The intervention of the Villa San Luis Memorial Museum emerges from a deep reflection on the history of the building and its surroundings, recognizing its identity and heritage as unquestionable values at its origin, transforming it into a space where past and present engage in a respectful and enriching dialogue.

The architectural project is based on the operations of interior subtraction and exterior addition. Constructive elements considered non-essential for the building’s new role as a memorial museum are removed, while new elements are incorporated in those areas where historical processes erased or fragmented portions of the original structure.

​

These operations liberate the original interior space of the building, allowing the spatial conditions required for its new programmatic use. In this way, circulation becomes fluid and open, revealing and interrelating each space through a continuous sequence that reinforces the historical memory embedded in the construction.

Fundamental elements of the original building, particularly the façades, are reintroduced through a new material expression that clearly distinguishes the former apartment building from the memorial museum. These additions not only highlight the transformations required by the new program but also establish a material and visual contrast between the building’s past and present, projecting it toward the future while granting it a renewed identity. Without losing its connection to heritage, the building adapts and transforms into a place of memory, exhibition, and reflection.

​

In summary, the proposed intervention for the Villa San Luis Memorial Museum goes beyond an exercise in preservation. It seeks to reinterpret and activate the collective memory of the site through careful subtraction and the addition of both recovered and new elements that articulate the distinction between what once existed and what exists today.

​

The visitor’s journey begins at the Villa San Luis Memorial Plaza, conceived as a solemn platform establishing a threshold between the urban space and the memorial museum. From this point, the relationship with the surroundings is enriched through the kitchen and shop, conceived as spaces of community interaction. The plaza strengthens the building’s connection with public space by integrating a community garden that acts as a participatory landscape, bridging memory, territory, and everyday life.

​

The main access leads to the vertical hall of light, formerly the building’s stair core, now transformed into a void that articulates the museum’s levels while reinforcing the notions of ascension and historical continuity.

​

At the first level, Exhibition A (1960–1976) and the reconstructed original apartment are located within a double-height space displaying fragments of the housing history through large exhibition walls. From the exterior, the original windows allow passersby to observe the reconstructed dwelling, connecting the public with the past and emphasizing the memory contained within the building’s walls.

​

The second level houses Exhibition B (1973–2017), characterized by a more horizontal and contained spatial configuration, creating an atmosphere aligned with periods of political rupture, displacement, and demolition. This level overlooks Exhibition A, allowing overlapping perspectives that reinforce conceptual continuity between the floors.

The third level is defined by its expansive character, corresponding to a historical moment of recovery and the reassertion of rights. Here, Exhibition C (2017–present) extends toward the multipurpose hall. This new hybrid open and enclosed space, divisible into three smaller rooms, functions as a programmatic convergence point, enriching interaction between the museum, the community, and the city through its role as an urban viewpoint.

​

Finally, the fourth level is conceived as an intimate and reflective working environment, accommodating coworking spaces and the foundation’s offices, designed as open spaces connected to the urban landscape.