Following over 10 months of restoration and preservation work, Bisman Ediciones decided to set up its Architecture Gallery and Residency in two spaces of the renowned Casa de Estudios para Artistas in Buenos Aires. In August 2022, the first monographic exhibition, "La trama infinita," was inaugurated here alongside the residency of guest exhibitor Josep Ferrando. A new series is now underway to showcase notable works of the Modern Movement in Argentina, starting with an exhibition of the building itself.
Marking nearly 85 years since its inauguration, the Casa de Estudios para Artistas still surprises with its modernity. In the early 20th century, a generation of architects sought to develop a new language based on reason, where modern architecture could foster a new spirit. The exhibition, titled "You Are Here. Casa de Estudios para Artistas: An Ibero-American Manifesto," will run until February 24, 2023, at Bisman Ediciones' Architecture Gallery and Residency (Suipacha 895 and Atelier E, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Guided visits are available by appointment on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
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Looking into its history reveals that this iconic modern work from the 1930s was originally conceived as a rental property ("casa de renta"), featuring a series of studios on a lot owned by Vera Barros's parents. It was designed to be a paradigm-shifting project that would house the various architectural societies forming the group then in development. Antonio Bonet, Ricardo Vera Barros, and Abel López Chas designed the building while simultaneously participating as members of the Austral Group, which would become the first to be recognized as an architectural vanguard in Argentina.
“The Ateliers at Suipacha and Paraguay are a milestone in the career of Antonio Bonet, an architect with a profound sense of spatiality, technique, and form. Bonet developed projects in architecture, urban planning, and interior design—fields that fluidly intersect throughout his life's path. His pursuits allow us to trace continuities with CIAM urbanism, the architecture of Mies and Le Corbusier, and European and Latin American surrealism.” - Rosa Aboy, President of the Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CPAU)
Founded around 1938 in Buenos Aires, the Austral Group was an architectural collective that emerged during a period of urban and industrial modernization of Argentina's infrastructure. By 1936, Buenos Aires was already undergoing modernization, and its urban fabric was saturated due to the increasing subdivision and sale of lots driven by rising central land values and the dominance of rental properties ("casa de renta"). Against this backdrop, an urban transformation process began, involving various national departments, aimed at modernizing the city with the state as the main driver of construction. This period saw avenue widenings, the expansion of the subway network, the initiation of the North-South Avenue, the planning and inauguration of the Obelisk, and the construction of General Paz Avenue.
The group began operating organically in the second half of 1938 around an initial core comprising Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, Juan Kurchan, Alberto Le Pera, Abel López, Samuel Sánchez de Bustamante, Simón Ungar, Ricardo Vera Barros, Ítala Villa, Hilario Zalba, and Antonio Bonet. The model chosen for Austral was based on GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture), with its objectives including "fighting for the progress of architecture" and "taking initiative to resolve all architectural problems in the Republic." Composed of honorary, active, sponsoring, and collaborating members, as well as industrialists and students, it also sought to bring together architects, engineers, technicians, and manufacturers from all branches of construction, while seeking representation for Argentina in CIRPAC (International Committee for the Resolution of Problems in Contemporary Architecture).
While organizing the group, Bonet connected with Ricardo Vera Barros, who was then professionally partnered with Abel López Chas. Bonet settled in Buenos Aires, and together they designed and built his first building in the city. This brief partnership, which lasted until 1940, produced a series of works and projects, including the Casa de Estudios para Artistas, the Belgrano House on Crámer Street, Terrazas del Sel, a house for the Vera Barros family, and two proposals for the preliminary design competition for the Catamarca Legislative Palace.
After publishing three offprints in the Argentine magazine Nuestra Arquitectura, Bonet finalized the organization of the Austral Group and, alongside Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, designed the BKF chair, the most famous chair in the world. Bonet spent 25 years in Argentina, coinciding with a brilliant era for the country's architecture and design, with the BKF chair and the studios serving as a turning point that ushered Argentine design into a new era.
The Casa de Estudios para Artistas symbolizes the thinking of an era, synthesizing design with technological and constructive innovation from a vanguard group of Argentine and Spanish architects, thus becoming a benchmark—a true Ibero-American manifesto. It features a ground floor with four commercial spaces, a double-height floor with interior stairs and five studios, and a top floor with two studios and access to a corner terrace garden.
The building can be best understood in section, as a series of horizontal strata define the functional and formal relationships between its different parts. The diverse materials of the metal frames on the facades play within the framework formed by concrete slabs, with elements individualized through color: dark blue, burnt sienna, and light gray. The facade is permeable to the needs of its users, acting as an indoor-outdoor mechanism that regulates the relationship between these two realities. This establishes a dynamic perceptual system, reinforced at night when the facade becomes a filter controlling light from the interior. Three types of glass were used: glass blocks, Termolux (glass wool sandwiched between two standard triple-glazed panels), and triple-glazed glass.
Through its materiality, the Casa de Estudios para Artistas proposes rethinking the traditional urban fabric by incorporating new concepts of living. It presents a clear duality, acting simultaneously as an "object" and a "piece of the city," offering a new spatial approach to the corner and recognizing it as a building block of the urban structure. Conversely, it expresses a desire for weightlessness, gracefully rising from the ground in contrast to the curved glass volumes of the commercial storefronts. The corner is reformulated as the starting point for articulating the building's various components. At ground level, it hosts the entrance to the largest commercial space. On the middle floor, the double-height duplex is framed by adjustable metal louvers that regulate the indoor-outdoor relationship, while the top floor features an opening that defines the terrace garden.
“During my adolescence, any architectural question I asked my father ended up at the Ateliers. Do corners have to be sharp-angled? No, look at the Ateliers. An angle does not accompany the pedestrian in a sensible way. Do walls have to be made mostly of a single material? Can we make a wall that lets light in without losing privacy? Can you break away from the surroundings without being aggressive in the approach? Can creative freedom lead you to be disrespectful toward ceilings and walls? Yes, never with the floor—there, the inhabitant must feel safe… In a city, can the rules be broken? With great delicacy and “seny” (in Catalan, a little more than common sense).” - Victoria Bonet
At both the urban and programmatic levels, the strategy represents Austral's counterproposal to the traditional corner "casa de renta," which was heavily restricted by zoning codes. Each of the twelve functional units making up the building is unique, designed to counter the loss of individuality that standardized unit planning usually entailed. The members of Austral sought to insert an architectural object that would alter the experience of passersby. They decided to place technology at the service of people as the ultimate end-users. Their architecture carries a profound humanistic vision; rather than merely creating objects, they designed favorable conditions for both the individual and the community.
Believing that human beings possess a dual nature, Austral proposed a specific spatial division that sought to balance the individual and the collective. Space was no longer compartmentalized or static, and its design aimed to trigger a psychological response in each individual, countering the uniformity produced by repeating identical units, systematization, and the standardization of collective housing. The building was no longer a "sum of units repeated to infinity"; for the group, function did not dictate form, but rather form enabled function.
The Bisman Ediciones Architecture Gallery and Residency is sponsored, supported, or assisted by the following international and Argentine institutions: Pan-American Federation of Architects' Associations (FPAA), Architects' Association of Catalonia (COAC) / Open Center of Architecture, Embassy of Spain in Argentina / Spanish Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Operational Management of Heritage of the Ministry of Culture (GCBA), Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CPAU), Institute of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of San Martín (IA-UNSAM), Higher School of Architecture and Design of the University of Morón (ESAD-UM), Model Museum (FADU-UBA), Fablab UNSAM, Fundación Tejido Urbano, Fundación IDA, Moderna Buenos Aires, and Open House Buenos Aires.
Exhibition concept and curation: Gonzalo Fuzs, Pablo Engelman, Roberto Busnelli, and Hernán Bisman.
Architecture Gallery and Residency support: Saint-Gobain Clúster LATAM Sur
First-floor residency furniture and objects curated and provided by: lntervista
Faucets and sanitaryware provided by: FV Ferrum
Graphic pieces and signage provided by: K2 Arquigrafía, Desalvo
Framing by: Fina Estampa
Lighting: Eduardo Safigueroa, lighting design
Photographic curation and event documentation: Courtesy of Albano García
Restoration works: Marcelo Maldonado, heritage architecture
Sources:
- Disfrutar un manifiesto, Hernán Bisman and Pablo Engelman
- Modernos modernizados, Norberto Feal
- Unas cosas bastante originales, Gonzalo Fuzs
- Una maison de verre en Buenos Aires, Gonzalo Fuzs
- Entre la Buenos Aires real y la Buenos Aires Radieuse, Gonzalo Fuzs
This article was written by Agustina Iñiguez. The translation is powered by AI.
