Hungerstein (Hunger Stones) is the phenomenon that gives its name to the design studio we had teaching at Universidad de las Américas in Santiago de Chile, 8th semester of Architecture´s degree.

Since the 15th century, there has been an activity in certain rocks of the riverbeds that appear with a series of inscriptions when the water level drops. This alerts future generations to periods of extreme drought and famine.

The main challenge that Chile currently faces is living in a territory with strong water stress. The reduction in rainfall began in the 80s and these have been reducing by 7% every ten years, however, there is an economic-political process of mineral extraction that uses most of the fresh water that Chile needs to his subsistence.

It is estimated that 0.5% of Chile’s land surface is home to 50% of the world’s copper reserves, an essential material in the contemporary world. The key element in the conduction of electricity or with which the batteries of any device are manufactured. But 70% of the copper mined today in Chile is due to foreign companies. These explotations not only become sacrifice zones with a useful life of barely 1 or 2 decades, they also pose a profound contamination of the environment, destroy plant concentrations, displace animal species and imply an excessive consumption of fossil fuels and fresh water.

The studio proposes to investigate urgent phenomena of radical transformation of the environment in the Maipo River basin with the aim of generating speculations about possible futures. The territories studied range from Mina de los Bronces at the top of the Mapocho and Maipo river basins, the Aculeo lagoon, the Alto Maipo hydroelectric plant project, and the mouth of the Maipo with the port of San Antonio.