The Road That Is Not a Road ─ And the Open City, Ritoque, Chile

foreword by Joseph Rykwert Several thousand miles south of the equator along thePacific coast of South America, is the site of the Open City Amereida. It is a laboratory forthought and work, conceived and built by the faculty of architecture of the Catholic University ofValparaiso. Here architects, poets, artists, and engineers have been engaged in one of architecturaleducation's most radical experiments for several decades. The school has long been a destination forthose seeking an alternative to conventional academic practice and teaching. Now, its significanceis being felt beyond the borders of Chile and South America.Ann Pendleton-Jullian tells the story ofthe Open City in Ritoque, Chile, a designed city still in formation that has no master plan, noimposed ordering devices, and no hierarchical networks of infrastructure. The strange buildingsplaced among dunes and grasslands reflect instead the mind's translation of urban phenomena andnatural phenomena relative to the construction of memory, and a process of composition that is notdependent on stylistic precedents, drawing boards, or academic discourse. Teaching takes place onsite and employs poetic methods to activate the design process; the endeavor is considered moreimportant than the result. More than 100 photographs are included, capturing the mystical spirit ofthe place and of its architecture.Pendleton-Jullian discusses influences behind the Open City -- thework and working methods of Surrealist French poets, the words and creative attitude of LeCorbusier, the heritage of the South American landscape and culture. Some of the more provocativeissues that the work raises include the idea of "city" as it relates to human activity, to itsphysical reality, and to its intention; the premise of utopianism that rejects the foundations ofutopia building; and issues of the sacred relative to the landscape in a modern context.GrahamFoundation/MIT Press Series in Contemporary Architectural Discourse