The seminal layout of Eiffel et Cie. Heritage permanences in the urban fabric of Arica 1870-1970

Abstract

The earthquake and tsunami of 1868, on the coast of the South Pacific caused the disappearance of the city of Arica in Peruvian territory. Faced with this situation, the government of President José Balta decrees a policy plan for the reconstruction and reactivation of the city due to its geopolitical importance for the traffic of goods from southern Peru and Bolivia. The project is entrusted to the French office Eiffel et Cie, which traces an industrial project, the proposal for a modern regular layout burst with the dense irregular layout of the pre-existing city, this also included the new steam mobility systems of the Railway era and Port.

A historical reconstructive method is applied, some results of the tools are exposed: mapping, interviews, photographic observation sheets, planimetric and aero-photogrammetric surveys.

As a result, a spatial theoretical interpretation is obtained, on the founding architectural urban phenomenon that set the city of Arica in the 19th century at the world forefront.