Transformation and specialization of the historical center of Santiago of Chile: the evolution of the urban fabric around the “Plaza de Armas” square

The urban transformation of the historical center of Santiago de Chile, is presented as a case study of Spanish American colonial city evolution model, based on a grid that was imposed on the territory with in the center a main square, “Plaza Mayor”. This initial configuration has lead the continuous modification of the urban fabric, which shows significant morphological and typological changes during the process of modernization in the second half of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century, period characterized for the specialized buildings and the subdivision of the blocks through passages and galleries, proposed as an interior public routes. At this stage take a leading role the “Official Development Plan of the Municipality of Santiago”, proposed by architect Karl Brunner in 1930, which applied functionalist urban concepts that allowed to modify the “closed block”, consists mainly of “courtyard houses”, into “open block”, understood today as urban unit organization of the historical center and, in turn, as the container of various architectural typologies developed over a constant process which has changed the perception and the way of living in the city center.