Like Hollywood: Chilean city of Los Angeles will have its own tourist landmark with its name

Wood is once again the protagonist in Los Angeles, Biobío region. And it is that now the city has a new signage with its name made 100% in CLT (Cross Laminated Timber of Radiata Pine), whose installation started on Wednesday 14 with the first letter to arrive: S.

Last year, the largest wood building in Latin America, the one that houses CMPC’s corporate offices, was inaugurated in Los Angeles, which has FSC Chain of Custody Project Certification, under the control of the NEPCon certification house process (currently Preferred by Nature).

On this new occasion, to develop the project that seeks to give the city a sustainable identity and a new welcoming image for those who access it through the north entrance, through the Rarinco toll, the Municipality and the companies CMPC and Corte Lima worked together.

CMPC donated nearly 100 cubic meters of radiata pine wood, a volume with which Corte Lima worked cross-laminated woods to make the letters. This is the second CMPC project that has FSC Chain of Custody Project Certification in Chile and one of the few in Latin America. The material used is heat treated, which gives it dimensional stability and a darker color. Additionally, the wood is impregnated with a LOSP product that increases its durability, protecting it against the attack of fungi and termites.

As a result, the name “Los Angeles” will measure 27 meters long and 4 meters high, each letter weighing about 2,000 kilos.

On Wednesday, October 14, the Municipality began the process of assembling the signage in the presence of the director (s) of the Communal Planning Secretariat of the Municipality of Los Angeles, María Olivia Cole; the architect of Planning of the Municipality, Manuel Panes Roco; and the head of Northern Territory, Forest Community Relations of CMPC Celulose, Alfonso Muñoz.

According to Cole, “this is an initiative that will give an important look at access to the city. Apart from the cross that has been a very important landmark, now we are going to add the letters to the north entrance”.

Also, the architect pointed out that “the interest in developing this project with CMPC based on a construction system of cross-laminated timber arises from the need we have as a commune to be able to identify ourselves with this forestry role, with the role of secondary transformation of the wood”.

Referring to that point, the CMPC representative explained that “the main wood production region is Biobío and here we are giving an identity to Los Angeles”, and that through a survey carried out in the Urban Council it was determined that it was necessary to give Los Angeles that characteristic, which is why the project arose.

Muñoz also said that later will be time to continue “working on the landscaping and lighting project”, all in tune with the design of the signage, which, by being made with wood -a noble and renewable material, duly certified under FSC^®  sustainable forest management standards – it is friendly to the environment.

The delivery of the project to the community is estimated for the month of November.