Rural construction as representation. Minor agricultural infrastructure in the central valley of Chile

Abstract

The chicken coops, maize dryers, wineries, stables, etc. Of the central valley of Chile, are smaller constructions that function as infrastructures that complement the basic and small-scale agricultural production that develops there, so that its resolution, bordering on the archaic, is devoid of a disciplinary germ. These constructions, although they may be the material culmination of an idea, are rather presented as the representation in itself of a project, in a pending state of resolution, which has been forged generation after generation. Scattered in the territory represent both the agricultural character of the area and the intelligence deployed over time determined by geographical, cultural and social conditions, in a context of scarcity. Although it has a history in primitive residential buildings, it originates as a type in agrarian reform, when the land is distributed on small surfaces that promote the development of minor agriculture. Rural constructions in the central valley of Chile are in themselves the representation of their project and as manifestations they represent a communal activity, a territory, a landscape, an economic model, a political ideal.