Bicentennial Park

This guide to Bicentennial Park in Santiago traces Vitacura's 1998 design competition, architect Teodoro Fernandez Larranaga's winning plan, and the decade-long build that opened in stages through 2011, timed to Chile's bicentennial. It follows the two ornamental lagoons he designed purely for reflection, and asks what happened once the water was finished and nature found it on its own. Best walked slowly along the northern shore, where the reeds show the most activity.