Location:  Valparaiso, Chile

Year: 2009

In order to rethink how a New Minaret might be understood within contemporary Chilean society one must consider the cultural function of such a typology within the contemporary paradigm. Today digital technologies have fundamentally changed the way in which people live and communicate. These numeric infrastructures have also changed the way in which space operates as a cultural phenomenon. It has been argued that physical space is no longer relevant as the world becomes fully virtualized via digital networks. In this argument the web is the new Suk, Agora, and Plaza. This proposal argues that a new type of Minaret would in fact challenge this assumption by acting again as a social ‘collector ’. In this instance the space works as a social collector capable of operating both locally as a physical collector of people, and globally as a virtual collector of information; in this way cr eating a ne w type of h ybrid public space, both physical and virtual. The space will act as a gift from the Arab community in Valparaiso to create a new space for the production of diverse future communities.

Project Team: Pablo Silva