Micro-project as academic outreach and learning integration in architecture

Abstract

The materialization of projects with academic purposes has a long tradition in architecture schools. In Chile, these experiences go back to the creation of the PUCV Open City in Valparaíso. This article introduces the Taller de Barrio experience implemented in the Universidad del Bío-Bío as a result of a tripartite alliance between academy, local government and civil society. The main aim of this initiative consists of giving sense of purpose back to architectural education by means of developing service vocation in the student, design pertinence in the design process and bidirectional relationship between the university and the community. In this context, we present the case of two microprojects: the building of a vertical garden in the Bellavista neighbourhood in Tomé and the development of fourteen variations of a prototype for a complementary equipment for productive purposes in the agro-potter area of Quinchamalí.