Pullpo Advertising Agency by Hania Stambuk | Santiago, Chile.

Now, now… What do we have here? Looks like another cracker example of a resuscitation and surgical enhancement of an old building. Hooray! [More examples of this sort of stuff in Australia please.] Located in Santiago, Chile, an abandoned salt factory was transformed into a creative workplace for an advertising agency Pullpo. The project was designed by a local architect Hania Stambuk and completed in 2008.

That top image of the vista through a partially demolitioned wall… wow! What a gutsy move. It’s just superb. There is also a lovely meeting of an existing robust industrial aesthetic with a clean, contemporary structures in moody tones. I love the approach of using freestanding self-contained boxes to house various activities within the larger volume – this gesture often ensures a more human scale is achieved in an otherwise vast space.

The only thing I’m just not sure about… I mean… I seriously dislike is the choice of furniture in the cafe space. Those chairs… especially those tables. Shame, shame, shame… So pedestrian, they really let the interior down. But let’s just forget about those for the moment and focus on the architecture. Ok? Good.

[Photos © Marcelo Cáceres.]