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- Through a public-private partnership, the initiative seeks to revitalize one of the capital’s most traditional sectors, adding a solution that acts on airborne pollutants.
Santiago, September 2026.- The Municipality of Santiago, together with Photio and WOM, kicked off the improvement of the traditional Rosas neighborhood with an intervention aimed at restoring part of the sector through paint, art, and nanotechnology applied to environmental care.
The public-private initiative involves treating 650 square meters of the neighborhood, including its traditional facades, in addition to creating a new 100-square-meter mural that will add color and renew part of the area’s urban environment.
“Santiago is a beautiful commune that is constantly evolving. Barrio Yungay is a gorgeous neighborhood, perhaps one of the prettiest in Latin America, and it is a neighborhood that has at times experienced some deterioration due to non-artistic elements. It is a colorful, diverse neighborhood that also reflects a very charming bohemian vibe. That is why these types of initiatives fit perfectly with WOM’s corporate image—a cheerful, sometimes irreverent, always highly innovative company, and a very good neighbor, because a good neighbor cares about their surroundings, and that is what they are doing,” explained the Mayor of Santiago, Mario Desbordes.
According to project estimates, the 650 square meters treated will allow for the capture of 14,534 kg of CO2, equivalent to the energy required to recharge a mobile phone approximately 1.7 million times.
“We are part of the commune, and hundreds of our employees work in the neighborhood that houses the building where our history began. We have a special bond with Rosas, which is why we joined this innovative project that improves our neighbors’ surroundings through social and environmental impact,” stated WOM CEO Chris Bannister.
Along with filling the neighborhood’s facades with color, the intervention incorporates an important environmental component. The surfaces will be painted with Photio technology, an additive that, upon contact with light, promotes the degradation of atmospheric pollutant gases.
“Here, we aren’t just going to be painting; we are also directly adding an additive to the paint so that it transforms into paint that does something more—and that ‘something more’ is purifying the air, thereby creating a forest in the middle of Santiago,” explained Photio founder and CEO Matías Moya.
Thus, the Rosas neighborhood adds a new intervention aimed at restoring and renewing its urban environment, while incorporating a technological solution that contributes to generating a positive environmental impact where people live and carry out their daily lives.
