Situated on a 250-hectare site in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, this university is set against the vastness of nature; a place that represents Chile’s long reach and the immensity of the American continent: A huge expanse.

The location of this university above the city of Santiago, at the foot of the Andes Mountains, constitutes the first architectural affirmation of this architecture, as it situates it within a unique dimension of our America: that of being placed decisively before the vastness of nature.

The site - about a thousand meters away and 200 meters higher than the Graduate Campus completed in 2002 – stretches towards the slopes of the Andean foothills above Santiago: a curved ridge rising between two ravines filled with native vegetation. This urges us not to linger, but to engage the upward slope immediately. Not, as in the previous campus, to seek development along the horizontal contours.

This university campus, located in the hills of Viña del Mar on a 20-hectare site overlooking the city, the Bay of Valparaíso, and the Pacific Ocean, seeks to create a unique setting to give form to university life.

Twelve students from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez are taking part in a short international program organized jointly by the Faculty of Liberal Arts, the Office of International Relations, and the DesignLab.

The program focuses on the relationship between educational models and architecture, featuring visits to universities and faculties in Santiago, London, and Cambridge.