Type
Industry and Energy
Local
Chile
State
Finished
Year
2018
Client
Abengoa Chile
The technical building will house the lens treatment and cleaning facilities of the new Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), located in the Paranal desert, in northern Chile. This is the largest telescope in the world, which will be operational in 2024. It will be built on a mountain in the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, with coordination and future execution by the construction company Abengoa Chile, under an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract.
The project developed had several technical challenges taking into account the demanding requirements of the European Southern Observatory and its location, an area with extreme weather conditions and high seismicity, plus the fact that the works would be conducted along with the construction company, which had a predefined budget. The project team consisted of technicians from Europe, South America and North America, representing approximately ten different nationalities.
QUADRANTE is the company responsible for the development of architectural designs, structures and specialities of the building, which included HVAC, as well as the coordination and integration of the entire operational process, with projects of all specialities being developed in BIM (Building Information Modelling). The model used will serve as support for the preparation of the site by the contractor and also for the future operation of the telescope.
