Cazú Zegers: Architecture in Poetic Territories

A look at the most significant architectural and territorial projects by the world-renowned Chilean architect, a leader in the ＂geopoetic＂ methodology in architecture.

This is the first major book on Zegers, who practices an intensely artistic and ecological form of architecture based on landscapes in which she builds. Working frequently in timber, Zegers reaches unique, sustainable, and recyclable solutions that combine and rescue the traditional work of Chilean carpenters with modern techniques. In an almost metaphysical journey, in which organic forms, curves, diagonals, and verticals are combined, Zegers affirms her rising presence as a force in ecologically minded architecture.

The book includes private residences, hotels, and sacred spaces that evoke the geographical magnitude of the Andean landscape. Each project contains poems and sketches made by the architect. In the Soplo (Breath) House, living occurs without imposed spatial hierarchies, in a continuous flow, between interior and exterior. The Tierra Patagonia Hotel, which Zegers associates with the poetic word viento (wind), emerges beside craggy mountains and the glistening Lake Sarmiento at the entrance of the Torres del Paine National Park, with stunning views of the Patagonia wilderness. Zegers proposes a different approach toward architecture in an expressive search intimately related to Chile, its territory, landscape, and traditions. The large format book is specially printed with a fifth color throughout.

Philip Jodidio was editor in chief of the French art monthly Connaissance des Arts from 1980 to 2002. He has written over 100 books about contemporary architecture including Small Innovative Houses, I. M. Pei: Complete Works, and Tadao Ando: Spirit for Rizzoli.