Description
Studio Libeskind has designed a new museum building for the Museo Antropologico Regional (MAR) de Iquique (Regional Anthropological Museum of Iquique), which will display more than 6,000 years of northern Chilean history.
The design ‘El Dragon de Tarapacá’ was inspired by the stark landscape of the Atacama Desert, the giant cliffs, and the urban dune of Iquique, the ‘Cerro Dragon’. It consists of three pairs of parallel vertical walls that shape the major spaces of the museum. The materials reference the palette and textures of the surrounding natural landscape.
The new museum will have approximately 11,500 square meters of program area to display its collection, dedicated to the pre-Hispanic history of the Atacama Desert culture, colonial history, and the rise and decline of nitrate mining. The museum will also have educational spaces, classrooms, and an event theatre.