Schools for a ‘Revolution in Freedom’

Architecture, the State and the challenge of massive schooling in Chile during the 60’s

Abstract

This work presents the relation between politics an public building, through a unique episode of the public school architecture and construction in Chile, developed in the light of the school aims raised by the Christian-Democrat party in 1965 with the presidency of Eduardo Frei Montalva and his ideological, political and social proposal of a ‘Revolution in freedom’ (motto put forward by the Christian-Democratic party).  

In 1964, President Frei proposed a structural reform of education to accomplish broad access to education. The duplication of enrolment, the integration of the more economically challenged sectors, and the increase in enrolment in technical-professional schools were all followed by a substantial increase of resources, which surpassed 20% of the total fiscal budget. The political challenge had to translate into a decent school atmosphere and into a course of action, which included the entire territory and its distinctions, fast enough to cope with the urgencies that the political and ideological aspirations demanded. The architecture, along with the education reform, represented a significant leap forward regarding the number dilemma. The president pledged to build at least 2000 classrooms during his term in office, and this was considerably outnumbered. This article argues that the leap was possible since it was based on project and construction techniques, which postulated the constructive systematization and rationalization as a central tenet. This work presents the types of school buildings proposed for the swift space solution demand, analyzes in depth one of the types proposed—the MC schools—and interprets the project and construction strategies of the schools of the ‘Revolution in freedom’.