The Teniente General Castiñeiras building stands on a triangular plot of land in the heart of Buenos Aires, one of the most emblematic of the city's modern architecture. Better known as the SOMISA Building, its origin was the result of a design competition for the design of the new headquarters of the Sociedad Mixta Siderúrgica Argentina company. The first prize was won by MRA+A, Mario Roberto Álvarez & Associates, and its construction began around 1966, with the works completed in 1977.
As the first building in the world made of folded steel sheeting, the SOMISA building contributes to the urban completion from the morphological continuity of the block and represents a great technological challenge for the time by implementing a mixed structure, metal on the upper floors and H°A° in the basement. Through a construction that took maximum advantage of the use of steel, a column-free floor plan was conceived with a perimeter load-bearing structure that provided flexibility in the reconfiguration of the work spaces, making the idea of industrialized modulation manifest. Today, the building houses the National Cabinet of Ministers.
Memoir by the authors. The headquarters for the Sociedad Mixta Siderúrgica Argentina, located on the corner of Belgrano and Diagonal Roca Avenues, was the first building erected in Argentina entirely made of steel, and the first fully welded building in the world. Its structural elements, mezzanines, exterior enclosures, and interior partitions are made entirely of this material, the basis for the country's industry, and of which SOMISA was its main producer. A true technological and architectural revolution.
The planned building fully meets the purpose of adaptability and flexibility, made possible by the perimeter steel supporting structure that avoids the existence of interior columns, the appropriate location of the circulations, and the zoning of the workplaces.
The building consists of seven basements and fourteen upper floors, which house public functions (exhibitions, conferences, cafeteria, etc.), administrative and executive work functions, and, finally, service and equipment spaces.
Constructively, the building is divided, as it is functionally, into two parts. One is buried and built in reinforced concrete to a depth of 24 meters, and the other above ground is made of a metal structure with all its constituent elements made up of prefabricated and dry-assembled elements.
The entire perimeter of the building, which is glazed, is treated with thermo-panels of heat-resistant glass and a double inner air chamber in a stainless steel frame for optimum thermal and acoustic insulation. The interior dividing elements are removable steel panels, which contribute to the flexibility of the building, including sanitary ware. The central air-conditioning, electrical, intercom, and telephone installations have been contracted with the latest modern technology.
The following necessary functions within the organisation have been nucleated and zoned:
- Public Functions: located on the ground floor and first basement, with covered and uncovered exhibition areas, entrance hall, conference room, committee room, cafeteria, and annexes.
- Administrative and Executive Work Functions: these are located in the main area of the 1st to 10th floors inclusive, with the sales, purchasing, finance, and administration, industrial and public relations, general management, presidency, and board of directors departments.
- General Services Functions: these are divided into two groups, those located on the 2nd to 7th floors inclusive, where the parking areas, general storage rooms, air conditioning machine rooms, ventilation, electrical controls, maintenance panels, etc. are located, and those located on each floor level on the upper floors where, next to the access to the employee lifts, there are the changing rooms, toilets, floor offices, archives, etc. belonging to the department occupying that floor.
Two groups of vertical circulations have been designed to form the axis of the composition, allowing the public to circulate independently of employees and hierarchical staff. The lift batteries have been grouped into a single nucleus so that all the lifts can be used at peak times.
Technical Specifications
Project: MRA+A | Mario Roberto Álvarez & Associates
Alvarez, Kopiloff, Santoro, Gentile, Rivanera, Satow, D’Huicque
Location: Diagonal Sur esq. Av. Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Client: SOMISA
Year: 1966-1977
Land Surface Area: 1,892 m²
Total Building Ssurface Area: 39,768 m²
Current Owner: Estado Nacional
