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February 17, 2018
Text: Jesse Dorris
O Arquitectos Enhances a Natural Wonder for Anglo American’s Chilean Headquarters
The worldwide mining company Anglo American unearths natural resources like iron, nickel, and diamonds around the globe, but their focus in Chile is mainly copper—a material that pops up throughout the 38,000-square-foot headquarters in Santiago, designed by O Arquitectos.
Presentation rooms are enclosed within curved glass partitions, with Shaw carpeting and seating and tables by 3D Concept. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.
“Our inspiration was the crossover between company and nature,” says O Arquitectos founder Pablo Redondo Schmitt. “We worked with the tracks of nature over materials, the erosion of the landscape, and the lines of topography.”
Those geographic elements take shape as acrylic adhesives, inspired by cracked stones, across the acoustic panels on hallway and office walls. The walls of the boardroom incorporate only diagonal lines, representing the forms rock take as they break. And the reception desk and the hard ceilings above it embody the shifting surface of the earth during copper extraction, while copper itself glows under spotlights.
Teleconference rooms are clad in acoustic panels from Sonoflex, with Aeron chairs from Herman Miller and Cisco desks. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.
And while some aspects are site-specific, Anglo American’s global reach was incorporated into teleconference rooms, with a curved shape replicated in every branch so that each office has the same audio-visual conditions to best utilize the firm’s human resources.
In a conference room, a custom wood-and-steel table sits under Artemide pendants. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.The glass walls of the board room are partially covered with a translucent film. The office’s storefront systems have doors of black burnished oak veneer. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.3D Concept created the armchairs, stools, and custom high table in the café; the acrylic pendants by LEDS-C4 have paper interiors. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.The main reception space includes a custom white Corian desk in front of panels made of copper planks on sheetrock partitions. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.Hunter Douglas acoustic ceiling tiles hang in the main open work spaces, with Herman Miller chairs and bench desking by Officio Mondo. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.Nooks with chairs by Infinity boast the best views of the city, tucked behind a mechanical room covered in white board glass. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.Shaw carpets demarcate an informal meeting area, with steel tables and seating by 3D Concept and a wood pendant by LEDS-C4. Photography by Juan Francisco Vargas.
