The German Pavilion was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929 for the German representation at the International Exhibition in Barcelona held on Montjuic that same year. The Pavilion was conceived as a space of modest dimensions and refined materials. It was made of glass, steel, and four types of marble, intended to host the official reception led by King Alfonso XIII and German authorities. The uniqueness in the use of materials, which was always highlighted in his work, wasn't about their novelty but about the modernity they represented and their precise application in terms of geometry, the accuracy of their components, and the clarity of their assembly.
The intervention project includes the design of the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Cultural Center and Public Library, as well as the 6-hectare San José de Bavaria recreational park. With its completion, a new recreational and cultural hub was established for the Suba area and the city.
https://www.archdaily.com/1006043/architecture-classics-julio-mario-santo-domingo-cultural-center-bermudez-arquitectosArchDaily Team
El Tintal Library is the result of reusing a former disused waste transfer plant and transforming the 5-hectare site into a park along Avenida Ciudad de Cali with 6th Street. The rescued building from ruin was a 25-meter-wide by 72-meter-long industrial warehouse with a total area of 3,600 m², distributed over two floors of considerable height. Built with a sturdy concrete structure and large spans, it was adaptable to new use, enhancing its robust and industrial appearance.
https://www.archdaily.com/1004774/architecture-classics-biblioteca-el-tintal-bermudez-arquitectosArchDaily Team
The construction of Torres del Parque began in 1968 and was completed in 1970. Between 1964 and the start of the project, there was a period of uncertainty, doubts, and successive trials to find the right form for the project, not only from an architectural perspective but also from urban and landscape points of view.
The site, characterized by its overwhelming topography, the Plaza de Toros, the abandoned Parque de la Independencia (for over 15 years), and the magnificent panoramic view of the foothills, still untouched by the multitude of towers and dense buildings, invasions, and senseless occupations of the area, should not only be taken into account in the development of the project but, above all, be exalted through architecture that is implemented in such a correct and sensitive manner that it transforms and shapes the city. It should be the heartbeat of the place and a meeting point between reason, enchantment, and poetry. Between clarity and magic, an architecture that can be discovered, that doesn't impose itself, as it is more beautiful when discovered with surprise, like discovering nature. Ultimately, an architecture that integrates with the existing Plaza de Toros and allows transparency between the city and its foothills, reclaiming the steep street adjacent to Parque de la Independencia and transforming it into a pedestrian garden formed by stairways and ramps connected to the residential complex and the park.
The project contemplates the development of a building and a square that aims to articulate and integrate the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University with the center of Bogotá, revitalizing and converting what was once a deteriorated residential and industrial suburb into an open and public campus. The building results from overlapping a volume of 47 meters in width and depth with another volume of 40 meters in width and depth, creating a covered perimeter walkway on the first floor that extends along the sidewalks of the surrounding streets. With a total height of 30 meters, the building consists of 4 large floors, with clear heights ranging from 3.4 to 6.1 meters.
https://www.archdaily.com/1003684/architecture-classics-library-and-auditorium-at-jorge-tadeo-lozano-university-bermudez-arquitectosArchDaily Team
The Copan is a landmark in Sao Paulo. Even those who have never entered the building know its curves from afar. Amid the intense verticalization of the city center, the horizontal brise-soleils reinforce the building’s presence on the city’s horizon.
The great architect Luis Barragán, at 80 years of age, and after almost 10 years of inactivity, carried out his last work on a plot of land measuring 10x36 meters, between party walls in Mexico City. A work that reflects the influence of Mexican culture and painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kalho, where the most interesting thing, according to Barragán, was the challenge of the enormous jacaranda tree that had to be maintained, and the pool requested by the owner as part of the program.
The small pink house, which closes towards the street, reinforcing its interiority, is ordered on the longitudinal axis of the plot. Towards the back, the house is divided into two; the front volume, which contains the services and bedrooms, and the back, where the living room, dining room, and pool are located. These two volumes are joined by a corridor, forming a patio that surrounds the Jacaranda tree.
Built in 1948, this Mexican modern house, designed by Luis Barragán, is recognized for its international significance. The house-studio, inhabited by the architect himself until 1988, incorporates principles of the vernacular architecture of the region in its design, including the use of striking colors. Barragán has been one of the most influential Mexican architects, and his house is one of the most visited places in Mexico City.
Alejo Martínez, one of the main builders of Argentine modernity, turned the city of Concordia into a reference of the South American modernist movement. His extensive work on houses, such as Casa Péndola Díaz from 1925, Casa Marcone from 1928, or Casa Camaño from 1930, "changed the typology of the 'chorizo' house to compact housing, where straight volumes stand out, staggered from each other, and with terraces".
The banker Orozimbo Roxo Loureiro created the 500 Club in the early 1950s. It followed the lines of the former 200 Club, founded by President Washington Luís to bring together influential politicians and businessmen away from the spotlight of capital cities. The initial idea of a social club did not prosper, and Orozimbo decided to develop a commercial and tourist enterprise in the area, which is well positioned between the two largest Brazilian cities.
ITA Laboratories. Source: Brasil Constroi. Digitized by the Hemeroteca of the National Library (BN)
Although little known, the Aeronautics Technical Center (CTA, current Department of Aerospace Science and Technology - DCTA) in São José dos Campos can be considered one of the largest and most relevant works by architect Oscar Niemeyer before Brasilia. It is his first project executed in São Paulo.
The building on the corner of Suipacha and Paraguay Streets in the city of Buenos Aires, designed by the Spanish architect Antonio Bonet, established from its realization the basis to begin certain reflections on international modern architecture in the Argentinian context of the 1930s.
In the central Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, in a large lot between Austria Street, Agüero Street, and Del Libertador Avenue, stands the current building of the Mariano Moreno National Library, designed by architectsClorindo Testa, Francisco Bullrich, and Alicia Cazzaniga.
Built on the basis of the project that won first prize in a national competition in 1961, and completed in the early 1990s, it has become a landmark of modern Argentine architecture and an example of the variant of 20th century expressionism known as "brutalism".
The Benedictine monastery chapel of Santa María de las Condes, visible from different points in the eastern part of Santiago, Chile, is a white volume, located halfway up the slopes of Los Piques hill.
Towards the end of the 1970s, the architectural office of Flora Manteola, Javier Sánchez Gómez, Josefina Santos, Justo Solsona and Rafael Viñoly (MSGSSV) together with Carlos Sallaberry began to devise the project for the Prourban Building, which would become one of the most emblematic buildings in the city of Buenos Aires and would be popularly nicknamed "El Rulero".
Located in a particularly natural setting in the city of Mar del Plata, the "Casa sobre el Arroyo" (House on the River) - known as the "Casa del Puente" (The Bridge House) - is considered a paradigmatic component of 20th-century architecture and an obligatory reference of the Modern Movement in Argentina and Latin America.
The house designed by the Argentinean architect Amancio Williams, commissioned by his father, the musician Alberto Williams, is constructed evidence of the capacity to establish a link between the modern rationality of human beings with nature and its topography.
Cortesía de Servicio de Medios Audiovisuales de la Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo de la Universidad de la República
Eladio Dieste, the engineer behind "reinforced ceramic" and double-curved arches marked his spot as one of the most important figures in architecture, not only in his native Uruguay, but in Latin America and beyond. Here, we invite you to take a look at just some of the engineer's work, from his widely-recognized churches like the Church of San Pedro and the Christ the Worker Church in Atlántida- to his factories, silos, and gymnasiums, all of which form an important part of the region's architectural repertoire.
To help us in our mission to bring Dieste's work to our readers, the Audiovisual Media Service of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism at the University of the Republic has shared the following images as well as the Eladio Dieste page in order to provide a space to learn about his works and writings.
The Unidad Vecinal Providencia (Providencia Neighborhood Unit) is one of the many residential complexes generated in Chile as a result of a housing and urban development public policy promoted through the CORVI (Housing Corporation) between 1953 and 1973.
Commissioned by the Caja de Empleados Particulares (Private Employees Fund) to be built on a site where previously the National Children's House was based, the Unidad Vecinal Providencia was designed as a complex capable of becoming an urban piece, promoting spatial integration and social cohesion in Santiago.
