A classic of classics, owing to its architectural significance in the Peruvian collective memory, and as a venue for legendary derbies and iconic moments—such as qualifying for the World Cup after so many years—this building is, above all, a classic of Peruvian modern architecture, albeit now dressed in a contemporary mantle. This feature aims to move from the most visible and familiar aspects of today to understand its original structure and design.
Completed in 1962 by the architectural firm SEA (Schapira Eskenazi Arquitectos), the Montecarlo II building is part of a collective residential housing complex located on the block bounded by San Martín, Seis Norte, Siete Norte, and Cuatro Poniente streets in Viña del Mar.
At first glance, the project stands out both for the volumetric treatment of the buildings—arranged on the site to achieve a major urban-scale intervention—and for their distinctive facades.
Located in the central Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, on a large plot of land free from the constraints of the traditional city grid—between Figueroa Alcorta Avenue and the railway tracks—and facing the National Library and the Faculty of Law, stands the ATC Argentina Televisora Color building (now Televisión Pública), designed by architects Flora Manteola, Javier Sánchez Gómez, Josefa Santos, Justo Jorge Solsona, Rafael Viñoly, Carlos Sallaberry, and Felipe Tarsitano.
With a built area of 35,000 square meters dominated by a public, sloping rooftop terrace—notwithstanding current access restrictions—and completed in 1978 for the World Cup during Argentina's military dictatorship, the building proposed a dialogue between technology and landscape, presenting a functional architecture capable of generating high-quality public space within the city.