Abstract

The Alianza para el Progreso or Alliance for Progress (AP) made official their emergence in Chile since 1961 in the areas of education, politics, engineering and residential building, and consolidated their prevalence after the 1960 earthquake (9.9 on Richter scale). Regarding the residential housing, the AP made a direct contribution by building single-family housing and collective complexes (named as "villages") throughout Southern Chile, completing 35 000 housing units for 182 000 people, between 1961 and 1965. Under a historiographic perspective, this paper examines this process of housing development and puts special emphasis on the Poblacion Kennedy, located in Puerto Montt, built about 1965 as the first apartment block in the capital city of Los Lagos region. In the same vein, this paper recaps some achievements by the AP after 55 years, which today are landmarks in Southern Chile. Their importance is mostly due to the reinforced concrete used as the main material and the shapes designed according to modern architecture trends, thus becoming a living icon of the material influence by the AP program.