Rendering of the CLT Tamango Building in Coyhaquie, by Tallwood Architects and Engineers.
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Between rivers and mountains, the city of Coyhaique, gateway to Chilean Patagonia, was chosen as the backdrop for the tallest cross-laminated timber building in Latin America. Architecture and engineering firm Tallwood’s ‘Tamango Project’ has just received planning permission to build 12 stories of this more sustainable species of wood, and once the financing process is complete it will take no more than 45 days to complete it. The architect of the responsible office, Juan José Ugarte, envisages that the work will start at the end of 2023 and that as early as next year it can become a center of urban development in the capital of the Aysén region, 1,600 kilometers south of Santiago.
“Wood-based materials technologies require significant investments. Chilean companies are finally producing at the same level as countries like Canada or Austria. The time has come for Latin America,” says Ugarte, who is leading the project with architect Gerardo Armanet and civil engineer Juan Acevedo.
Any tree used to build the project will be replaced. This sustainable alternative to concrete helps clean the air: one cubic meter of concrete emits 1.6 tons of greenhouse effect, while the same amount of cross laminated timber (CLT) binds 800 kilos of carbon dioxide. In total, the construction of the structure and the elements such as slabs, columns and beams will capture around 4,000 tons of CO2.
Ugarte, President of Chilean Wood Corporation (Corma), also highlights the efficiency in temperature maintenance, which ensures that up to 40% of heating costs are saved. The project was designed green. Businessmen from the Southern Territory, Víctor Hugo and Juan Carlos Puchi, along with Rolf Traeger, promoted it to promote Coyhaique, which according to the Tamango portal “still has high levels of pollution, in contrast to the pristine nature of Patagonia”. , although the Swiss World Air Quality Index gives IQAir a “good” and reports that the main pollutants (PM2.5) meet WHO air quality guidelines.
The height record that the building hopes to break this year will double the number of floors in what is currently Latin America’s tallest wooden building. Also built in Chile, the tower is an emblematic work of the UC Wood Innovation Center, located in the Peñuelas Natural Reserve, 100 kilometers south of Santiago. The Tallwood project, which is 40 meters high from sidewalk to top, will have three underground parking levels, two commercial and ten residential, with each level ranging from 100 to 130 square meters. In the Zócalo there will be a supermarket, a pharmacy, community workspaces and green spaces.
“The large parking lot will generate a permanent flow alongside commercial activity and apartments used for Airbnb. It should become a tourist attraction for the state capital,” adds the architect. The aim is to help the tourists, instead of landing at the airport closest to Coyhaique to immediately leave for their respective excursions, and give the region’s wild capital of Aysén a chance.
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