The City of Buenos Aires recently incorporated a 20 hectare-system of pedestrian green spaces which complete the project of a new urban highway connecting north and south ends in the most central area.
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Buenos Aires is the largest city in Argentina and the second largest city in Latin America, with a total area of 200 square kilometers and almost 3 million city residents (and 13.5 million residents in the metropolitan area). Originally built on the western shores of the Río de La Plata (a river which stretches 220 kilometers and empties into the Atlantic Ocean), Buenos Aires has expanded by claiming land from the river and by concentrating urban growth in the extensive plains located to the south, west and north of the original settlements and port.
Most iconic districts with fragmented road network
The central area, which includes the country’s most important institutional, financial and cultural buildings, such as the Pink House (the official workplace of the president of Argentina), is adjacent to Madero Port (Puerto Madero), an area of 170 hectares that was fully developed during the 1990s. This piece of land, adjacent to the river and a 350 hectare ecological preserve, was subject to a large-scale urban transformation process, which renovated the non-operational first port of the city and the surrounding abandoned areas. Nearly thirty years later, Puerto Madero has become one of the most extensive, most visited and most iconic districts of Buenos Aires. However, the problem of the insufficient connection to the central area and the rest of the city was never solved and became worse over time: the disconnection was due not only to pedestrian dynamics between Puerto Madero and the central area in the west, right across two major, intensively used avenues, but also to the city’s north-south orientation, fragmenting the road network and increasing the problem of vehicle traffic and congested streets.
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Below-grade highway
In 2016, the National Government requested funds (a loan covering 60% of the costs) from the Development Bank of Latin America and in 2017, operations commenced on the redesign and construction of a new highway to connect the north and south ends of the city’s central area. Today, a new subterranean highway runs for seven kilometers along the western border of Puerto Madero. Its four lanes are restricted to trucks and long-distance buses, generating a vehicle-only avenue at ground-level, as well as a new 10 hectare system for pedestrian connection, promenades, plazas and green spaces in the central area.
With the objective of creating a consistent, contemporary layout for these new public spaces, Madero Port Corporation (Corporación Puerto Madero: a public-private partnership created in 1989 for the port area’s urbanization) carried out in-depth research and elaborate conceptual planning, which formed the basis of a national call for designs. In 2017, the City Government, the Madero Port Corporation and the Central Society of Architects (Sociedad Central de Arquitectos) launched a national call for the redesign of the above named areas as well as the linear park bordering the new underground highway, amounting to a total of 20 hectares of new green spaces.
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New urban situations
Before the launch of this competition, all institutions involved had to follow many processes and take important decisions. With regard to land conversion, a new law passed by the City Legislature in 2017 determined to change the originally envisaged land use from urban renovation area to park area. Moreover, the Ministry of Urban Planning worked on the geometric redesign of specific streets and physical aspects of the central area, the most crucial one being the reconfiguration of the curve bordering the gardens of the Pink House, which allowed for the creation of a large, pedestrian-only promenade connecting the north and south ends.
The geometric redesign of this very significant space in the city also required the relocation of some historic monuments of remarkable importance. The most notable relocation was certainly that of the Monumento a Juana Azurduy; located in the gardens of the Pink House since 2015, 9 meters tall and weighing up to 25 tons, this huge bronze sculpture is now resting on a 3-meter-high pedestal, situated in a newly-built plaza in front of a historical, recently renovated culture center. Standing alone, this beautiful statue of the female warrior can now be fully appreciated by people walking by.
These kinds of new urban situations, which come along with the creation of the new highway and its adjacent spaces, resulted from the ideas of the winning team of the competition mentioned earlier.
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Belvedere-style vista
The team visualized a series of novel key spaces which seek to 1) reinforce the pedestrian connection between the city’s central area, Puerto Madero and the riverfront (west-east direction) and, in turn, 2) implement a system of green spaces extending along the new highway (north-south direction), establishing a linear park for recreational and tourist purposes.
The most attractive idea of the team’s proposal, or at least the one that has been realized most successfully , which is embraced by locals in their everyday lives, was the incorporation of a 60-meter-wide staircase that negotiates the existing elevation changes between the two affected areas of the city. Positioned right at the intersection of the west-east axis of the Pink House and the north-south axis of Puerto Madero and the new highway, this large staircase and elevated promenade not only offers a natural connection for pedestrians, but also a fantastic, belvedere-style vista, opening up views of the docks, the marinas and the distant skyscrapers. The large stairs are also lined up with the Woman’s Bridge (Puente de la Mujer), an iconic footbridge with sleek and elegantly curved lines, designed by the internationally famous architect Santiago Calatrava (2001).
Connecting spaces and generating pedestrian-friendly designs
This very large urban transformation, the first stages of which have just been completed, with the final stages scheduled for completion at the end of this year, has completely changed the dynamics of a vital area of the city. The acceptance of these big changes by the local population and the tourists’ fascination when walking around the new areas underline how necessary this project was, connecting spaces and generating pedestrian-friendly, green designs in this central area of the city. The integration of large-scale planted areas only featuring indigenous species, the preservation of existing large trees (a local landmark in Buenos Aires) and the construction of new underground bus parking spaces, which appear as small plazas and green spaces at ground level, are all separate additions, constituting one large integrative landscape plan.
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Today, the totality of all the new and renovated pieces provides an institutional, graceful and symbolic setting for the governmental structures, museums and monuments in the central area and a fresh, inviting design for the physical connection with Puerto Madero and the linear park through the new highway. Still under construction, this linear park will cover three kilometers along the recently completed arterial road.
In a city that is constantly resisting economic crisis, in a country where economic instability has become, paradoxically, the most stable situation, physical transformation becomes a sign of hope. Buenos Aires continues to be strong and beautiful, just like the South American heroine Juana Azurduy.
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Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of completion: First stage: August 2019
Area of the project: 20 hectares / finished: 10 hectares
National competition’s first prize and project’s consultants: Daniel Becker, Sergio Cavalli, Agustín Olivieri, Joan Marantz.
Previous research and conceptual planning: Corporación Puerto Madero, Project Managers: Marcela Suarez, Eduardo Albanese.
Project planning and construction: Ministry of Transport and Urban Development (Minister F. Moccia) / Subsecretary of Planning: SS Carlos Colombo, Director: Guillermo Raddavero / Subsecretary of Projects: SS Álvaro García Resta, Director: Martin Torrado / Subsecretary of Site Works: SS Marcelo Palacio, Director: Gabriel Rosales, Site’s Coordinator: Gustavo Ojeda Ton
Project documentation and detail design: General Direction of Architecture: R.Szraiber, N.Pinto Da Mota, S.Pietragalli, H.Sanchez, B.Belascoain, M.Menéndez, M.Cohen /
Landscape Designers: G.Raffo, V.Nerome.
Photos provided by: City Government of Buenos Aires, Ministry of Urban Design and Transportation / Puerto Madero Corporation.
Two graduates of the University of Buenos Aires – Sebastian Ceria, Argentinean mathematician and founder of New York software company Axioma and Rafael Viñoly, world-famous Uruguayan architect – planned new green educational environments for science scholars. José L. Barañao, former Argentine Minister of Science and Technology, was also on site as another important presence for the realization of the project.
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The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) is the premier institution for public education in Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires. It was founded in 1821 and has become one of the largest and most prestigious higher education institutions in the world. The university comprises thirteen different faculties and 300,000 enrolled students. The School of Exact and Natural Sciences (FCEN or Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales) encompasses around 6,000 researchers and scholars and over 1,500 ongoing research projects.
Inter-university and faculty exchange programs have traditionally been fundamental for the development of FCEN and this strong catalyst for the internationalization of higher education and academic exchange has inspired exceptional students and graduates to pursue outstanding projects and careers. The Zero + Infinite project originated from a collaboration of two exceptional minds: Sebastian Ceria, Argentinean mathematician and founder of New York software company Axioma and Rafael Viñoly, world-famous Uruguayan architect. Both professionals earned their undergraduate degrees at the University of Buenos Aires. After many years in successful international careers, they had the chance to give something back to this institution and to education in general. Sebastian Ceria was the primary sponsor of the overall project, Rafael Viñoly donated the architectural design.
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The local partner was the Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of Argentina and current Secretary José Lino Barañao, who in 2009 initiated the creation of the Latin-American Center of Interdisciplinary Education, or CELFI. This initiative was part of a program financed by the Development Bank of Latin America (2015), with one of the foremost items being the construction of a first-class building to accommodate the new CELFI classrooms and learning spaces, as well as those of the FCEN Institute of Calculus and graduate programs in Atmospheric Science.
As many old trees as possible
Zero + Infinite encompasses a total area of 17,200 square meters and is situated in the heart of the UBA campus, a 60-hectare piece of land that was claimed from the river in the early 1960s. Connected to an existing faculty building via a pedestrian path aligned with the main access and running along the full extent of its shortest side, Zero + Infinite presents a clear relationship with the traditional cluster of campus buildings while offering a fresh, imposing and landscape-reflecting image, contrasting the outdated group of buildings.
The context and the existing conditions of the site defined the project in several ways and were the primary influences on the building’s overall shape and low-slung massing: 1) the trees planted on the site, constituting the woodlands of the UBA campus, 2) the connection and relationship with the nearby pavilions of the FCEN and 3) the site’s location in close proximity to the glide slope of Aeroparque, a local airport for domestic flights.
Although mathematician Sebastian Ceria named the final project after the silhouettes of the courtyards, “zero” and “infinite”, the shapes and especially the exact location of the largest patio were merely determined by the need to maintain as many old trees as possible, bringing nature to the building and energizing the outdoor areas.
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The local team, in charge of the Infrastructure Department of the National Secretary of Science and Technology, also included a botany specialist and an agronomist, who carried out an in-depth analysis of the soil and the condition of trees and large shrubs planted in the affected site. The experts determined the plants that would return after the construction process, the ones that could be transplanted to other locations on campus and the weakly or diseased plants that would not withstand any stress. The transplantation was 100% successful and allowed for the creation of new green areas on campus; moreover, the trees now standing in the “Infinite” courtyard, carefully treated during construction, provide the sense of life originally aspired by the project.
Mediating the relationship to the environment
A rich interaction of building and landscape is enabled by a nearly 8,800-square-meter green roof or by utilization of geothermal energy for the building’s cooling system, but primarily by a strong visual connectedness generated throughout the floor plates and with the surrounding natural areas. The see-through structure brings the natural elements of the surrounding landscape and the two green courtyards into the building, making treetops and lawn areas seem to extend from the outside to the indoor spaces and vice versa, almost blurring this usually clear differentiation. The glass façade, reflecting the trees and the sky, and the green roof, which, from the perspective of passing airplanes, restores the image of the natural riverfront landscape, mediate the relationship to the environment while simultaneously enhancing it.
Essential interconnectivity
A double-height, glazed atrium flows between the building’s interior and exterior limits, which contains classrooms and support spaces on the main floor, and offices, conference rooms and labs on the first floor. Except for the classrooms on the main floor, distributed around the building’s exterior boundaries with wide open views, all learning spaces and offices are enclosed in glass to allow natural light into the center of the construction and to create a more transparent, collaborative environment of intellectual exchange. In this sense, the building extends on two floors only, to amplify this essential interconnectivity.
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In terms of resource optimization, the façade’s structure is designed to perform multiple functions. By extending the aluminum fins perpendicular to the glass surface (which are shading it), solar gain and energy consumption are dramatically reduced, the structure is strengthened against wind loading, and classroom visibility from the outside can be controlled.
“A natural byproduct of building’s essence”
When asked about the new iconic image this building has become for the local scientific community and the traditional campus, Architect Rafael Viñoly claimed that, “Every building, every significant investment of capital, especially for a public university, must optimize. It’s the only responsible approach to construction in this day and age but, though it may have been less vivid in the past, it has always been a key responsibility of the architect. A building for research and education in the natural sciences, especially one being completed in 2019 under the menace of climate change, must be even more focused. If an iconic image emerges from all of this optimization and detailing, it is a natural byproduct of building’s essence.”
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Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Designers: Rafael Viñoly Architects (New York, USA)
Local project management: National Secretary of Science and Technology of Argentina, Department of Infrastructure: Director Bruno Spairani/Local management, representing Rafael Viñoly Architects: Sebastian Goldberg
Client: FCEN: Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
Date of completion: August 2019
Total area: 17,200 m2/Green roof: 8,760 m2
Photography: Daniela McAdden
Train Station Park, located in a central residential area of the City of Buenos Aires, is the result of a participatory planning process carried out by the local community and the City Government.
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The City of Buenos Aires is divided into 15 districts. The community chose a vacant area with an abandoned warehouse at the border between two of the districts as a potential new small park and space for various public activities. The lot, owned by the national train operating company was adjacent to the railway tracks of a local urban line. The warehouse had been formerly used for loading and unloading trucks and for storage purposes.
Participatory process
Back in 2000, a group of residents, living in the two districts, but also close to the abandoned lot, got together with the firm intention to transform the site. In 2014, they successfully managed to change the originally envisaged land use from urbanization area to park area. Two years later, a bill was introduced to the City Legislature and eventually enacted into law. The “Law for Participatory Design of the Train Station Park” provided the legal framework for the park’s construction and the preceding participatory process of diagnostic assessment and preliminary design.
The City’s Ministry of Urban Design, in charge of the project, invited the General Direction of Urban Anthropology to manage all initial meetings and workshops with the local community. The final proposal was developed by the government’s design team.
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A linear platform at the highest level
The project aims to connect the lot’s interior space with sidewalks and a small park across the street. A wall that previously closed off the site was knocked down and the differences in height were either compensated with access ramps, stairs and paths, or naturally shaped with green mounds. The former truck lane was transformed into a semi-covered pathway running along the full extension of the renovated warehouse, connecting the opposite sides of the park and creating a linear platform at the highest level of the site.
The creation of two new spaces was of great importance to the neighborhood group: an amphitheater and a space for cultural and educational events and activities. The amphitheater was newly constructed in a fairly central area of the park, taking advantage of the existing natural slopes.
Green indoor spaces
The old warehouse was completely restored and renovated and turned into a meeting point for locals. Inside, two access courtyards offer green indoor spaces: an area full of native vegetation and a small plant nursery for educational purposes. The group of neighbors emphasized the use of autochthonous plant species as a major goal of the project. Now, with the first entirely indigenous groups of shrubs and herbaceous plants established in the park, butterflies and birds have become a daily presence.
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A certain level of historical protection was assigned to the building by the City Government, its renovation therefore followed a consistent and careful sequence of steps. The most remarkable and meaningful change took place on the roof, the clay tiles of which were cautiously restored in the section facing the park while they were replaced on the opposite side. In order to maximize the amount of natural light in the building, part of the roof was removed for the sake of a linear skylight that follows the line of the ridge.
New Spaces now available for the local community
The new spaces now available for the local community include a large library, a newspaper and magazine library, a production room, government offices, an adaptable space for food stands and a large area for sports. Adjoining rooms displaying colorful, inviting furniture create a fluent walking circuit, allowing visitors to experience a wide range of activities while always overlooking the new park.
The administration and management of the new venue is coordinated by different divisions of the City Government, ensuring an efficient and integrative approach and the necessary specializations for every aspect of the project.
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Client: City Government of Buenos Aires (Mayor H. Rodriguez Larreta) / Ministry of Transport and Urban Development (Minister F. Moccia).
Project planning and design: Subsecretary of Projects: SS Álvaro García Resta / Director: Martin Torrado / Project managers: J. Bedel, M. Clusellas, P. Ledo Koliesnik, F. Marino, F. Planas Penadés, R. Fernández Rojas / Coordination of participatory process: Direction of Urban Anthropology, Director: Javier Irigaray
Date of completion: 2019
Areas: 13,708 m2 (site) / 8,366 m2 (park) / 5,342 m2 (renovated warehouse)
Photography: Javier Agustín Rojas
The site chosen for the Walt Disney Company office and headquarters in Argentina is located 40 kilometers northwest of the City of Buenos Aires. Bordered on the south by the Pan-American Highway and surrounded by residential developments and a very established green environment, the architectural and landscape project benefits from an open area unusually large for office uses and the bonus of several existing, very old trees.
The landscape designer took advantage of this situation to create a woodland garden and a series of winding paths that surround the building. She proposed a simple but straightforward layout with a park-like area wrapping three sides of the building and an intimate-looking orchard, with fruit trees and edibles for local production.
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The positive impact of views on employee wellbeing was the main reason to create extensive areas of flower beds on the rooftops. On the top floor, six large concrete planters offer a selection of eleven species of herbaceous perennials and grasses. The selected plants have great tolerance to wind conditions, sun exposure and drought. However, this roof is the only area of the site where an irrigation system has been installed. In order to meet the primary (drip) irrigation water requirements, rain water is collected from rooftops and ground run-off for storage in underground tanks with a total capacity of 8,000 liters.
At the main entrance, a semi-roofed area extends for 77 meters and houses a set of parking lots. This linear roof features two species of native grasses with near-zero water requirements. Their silver crests become light-attractors and generate a magical effect at certain times of the day, depending on the position of the sun.
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In the main park, where the key idea was the creation of a relaxing woodland garden, the landscape proposal also negotiates the existing elevation change between the building and street levels. With elevation variations of up to 1.40 meters, the site was modeled as a combination of soft green slopes and planes reaching out towards the edges of the site.
As a counterpoint to these natural-looking borders, the lawn behind appears as bare planes; together, these two components make up a simple configuration which frames and highlights the modern lines of the architecture.
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The orchard area, leaning against one of the lot‘s enclosing walls and behind the general parking area, combines a 370 square meters-plot of citrus trees and a kitchen garden, both organized in a geometrical layout and planted in ten different wooden eight meters-long boxes. Clara Billoch, who is also a specialist in gardens of production, has trained a small group of fifteen employees who volunteered to take care of the orchard. This team is now in charge of the management and maintenance of the plot, ensuring the life and continuation of such a noble feature within the landscape.
In 2017, the project achieved Gold certification, the second-highest of LEED’s four levels.
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Location: Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Landscape Designer: Clara Billoch Estudio de Paisajismo
Design Team: Sol Casanovas, Damasia Julianes.
Master Plan and architecture: Rodolfo Recondo Arquitectos
Lot Area: 2.20 hectares.
Park: 1 hectare. Rooftop: 1,100 sq meters. Orchard and kitchen garden: 550 sq meters.
Date of completion: 2017, ongoing process.
Photography: Clara Billoch, Tomas Rossi, Jimena Martignoni
The MeMo house, in the Northern District of Buenos Aires, is the result of an experimental work carried out on the one hand, by the architects’ and the landscape designers’ offices and, on the other hand, the owner.
“When we started the project, we knew we wanted a garden which would grow all over the place” —says one of the lead architects—, “But one of the first things the owner said was ‘I don’t want to mow any lawn and I don’t want a high maintenance garden’”. This became the basis for the design and it turned into an obsession of sorts for the entire team. Ignacio Fleurquin, one of the lead landscape designers, explains that they called a plant specialist for the pampas, delta and river areas as soon as they became aware of how precisely this project had to be thought out.
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The team worked with the key objective of creating a house that would also be a garden and a garden that would not be a typical one. No watering, no mowing, no maintenance, no introduced species, all of which would mean a somehow “wild” garden. The owner actually ended up being the one in charge of finding and planting appropriate species. The plant specialist provided a long list of native vegetation, with common and scientific names, some of which were really hard to find even at local natural preserves. However, she found many of the plants in the countryside, either at the sides of the road or simply growing out of other species.
When the house was finished and the planting process began, she had collected 4,000 plants (cuttings, seedlings and from plant hunting). From this total figure, 60% germinated. Later on and to this day, with the garden settled, she keeps discovering unexpected flowers and fruits such as tomatoes growing out from small cherry trees or native clovers coming out of the earth. Even more surprising, she picked 130 kilograms of globe zucchini, squash and other vegetables harvested during her first season there.
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The lot has a frontage of 8.66 meters and extends 50 meters deep. In order to guarantee sunlight access to all rooms in the house, the architects created a central patio which is also the spot where outdoor stairs lead to the first and second floor terraces. Bordered by ramps covered with plants that seem to pull the front and back gardens up to the roof level, these concrete stairs become the ultimate connecting component.
The many ambiances of the house become part of an intimate journey which, beginning on the ground floor, ends at the roof level, opening onto both the front and the back of the lot. The main bedroom opens onto a terrace-like area, at the first level, and the green roof becomes the final room to be enjoyed. “This is the most private and also the most exposed room in the house”, states the owner.
All green areas in the project collect rain water which is stored in an underground tank located in the front garden and reused for irrigation purposes. Solar panels and other passive cooling strategies such as cross ventilation help reduce the energy consumption of the project.
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Location: Northern district, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Landscape Plan: Estudio Bulla (Ana García Ricci, Lucía Ardissone and Ignacio Fleurquin)
Architectural Plan: BAM! arquitectura (Gonzalo Bardach and Matías Mosquera)
Landscape Consultant for use of native plants: Dr. Gabriel Burgueño
Bulla design team: Alejandra Yamasato, Pablo Rubio
Lot area: 430 m2, Built area: 215 m2
Green roofs: 133 m2
Date of completion: 2017, ongoing process
Photography: Jeremías Thomas
The roof of Di Tella University’s main building, located in a residential area of the City of Buenos Aires, is a particular case of green roof. Extending across 1,600 square meters and built on the rooftop of an existing five-story building, the new recreational area is only partly implemented as a technical green roof: 700 square meters meet the general technical requirements of a green roof and 900 square meters offer diverse open spaces with no growing medium or plant cover.
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Here, the key objective was that of providing more available open public spaces for the students and the university’s staff, with the bonus of a breathtaking 360 degree view of the city.
Opened in 2013 as a new “campus”, the site didn’t offer large green spaces or open areas for gathering because its central space was occupied by parking lots. In the process of changing this situation and given the urgent need for green areas, some professors of the Architecture and Landscape Architecture’s faculties suggested to use the rooftop instead.
Preserving the good
The building was originally erected in the early 1940s and was renovated after an almost 50-year period of stagnation. The completion and opening of the campus took place in 2013 and the new roof became accessible in 2017. The project for the roof is related to the construction of new master classrooms, administration offices and a restaurant on the fifth floor, which used to be the rooftop in the past, only used for mechanical equipment. This meant that the existing drainage system would be “moved up” one floor, responding to the designer’s main concern of preserving this existing system as far as possible.
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The area, which is a rectangle of 90 x 25 meters, was differentiated into spaces that respond to diverse possible uses: relaxing, gathering and an open-air amphitheater. The planting plan is related to this differentiation; the non-accessible areas are covered with a combination of sedum species which have minimum maintenance requirements and provide colors and textures and, conversely, some lawn patches that provide areas to sit and lay down. These lawn pieces are built on the slopes of the gable roof that covers the new master classrooms.
The connector
However, anticipating the need for walking spaces, the architects reduced the area of the gable roof by leaving available areas along three sides of the rooftop and resulting in a U-shaped esplanade. When extending along the full breadth of the larger side of the roof, this esplanade turns into a generous three meters-wide promenade. Finished with concrete tiles and bordered by a tall transparent curtain-wall, this walkway becomes the main connector between the different spots: a continuous balcony opening towards the city, the large old trees and, looking northeast, the splendid Plate River.
Pleasant views
At the eastern side of the roof, responding to the need of concentrating higher loads at the edges of the slab and reducing them in the center, a row of trees blooms in the summer. Wooden benches offer a variety of situations and the open-air amphitheater creates the perfect ambience to rest and watch. Placed in three rows of seven 4.50 meters-long benches, this arrangement produces a great spot to enjoy the views and the breeze along the roof, far away from classes and lessons, at least for a while.
Reaching the highest level of the building, a lookout allows watching the far-away crowns of the urban woods and the river.
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Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Area of the rooftop: 1,600 m2
Date of Completion: 2017
Client: University Torcuato Di Tella
Landscape Architecture Plan: Grupo Landscape-Cora Burgin
Architectural Project: RDR Arquitectos (Richter, Dahl Rocha, Emmer and Morando)
Photography: Javier Agustín Rojas, Cora Burgin, Bruno Emmer
In early October Buenos Aires was the host city of the third Summer Youth Olympic Games. Promoted by the International Olympic Committee, about 4.000 athletes from 206 countries participated in the games.
The city offered a number of different sites for a total of 32 disciplines. Most of the competitions and activities took place in the Olympic Park. Located within the newly planned Sports District, part of a large-scale urban and social conversion program in the south of the city, the 30-hectare site became a prominent location for the games.
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The project for the Olympic Park was based on the renovation of a traditional park designed and built in the 1980s. Two decades later it showed clear signs of neglect. Advantageously located right in front of the Olympic Village, which was already under construction, the park became the perfect spot for the Game’s purposes. The existing general infrastructure – such as underground ducts and pipes for lighting and water supply – plus an existing landscape and a very well-defined system of pathways benefitted the project and offered cost reduction advantages.
Relay to the history of the park
The architectural and landscape layout for the Venue Master Plan was the result and combination of the existing land conditions and the technical requirements set by the different leading institutions involved. Beginning in January 2017, the construction work lasted no longer than ten months.
The main access to the Olympic Park is connected to one of the largest existing clusters of trees on-site, creating a welcoming image related to the history of the park. Upon entering the site, the Olympic pavilions are clearly visible. The overall plan comprises a large, external vehicular ring which encloses an entirely car-free inner area with a pedestrian pathway connecting six semi-white boxes featuring lightweight structures. Visitors can walk from one pavilion to the next while passing by open fields and tracks. Service areas are located underground or at ground level, depending on the venue’s structure.The six individual buildings and the connecting, partially enclosed walkway are lightweight structures with metallic finish. The connecting pergola’s overall width is three meters. The dynamic walkway is open along both sides, allowing pedestrians to appreciate the adjacent landscape and the sights of the different buildings and fields.
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Open presence
In order to adapt to the existing topography and slopes of the original park, the two largest pavilions were positioned at the site’s lowest points, opposite to each other. The slope supported establishing the required height for the Olympic Swimming Pool, built underground, and the necessary ceiling height for the artistic gymnastics. Both buildings offer glazed curtain walls that enclose the entire facade along the ground level, creating an open and inviting presence, visually connected to the park outside.
The other four buildings located adjacent to the walkway are smaller in size and offer a more flexible layout.
By playing host to one of the world’s biggest sporting events, Buenos Aires has the opportunity to establish a lasting sports legacy. Once the games are over, the venues will be converted into a multi-sport facility for elite athletes. They will also feature administration offices, a health center and a hotel. The sports arenas will remain open for major sporting events and public use.
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Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Project’s Design and Management: City Government of Buenos Aires / Ministry of Urban Design and Transportation (Minister Franco Moccia)
Subsecretary of Projects: A. García Resta / Urban Innovation, Director: M.Torrado
Subsecretary of Construction: M. Palacio / Site Construction’s Director: C. Cané
Total area: 30 hectares
Date of completion: September 2018 (First Stage)
Photography: Javier A. Rojas
In 2013 the International Olympic Committee selected Buenos Aires to be the host of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. One year later, the City Government started the planning and management process for the construction of an Olympic Village, with a team especially created for this purpose.
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In compliance with the essential philosophy of all Olympic Games – “to identify post-Games legacy uses […] and benefits for years to come to the city and its people” – the Buenos Aires City Government carried out an holistic research and implementation plan that was rooted within local urban and social necessities. With some of the lowest indicators of human development and quality of life, the south of the city was already an object of interest and in the midst of a transformation process.
The City Government’s project for the conversion of the Athletes’ Village into affordable housing (1,200 new homes) was planned in cooperation with the Institute of Housing of the City. The institute’s focus in determining selection criteria for post-occupancy habitation was aimed at ensuring that required loans would be granted as follows: 80% for the district’s residents, 10% for teachers and a final 10% for police officers. Owners will begin occupying their homes in March 2019.
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Brand-new infrastructure
Out of the total 100 hectares covered by the former park, 49 hectares were reserved for a new system of green areas. Approximately 20 hectares were selected for urban development and housing. The Olympic Village covers 3.5 hectares, combining 31 buildings and open spaces such as boulevards, streets and plazas. The overall project is much larger, incorporating brand-new infrastructure (water supply, sewage, electrical grid, fiber optic and road systems) for a total area of 9.7 hectares. In order to ensure a consistent planning and construction process, in 2016 the City passed a special law for the Olympic Village Master Plan, regulating new urban and social requirements and defining the district’s long-term development goals. Based on the new land use plan, the area incorporates more and new green spaces and ground-floor retail.
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Rainwater harvesting
The buildings (seven and nine-stories tall) were the result of five separate national competitions. Their objective was to achieve differing architectural designs for the five different blocks.
The landscape plan’s main goal was to create as many absorptive surfaces as possible to capture and store rainwater and reduce irrigation needs and peak runoff during rain events. The project incorporated all kinds of impervious surfaces and green infrastructure for rainwater harvesting; the most relevant being the drainage planters built along the full length of the building facades, as well as the large central gardens with their slightly recessed ground level compared to the enclosing streets. The planters and the central gardens collect and direct the stormwater runoff into the city’s drainage system. Most of the large trees, specimens of native species that previously existed on site, were preserved.
The construction works lasted for exactly 26 months. During the first week of October 2018, when crowds of young athletes from all parts of the world arrived, the site had a fresh and complete appearance. In the future, locals will enjoy and benefit from this amenity.
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Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Idea and project design: City Government of Buenos Aires / Ministry of Urban Design and Transportation (MUDyT): Minister Franco Moccia
Project planning, management and implementation: Director of Special Projects’ Unit: Maria Florencia Piñero Villar
Landscape plan director: Estela Viarenghi / Design Team: Subsecretary of projects (MUDyT)
Building design: Winning teams of the five Competitions
Total area: 3.5 hectares (Village) / 9.7 hectares (new urban infrastructure systems)
Date of completion: August 2018 (First Stage: Olympic Village)
