Utopus Updates Peru Visitor Center With Stunning Bamboo Latticework
Before the Incas conquered the Chimu in the 15th century, their capital, Chan Chan, was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, with a population of 60,000. More than four times that number, annually, now visit the ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Trujillo, Peru. To accommodate the crowds, Utopus principal Javier Robles constructed a visitor center in 1997.
Brought back to update it, Robles honored Chimu building traditions by using a latticework of bamboo, woven cane, and rope to form both a canopy over the existing visitor center and a canopy and walls to enclose a 3,000-square-foot expanse of gravel in front of the entry. He also added long, low adobe benches similar to ones found on-site. Since the Chimu believed that the abundant local seafood was a heavenly blessing, shells are embedded throughout.
Photography courtesy of Utopus.
