Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison
Editors: Celeste Olalquiaga and Lisa Blackmore
Contributors: Pedro Alonso, Carola Barrios, Ángela Bonadies, Bonadies & Olavarría, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, René Davids, Liliana De Simone, Luis Duno-Gottberg, Diego Larrique, Vicente Lecuna, Engel Leonardo, Albinson Linares, Sandra Pinardi, Iris Rosas, Alberto Sato, Elisa Silva, Federico Vegas, Jorge Villota. Designed by Álvaro Sotillo and Gabriella Fontanillas (VACA).

This comprehensive volume of critical essays, testimonials, creative work, and archival photography follows the successful exhibition on El Helicoide that was held at the Center for Architecture during the summer of 2017. A scholarly reference and an engaging tale of mid-20th-century petro-modernity, Downward Spiral establishes the contrast between the architects’ grand plans for a futuristic, drive-in shopping mall and the building’s ultimate use as a homeless shelter and, to this day, a prison.

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