COSMOBOTANICAL MIRROR
COSMOBOTANICAL MIRROR
It is an architectural installation designed to enhance biodiversity in the severely arid urban environment
of Santiago, Chile.
“Cosmobotanical Mirror” the installation consists of a 45-meter-diameter body of water, contained by slopes covered with more than 1,500 sacks filled with fertile soil and seeds, aimed at creating an aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem that will host hundreds of animal and plant species.
Visitors can observe the surrounding landscape along an 80-meter sloping pathway, as well as a diverse botanical field that represents the native landscape of northern and central Chile. In an atmosphere filled with sounds, textures, scents, colors, and shapes, biological processes such as microclimate formation, the incorporation of new plant and animal species, and incubation and nesting areas can be observed.
This space are part of the “Safe Site Program (SSC),” which protects species categorized as critically endangered or vulnerable. Thus, the Cosmobotanical Mirror functions as a living collection bank to preserve native species whose genetic material has a known origin, in an initiative derived from the International Conifer Conservation Programme (ICCP) of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, led in Chile by the Fundacion Chilco.
It will serve as a Biodiversity Laboratory, a curatorial space for art and science in partnership with the Natural Culture area of the Adriana Hoffmann Forest, aimed at educating the surrounding communities.
This work arises from an interdisciplinary vision combining architectural, botanical, hydraulic, and landscape knowledge—and, above all, it is creative and collaborative.
The project was designed by GUN Architects and managed by Common Land Studio, with the advice of the Fundacion Chilco, Acuáticas Vivero, and Vivero Pumahuida. It was financed by the 2023 Public Science Program of the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation, seeking to provide the museum’s communities—which, in 2024, welcomed more than 380,000 visitors—with a nature-immersion experience from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Museo Interactivo Mirador, Santiago, Chile.
Architecture
GUN Architects
Jorge Godoy, Lene Nettelbeck, Chloé Borreguero, Jinah Kim, Alma Morcillo Sans, Diego Valenzuela.
Project Management
Common Land Studio
Daniela Salazar
Landscaping
Acuáticas Vivero
Rosemarie Ullrich
Botanical Advisers
Fundacion Chilco, Josefina Hepp and Barbara Greene.
Vivero Pumahuida, Mónica Musalem.
Terófita, Margarita Reyes.
Atmospheric Effects
Antonia Peón-Veiga
Support
Klayer, Agro Almar
Funded by the Public Science Program of the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation 2023.
It is an architectural installation designed to enhance biodiversity in the severely arid urban environment of Santiago, Chile.
“Cosmobotanical Mirror” the installation consists of a 45-meter-diameter body of water, contained by slopes covered with more than 1,500 sacks filled with fertile soil and seeds, aimed at creating an aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem that will host hundreds of animal and plant species.
Visitors can observe the surrounding landscape along an 80-meter sloping pathway, as well as a diverse botanical field that represents the native landscape of
northern and central Chile. In an atmosphere filled with sounds, textures, scents, colors, and shapes, biological processes such as microclimate formation, the incorporation of new plant and animal species, and incubation and nesting areas can be observed.
This space are part of the “Safe Site Program (SSC),” which protects species categorized as critically endangered or vulnerable. Thus, the Cosmobotanical Mirror functions as a living collection bank to preserve native species whose genetic material has a known origin, in an initiative derived from the International Conifer Conservation Programme (ICCP) of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, led in Chile by the Fundacion Chilco.
It will serve as a Biodiversity Laboratory, a curatorial space for art and science in partnership with the Natural Culture area of the Adriana Hoffmann Forest, aimed at educating the surrounding communities.
This work arises from an interdisciplinary vision combining architectural, botanical, hydraulic, and landscape knowledge—and, above all, it is creative and collaborative.
The project was designed by GUN Architects and managed by Common Land Studio, with the advice of the Fundacion Chilco, Acuáticas Vivero, and Vivero Pumahuida. It was financed by the 2023 Public Science Program of the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation, seeking to provide the museum’s communities—which, in 2024, welcomed more than 380,000 visitors—with a nature-immersion experience from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Museo Interactivo Mirador, Santiago, Chile.