Constructive Cultures that Form the Soil-Built Chilean Heritage

Abstract

At the global level, soil-built heritage has sparked increasing interest in the past few decades. It is valued due to its environmental features and, at the same time, is it a matter of concern due to its seismic vulnerability. In Chile, the emerging process of acknowledging the cultural assets of this built heritage, in addition to the damages caused by the latest earthquakes, have sparked the interest in its study and preservation. Notwithstanding, most of this heritage continues to be anonymous, stigmatized and subject to many myths concerning its structural behavior. In this context, this heritage will be revealed under the "constructive cultures" approach, a category that helps analyze, in a systemic manner, the construction techniques in terms of the environment and culture that conceived them, thereby allowing for a sustainable safeguard and the correct intervention of the built heritage.