Juan Borchers was a Chilean architect (1910-1975) known for integrating philosophical concepts into architecture, believing it bridges the natural world and humanity. His influential works, including the Copelec building, embody his theories on proportions and the essence of architectural projects. Borchers' legacy continues to resonate in both Chile and Spain, where his theoretical contributions are recognized and celebrated.

1. JUAN BORCHERS
ARCHITECT 1910-1975
Patricio De Stefani
'Architecture is Physics made flesh'

2.  EARLY LIFE & UNIVERSITY
 VOYAGES
 THEORETICAL INFLUENCES
 ARCHITECTURAL INSTITUTION
 META-ARCHITECTURE
 PROJECTS & BUILT WORKS
 COPELEC BUILDING
 LEGACY & BEYOND

3. BIRTH: August 4, 1910, Punta Arenas
COUNTRY: Chile, South America
HIGH SCHOOL: Deutsche Schule
UNIVERSITY: University of Chile
MAIN INTERESTS: Poetry,
Storytelling, Drawing, Art

4. 1937 - VOYAGE UTIL
He realized Le Corbusier’s
famous second journey passing
by Argentina, Germany,
Netherlands, Italy,
Greece, France
1938 – PARIS
He meets Le Corbusier
1948 – TEN YEARS JOURNEY
He studied the foundation of
South American cities and
travelled to Spain, France, Italy,
Egypt, Morocco, Netherlands,
Denmark, Sweden, Germany

5. PHILOSOPHY
Descartes, Kant, Wittgenstein
PHENOMENOLOGY
Uexkull, Husserl
ARCHITECTURE
Alberti, Palladio,
Le corbusier, Van der Laan
MATHEMATICS
Euclides, Poincaré, Riemann
ART
Victor Hugo, Van Gogh,
Baudelaire, Rimbaud

6. ARTIFICIAL ORDER & NATURAL ORDER
Architecture is based in mental laws that
contradict natural laws.
Architecture inserts itself between the
natural world and man.
‘Architecture is the language of
substantial immobility’ (AI, p. 174)
PROJECT & PLAN
A model of reality
PROGRAM
What makes a project an architectural
project, and not the motive or brief
(underlying conceptual structure)

7. THING & OBJECT
Thing: Something perceptible
to human senses
e.g. a stone
Object: a thing that performs
an action to the service of
human beings, action scheme
e.g. a stone used as a weapon
PLASTIC ORGAN
Unifies human external senses
producing a sensation (things)
ORGAN OF THE WILL
Unifies human internal senses
producing an action (objects)

8. PROPORTIONAL RELATION BETWEEN
THE HUMAN BODY AND THE WORLD
The human body (O) is to
the separating wall (X) as the
separated space (Y) is to the world (M)
O:X=Y:M
X : Y = Architectural Proportion
Postulate: what initiates the work of
architecture is the number (MA, p. 28)

9. ARCHITECTURAL EXTENSION
The capacity of scope and
discernment that the
human senses possess
Nearness / Nearby Contour = 0-20 m
Transitional Zone = 20-100 m
Remoteness / Horizon = 100-5000 m

10. ARTIFICIAL MAGNITUDE
Measurement produced in
thought and introduced into
the natural order,
composed by quality and
quantity (height, width,
depth)
CUBIC SERIES
additive series generated
through the numeracy
of the cubic figure
MODULOR CUBIC SERIES

11. THE ACT
A Human Act is the abstract form of an
action, a crystallized human action
(structure, quality, quantity)
e.g. wedding, procession, ritual, sports
‘The Act is the most simple unity in
architecture; it is the element, like colour
in painting or sound in music’
(quoted by Jorge de la Cruz, p. 136)
THE ARCHITECTURAL OBJECT
An action scheme
contained in a thing, a non-visible
ordering scheme
‘The world becomes, to my
radical reduction in movements
and actions’ (AI, p. 158)

12. 1) ATELIER FOR ARTISTS
(1940)
1) 2) 2) OLALLA HOUSE
(1942)
3) MATETIC HOUSE
(1943)
3) 4) MENESES HOUSE
(1960)
5) STUDENT MEDICAL
CENTER
(1966)
4) 5)

13. This building was Borchers’s first
opportunity to put into practice his
theory through the application of
his proportional system and the
cubic series.
The building has 21m depth,
12,6m width,10,5m height, and is
composed by different elemental
unities or projects.
The main materiality is exposed
concrete and the structure is
based in a set of double
cone columns, 5,88m height.
In 2008 was pronounced National
Monument.

14. Borchers’s legacy and original contribution to
architecture is acknowledged not only in Chile
but also in Spain, where Rafael Moneo
dedicated an article to his theories.
In 2010, a book containing part of his memories,
entitled Hiperpolis, was published.
Also part of his work was exhibited at Museo
Reina Sofía in Madrid.
In searching for a ‘pure’ architecture Borchers
used to claim:
‘THE WORK OF ARCHITECTURE IS
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO LIFE ITSELF’

15. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Borchers
Revista CA N° 98. Santiago, September, 1999
De la Cruz, Jorge. Alquimia: El Acto y el Número. Santiago, Escuela de
Arquitectura Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, November, 2000.
Bochers, Juan. Institución Arquitectónica. Santiago, Andres Bello, 1968.
Bochers, Juan. Meta-Arquitectura. Santiago, Mathesis, 1975.