Architects Cecilia Puga, Paula Velasco and Alberto Moletto have restored Santiago's Palacio Pereira, an abandoned 19th-century neoclassical mansion, turning it into offices where Chile's new constitution will be written.
The building, which was designed in the mid 1800s by French architect Lucien Hénault is now the headquarters for the country's Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.
The mansion was built in the neoclassical style by French architect Lucien Hénault
Cecilia Puga and Paula Velasco, who collaborate in a partnership, worked with Moletto Arquitectos founder Alberto Moletto on the project.
The trio of Santiago-based architects, led by Puga, won the competition to renovate the building in 2012.
The building is now offices for Chile's government Instead of restoring the building to an exact copy of its original state, the architects added contemporary additions to places where the historic building had crumbled away .
"The project's material strategy sought to draw attention to the complexity of inhabiting such a structure," said the architects.
"Prioritizing neither the new intervention nor the character of the elegant wreckage of the Palacio Pereira."
A bronze helical staircase connects floors where the original mezzanine level collapsed
A complex grid of concrete pillars restores the shape of the original courtyard where the building had been partially demolished.
The courtyard originally separated the family rooms from the services areas ...