Theory of Location

“Pezo von Ellrichshausen is an art and architecture studio established in Concepción, southern Chile, in 2002 by Mauricio Pezo and Sofía von Ellrichshausen.” I think about these words, from the information section on the pezo.cl website – all in lower case, all elegantly minimal – while on a Sky flight from Santiago to Concepción on a dark fall morning. It is a good moment to ponder on the studio’s place in the geography of Chilean architecture. I have appreciated their work as it started to appear in publications more and more often, but it is essential to see it with one’s own eyes before writing down these notes. Approximately one million people live in Concepción’s metropolitan area. It is one of Chile’s largest cities, along with Santiago and Valparaíso. It is there that the work of the Pezos – as they are casually called – started to go up, and there where it began to expand in Chile and beyond.