Lirquén plans a wooden community center prepared to face emergencies

Residents of the Jaime Lea Plaza sector of Lirquén, in the commune of Penco, learned about the design of a future community center that seeks to strengthen neighborhood life and improve response capacity in emergency situations. The project is part of the recovery process following the fires and includes the construction of a 190 m² infrastructure, with wood as the main material.

The proposal stands out for its resilience approach, since the facility will have a dual function: to serve as a space for meetings, workshops, and community activities under normal conditions, and to become a support point during an emergency. To this end, it will incorporate backup systems that will make it possible to maintain essential services even during interruptions to electricity, drinking water, and communications.

The design was developed by the National Center of Excellence for the Wood Industry (CENAMAD), with the support of the Chilean Wood Corporation (CORMA), in an initiative that brings together the Regional Government of Biobío, the Municipality of Penco, and the organized community.

The infrastructure will have as its central space a 70 m² multipurpose hall, complemented by offices, a meeting room, a community kitchen, a storage room, and accessible bathrooms with a shower. In addition, its flexible layout will make it possible to adapt the spaces to different needs, including holding health clinics and other actions to support residents.

One of the project's main attributes will be its operational autonomy. The center will have solar panels, batteries, and a generator for electrical backup, as well as an underground tank with a pumping system to provide water and independent satellite connectivity to maintain communications during an contingency.

Wood will play a leading role in both the structure and the interior spaces, accompanied by energy efficiency solutions and safety and maintenance criteria. The proposal also includes a community garden and a commemorative plaque that will help preserve the memory of the events that drove this reconstruction initiative.

María Cecilia Mercado Garrido, president of the Jaime Lea Plaza Cooperative, valued the presentation of the design as progress toward making a shared aspiration of different generations of residents a reality. Meanwhile, the president of CORMA Biobío-Ñuble, Alejandro Casagrande, highlighted the residents' reception and the importance of developing solutions together with communities.

For his part, the mayor of Penco, Rodrigo Vera, stressed the importance of having a meeting space for a residential sector with a significant presence of older adults. From CENAMAD, its manager, Francisca Lorenzini, emphasized that the project seeks to translate scientific research and innovation into concrete solutions for people.

The construction of the Resilient Community Center is projected for 2028, once the administrative and technical procedures necessary to move to the execution stage have been completed.