in the city at 143 meters, and has 34 floors.

But its height and location are just the most basic features that make this building stand out. It is not just that it is tall – after all, Santiago has plenty of tall buildings – but the fact that it is so much taller than its surroundings that is the first thing one notices. It’s visible from almost anywhere near downtown. Secondly, with its interesting, curiously cell-phone-like shape, and with what a novice would think is surely a helicopter landing pad on top, it’s no wonder that it has become a distinctive landmark for Santiaguinos and tourists alike – it’s certainly unlike any other building in the city. On that note, it is impossible not to take note of its skin: lots of glass, a diamond pattern across the windows, some turquoise material up the side and comprising the “antenna” on top, and a silver, metallic-looking material filling in the rest. Though most laymen may not know the term, the building fits perfectly into the postmodern style – streamlined and smooth rather than ornate and intricate, but a distinct shape rather than just a nondescript box.

Torre Telefónica is at the forefront of the city’s development and modernization. It’s interesting, it’s fresh, it’s unique, and it generates intrigue and discussion. Though it stuck out a bit when it first appeared, it’s now managed to integrate itself into Santiago’s skyline, and it provides a glimpse of where Santiago is headed.

6. Personal vignette

I first saw the building during my first week in Santiago, walking towards downtown with a small group of other students. Upon sight it surprised and intrigued us – it’s much taller than any of its surroundings, and very modern-looking with a funky shape and a glass skin. It looked like there was a helicopter landing pad on top, and so seemed very important. Since then I’ve wanted to know more about the building, such as what it’s used for and why it’s built the way it is.

7. Theoretical Interpretation: Israel

I grew up in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. Though large and modern, Bellevue was not what would be considered a “big city.” I very much enjoyed living there, and one of the things that I liked best was our proximity to Seattle – the suburbs were great for many things, such as riding bikes and safe walks at night and playing in the woods, but I would not have wanted to be any more rural. I loved our occasional family trips into the city for a fun day out shopping or to a ball game or to visit our cousins; I distinctly remember sitting in the backseat of the car, driving into the city on the freeway, gazing in awe out the window at the high concentration of tall and interesting buildings. It was such a thrill to be ‘downtown.’ Now, looking at Torre Telefónica, I remember the feeling from my childhood – tall, modern, covered in glass windows, the tower is everything a downtown building in a big city is supposed to be. It, along with the concentration of buildings filling out the rest of the heart of Santiago, revives in me the thrill of metropolitan living.

In this sense, the surroundings of the building (downtown Santiago), the setting (big city), the structure (skyscraper, interesting shape), and the skin (glass, metallic-looking silver material) are the most important features in what makes this building what it is for me. Since I have not been inside, the services, space plan and stuff are irrelevant to my experience of it, and the site – on Providencia, in Plaza Italia – is not particular to the building itself, and only the fact that it is near the heart of the city makes it significant to me.

8. Theoretical Interpretation: Alexander patterns

Patterns I saw

62. High places: As one of the tallest buildings in the city and standing by itself, this building certainly fits the bill as a high place that is used as a landmark.
Unique places (my pattern): Each city should have a couple places that are interesting or new, that push the envelope a little bit, to keep the city moving and developing and keep people talking about and interested in the city. Torre Telefónica is fairly new, and is certainly an intriguing site that shows the most modern face of the city.
Places that demonstrate identity (my pattern): Each city should have certain places (and most do, almost by default) that have a strong personality and that clearly portray an aspect of the city’s identity. This building is the definite face of the forward movement and modernization of Chile.

Patterns I didn’t see

66. Holy Ground: The building, sitting right on the main road through the city and in one of the biggest public plazas, is neither private nor hard to reach. As the building of a multinational corporation, it would also not be considered a sacred site.
21. Four story limit: At 34 floors, the building well exceeds Alexander’s limit. However, he allows exceptions for “certain buildings,” such as, one would suppose, the built towers that serve as landmark high places in the city. He does specify that these exceptions should not be used for human habitation, and as an office building, Torre Telefónica does house humans, though not as a residence.
96. Number of stories: Beyond the four-story limit, this pattern specifies that a building should approximately match its surroundings, both natural and built. Clearly, Torre Telefónica soars much higher than anything else near it.
205. Structure follow social spaces: The building is oddly shaped, and though I don’t know the interior layout, I would guess that it’s not what the outer shape would suggest. For example, the diamond pattern on the outside, the platform on top, the spire-type object at the top, most likely do not correspond to any social space or function.

9. Grounded theory

Questions for the interviews:

1. What do you think of the Torre Telefónica?

2. Do you like the modernization that it brings/shows, or do you think it interrupts the skyline and/or the view of the city?

· Interview 1 (22 year old female)

1. As a building, especially to an architect, it’s very interesting.

2. At first when it was built it kind of stuck out, but now it’s just a normal part of the city, also it’s helpful because you can see it from all over and tell where you are

· Interview 2 (27 year old female)

1. I find it pretty, modern, impeccable; I like it

2. I don’t think it interrupts anything; I like it where it is; it’s the most modern place

· Interview 3 (30 year old female)

1. I like the building

2. I can see it from my house, which is well outside the city, when there’s no smog. I really like the modernization that it shows. However I don’t know it from the inside, only out.

Coding

· Modern

· Positive feelings about it

Memos

· Interviews fairly short, no one volunteered a wealth of information or opinions; they were happy to answer but it didn’t seem to be something very important to them where the responses were flowing out or strong emotions were being elicited

· I noticed afterward that all my interviews were with females of similar ages; I’m not sure if that influenced the responses at all, or if I should have sought out interviews with some males or people of different ages to get more perspectives

10. Life Tasks

· Infancy: develop trust

o Torre Telefónica seems rather irrelevant to infant life, as the building is used for offices and I don’t think infants would ever enter the building.

· Young child: develop autonomy

o Again, young children would not likely go on this building or be out and about the city enough to notice it, so I would say it is irrelevant.

· Child: develop initiative

o Since it is a distinct building, if a child were about the city s/he might notice it, and could demonstrate initiative by asking his/her parents what it was; thus it could help a child explore and understand his/her environment

· Youngster: develop industry

o There is no way a youngster could manipulate or manage this building as an element of his/her environment, so the building is again irrelevant to this stage.

· Youth: develop identity independent of family of origin

o I don’t think this building would be meaningfully related to any youth’s identity, since it’s unrelated to interpersonal relationships, and no youth would be working there; I would say it is irrelevant.

· Young adult: develop non-narcissistic intimate relationships

o Again, irrelevant; see above.

· Adult: develop generativity

o Adults have the most interaction with this building, as all the employees that work there are adults. It can help adults develop generativity because those who work there have a job which generates income with which they can support the children they might decide to have.

· Old person: develop integrity

o I would say that the building, since it is not really used by old people and is not related to previous stages of their lives (unless they achieved a certain accomplishment there or worked there, though that is unlikely since the building is fairly recent), is irrelevant to this final stage.