The spectacular volumetric projection above the building the night of its inauguration. Photo courtesy of the GAM.
There is a place in which, since its inauguration almost a year ago in September 2010, many things are happening.
We constantly site it in our articles, and it is in fact, one of my favorite places in Santiago.
I´m speaking of the GAM, the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center. Located on Alameda, right beside the Universidad Católica metro station, this place has what people are looking for. Designed, as they say, to be a "meeting place between audiences and creators," the GAM consists of 22,000 square meters in which there is everything from theater rehearsal rooms to a recording studio.
The establishment was originally located at the Diego Portales building, former President Salvador Allende inaugurating it in 1972 for the United Nations´ Third Conference on Trade and Development. The idea was to always link it to educating the population, as after the conference, Allende handed the property over to the Ministry of Education, under the name of the Gabriela Mistral Metropolitan Cultural Center. However, after the military coup, the building was used to house the new administration while they repaired the La Moneda Palace, which had been bombed. It continued to be used for various meetings and events; I remember having personally been there to take the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication)—sponsored by CORFO—before it burned down.
After the fire on 5 March, 2006—an electrical system fault that damaged the building considerably—they began reconstruction, and the Diego Portales building transformed into the brand-new Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center, as we know it today. The adaptation made it a symbolic form, taking advantage of its previous structure, but giving it a transparency that manages to connect what´s happening outside with the activities going on inside. As the architect in charge of the reconstruction team, Cristián Fernández, said, "The building simply conformed to an urban design, to our knowledge, consolidating the relationship of place with its context and becoming the opposite of what it was."
All that is left is to invite you to this incredible place, so that you may enjoy some of its many activities that are scheduled for this year.
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