Punta Pite

Punta Pite is a zone of 11 hectares located between the localities of Zapallar and Papudo, along the coastline of central Chile, where an arm of the cordillera reaches down to the sea to form a rocky precipice, densely covered in native vegetation, which divides two beaches.
The project consisted of general landscaping for a lot on which 29 condominiums were to be built, each one with a particular view of the ocean and the surroundings. More than just an intervention into the landscape, Punta Pite permitted the existing landscape to be revealed through a system of 1.5 kilometers of quarried stone walkways.
These make the most of the setting, which can be explored from the beach to the clifftop mirador, at the same time ensuring cleanliness and the preservation of the native flora. The work was entirely done by traditional methods, with 40 stonecutters working for months to open a passage between the rocks.
The proposal is articulated around four public spaces:
Parque de la punta is an intervention by sculptor Gerardo Aristía, who arranged stones to configure meeting places under dense preexisting cypresses and among native orchids.
Playa del Peral consists of a series of quarried stone platforms on a pebble beach.
La posa is a construction of quarried stone platforms that lead to a preexisting resting place, in the center of which a sculpture by Aymara Zégers has been placed.
Mirador de la cala, at the end of the stone path, is a lookout with a view down the cliff side into a small inlet.
The projects includes a registry of the native flora to be provided to the residents in order to generate awareness of the diverse local ecosystem.
 

 
Teresa Moller (Santiago de Chile, 1958) studied landscape architecture at the INCACEA in Chile, graduating in 1985, and doing post-graduate work in landscape design at the New York Botanical Garden (1989).
Since 1989, she has been the director of the landscape architecture firm Teresa Moller y Asociados. For the Punta Pite project, she was invited to become a member of the Chilean Institute of Landscape Architecture (ICHAP).