Alter, Kevin: Chilé - House, Crypt

From the magnificent and moving coast of Chile to the inner sanctum of colonial Chile, two projects give an in-depth insight into the intensity and quality of contemporary architecture there. In Smiljan Radic's House in Punta Pite, archaic architecture and art are merged with precise details and modern design to create a home for a young family that is in constant and intimate contact with the elements. In Rodrigo Perez de Arce's realized competition entry for the post-facto insertion of a crypt in the cathedral of Santiago de Chile, two cultures are synthesized in an architectural tour-de-force, this as the matter-of-fact modern language of the new crypt fits unquestionably into the layers of colonial architectural history. On the face of it, Smiljan Radic's House at Punta Pita and Rodrig