This research would not have happened if it wasn’t for time spent teaching at the Architectural Association, later at Bath and various universities in North and South America. My hosts, the Pringle family, introduced me to English life. Chairman Boyarsky trusted me to teach at the AA, whilst Williams and Winkley supplied me with much needed job opportunities. Through Patrick Hodkinson I got to meet Peter Smithson, as we taught at Bath. The spirit of play was present in diverse ways in the aforementioned settings as it also was in Guillaume Jullian, the late Corbusier’s assistant whom I was lucky to befriend. As will become evident, the way ludic inventions interweave with a particular landscape culture in Britain left a lasting impression on me. My long-standing interest in the so-called Valparaiso School resulted in an encounter with Manuel Casanueva who was then forging fascinating links between ludic practice and design inventions. I greatly benefited from seminars held at my alma mater, Universidad Catolica, Santiago, also at Universidad Central Caracas, Cornell, and Harvard GSD. Dean Mostafavi at Cornell, (later at the GSD), and professors Azier Calvo and Jose Rosas in Caracas opened up invaluable teaching opportunities that led to my Doctoral study entitled Materia Ludica. I am also indebted to Jose Rosas for his generous advice. The students and collaborators are too numerous to mention, but my thanks are due to them all.
Teaching assignments at Penn, Porto Alegre, Tucson, Arizona, University of East London and Yokohama, allowed me insights into diverse ludic cultures. Carlos Comas, David Leatherbarrow and Thomas Weaver offered invaluable critical support. My thanks to Professors Frampton and Cohen for their generosity. Also to Emilio De la Cerda, Daniel Taliesnik and Felipe de Ferrari and Ivan Gonzales Viso. Even if they do not know, Alan and Marina Morris helped in great measure and so did Alberto Sato. Paloma Gonzales and Rodrigo Camadros made a decisive contribution with the illustrations. Special thanks to Agustina Labarca for her help in drawing and for her critical insights, whilst Mauricio Pezo, Christian Juica, Eduardo Castillo lent valuable images: my thanks to them all. Finally my thanks to the editors and proof readers.