Sendero de Chile is a path that strings together existing routes along the foot of the Andes, from Visviri in the north to Cape Horn - 8000 kilometres of architecture in all.

Sendero can be travelled by bike, on horseback and on foot. It not only connects the key points along the route but makes intersections of these places. This is where exchange takes place - trade, culture, experiences. More important still, these intersections can stimulate accessing and developing the hinterland. This final-year project seeks to determine how architecture can figure in the ambitious project for Sendero de Chile and how those living along it can be involved. It begins by looking at the origins of architecture.
Architecture began with the menhir, the upright stone marking a significant place with its unmistakable presence. Two types are applied metaphorically along Sendero, the door menhir and the window menhir. The door marks meeting places and the beginning or end of a leg of Sendero. The window gives a view of the immediate surroundings or marks an intimate place of encounter.
Samo Alto lies along the southern rim of the Atacama, the world's most arid desert. Its inhabitants are locked in unremitting combat with the advancing sands. The arduous living conditions are causing many young people to leave for the big cities on the coast. They are abandoning their birthplace with its vital traditions and wisdom, which are waiting to be developed. Samo Alto is a door to an unexplored hinterland, a world hidden away until now. The design at the intersection of Sendero and the dried-up tributary of the Hurtado is based on the traditions, experiences and materials of the local inhabitants. The menhir makes a reappearance as a metaphor in the design, but this time to generate architecture at a smaller scale. It constructs the spaces as a whole. The menhirs remind you of who you are and where you are. They are large at the intersections and small when sited inside in intimate spaces. They determine the scale and dimensions of the space and create openings in the roof, reinstating the vertical relationship with the sky. Samo Alto is a remarkable intersection on Sendero. My encounters and experiences of local inhabitants elicited a menhir in the shape of a settlement. Growing vertically as well as horizontally, this settlement is constructed of indigenous materials such as earth, stones and reed, worked up using cutting-edge techniques to be able to resist earthquakes. At the southernmost point of Samo Alto Sendero continues on its way until the next intersection where once again menhirs rise up to form a new settlement rooted horizontally and vertically in the world and in the cosmos.
The architect is enlisting the aid of people along the route to do the designing. They can develop the wisdom, knowledge and skills to put their community on the map. The key to it all is the experience of encounter, encounter with each other and with the country. This generates menhirs and they in turn generate architecture: first centimetres, then metres and gradually the entire Sendero, a major work of living architecture.

Place of education: TU Delft | Specialization: architecture | Tutors: Arjan van Timmeren, Jaap Dawson, Guus Westgeest