American modernist architecture

Designed by Chilean architect Enrique Gebhard, the Montemar Institute of Marine Biology has been described as one of the most successful examples of South American modernist architecture. Built in two phases, between 1941 and 1945 and 1956 and 1959, Montemar is considered Gebhard's most important work, and the structure's synergy with its environment and the preexisting activities at the site made it an important model for later Chilean architects working with a modernist vocabulary. The building was constructed as the field station of the Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Chile. The Institute was founded to work in partnership with local fishermen; in exchange for specimens collected by the fishermen, researchers helped improve fishing methods and taught fishermen sustainable management of marine species. When the University of Valparaíso was formed in the 1980s, it was granted ownership of the Institute's building, which is now home to the university's Faculty of Ocean Sciences