Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has announced the winning proposal for the Cinematography and Audiovisual Tower that will be built in capital Buenos Aires.
Out of five competing proposals, MRA+A Álvarez| Bernabó | Sabatini’s design was selected. At 335 meters, the skyscraper will become the tallest building in Latin America, surpassing the 300-meter Costanera tower in Santiago, Chile and a 330-meter tower under development in Monterrery, Mexico. To be used mainly for Argentina's film and television industry, the tower will have 67 floors and 216,000 square meters of space. A hotel will occupy the top 13 floors.
More details after the break...
Conceptually, the building’s design is “a geometric abstraction that represents Argentina,” according to the official announcement. The building itself represents the contiguous Argentina, while Tierra del Fuego will be represented through a future Ferry Terminal, and the Malvinas islands will be represented by a future multipurpose Arena.
The planned 216,000 square meters will be distributed between industry use (television and movie studies, offices, archives and scenery workshops); education (educational institutions and the Museum of the History of Argentine Audiovisual Arts); institutional (National Institute of Cinematography and Visual Arts) and private (production offices, production studios and private station offices).
Located in Buenos Aires’ Puerto Madero neighborhood, the Audiovisual Tower is part of a masterplan to unite the neighborhood's green areas and create a new green axis by relocating industrial warehouses and unused buildings.
The project is to be carried out in four stages, and total investment is expected to reach close to $300 million. Financing wll come from the Argentine government as well as the company Riva SA, who was awarded the project along with MRA+A. Construction is supposed to begin by the end of 2014 and wrap up by 2018.
