Rodrigo Saavedra Venegas

Rodrigo Saavedra Venegas is a Full Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV). He holds a PhD in Architectural Design from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and has taught at PUCV since 1997, specializing in workshops like Act and Void, which explores public interior design and architecture's social role.

Research Focus: His work centers on two primary areas:

• Architecture as a didactic medium, examining how spatial configurations enable learning
• Design of learning spaces in socially vulnerable contexts, particularly early childhood stimulation environments. This includes projects in Indigenous communities across Chile, Brazil, and Peru since 2015.

Publications: His scholarly output (spanning 2001-2019) emphasizes architectural pedagogy, community-centric design, disaster resilience, and cultural spaces, reflecting consistent engagement with social and educational dimensions of architecture.

Grants & Projects: He has led initiatives such as:

• Fondart 2018: Reconfiguring a Playful Void (early childhood spaces)
• Urban and Territorial Studies Group (since 2008)
• The Playful Void: Public educational spaces (2016)
• Fair-Standing: Territorial social articulation (2022)

Teaching & Advising: Supervises undergraduate/graduate theses on community centers, cultural spaces, and educational infrastructure. Leads the Act and Void workshop series and coordinates academic journeys (Travesías) across Latin America.