Barrio Cívico is undoubtedly one of the most radical urban interventions ever practiced on the grid of the historic center of Santiago since the city was founded in 1541. The transformation was inspired by the ideas of Karl Brunner, an urban developer who proposed an empty space north of the government palace and another and larger vacuum south of the Palace. From there, a monumental axis – Paseo Bulnes – was intended for public buildings, thus highlighting the State institutions through the city space. These ideas materialized between 1932w ands 1938.
The empty spaces proponed were to be faced by a number of handsome rationalist buildings designed by architect Carlos Vera (1937), strict as to definition, continuous as to front, and homogeneous as to height., which originated one of the most interesting city spaces in Santiago. Connecting the two urban spaces rises Palacio de La Moneda, a paradigm of domestic architecture of the 18th century, the work of architect Joaquín Toesca.
A call for proposals to remodel Plaza de la Consitución, the empty space north of the government palace, was issued in 1980. The space was markedly deteriorated at the time, and its significance was badly reduced by its being utilized as a parking lot. The project by Undurraga + Devés won the competition and was built two years later. In 1995, another call, this time to remodel the empty space south of the Palace, enabled Undurraga + Devés to complete their design for the Barrio Cívico. As built, the project is included in the plan that the Architecture Department of the Ministry of Public Works has put forward on the eve of the Bicentenary of the nation. Our project was based on connecting the south square – now named Plaza de la Ciudadanía - and Plaza de la Constitución, remodeled fifteen years earlier, taking into account that former president Ricardo Lagos threw open to the public the inner courts of the government palace, which were turned into a public promenade.
