Each of these Blocks is composed of two building modules linked by a central space of access and circulation and the closure of this large concrete box is composed of several layers, always thinking of sustainable criteria that allow saving energy consumption.
Description of project by Gianserra + Lima arquitectos
Located in a low density neighborhood in the south of the city of La Plata, this building is built on the enclosure of 3 plots of 10 meters. x 60 meters, resulting in a lot of generous dimensions (30 meters x 60 meters).
The Urban Planning Code allows, for this area, a maximum building height of 4 levels (12 meters) and a large amount of m2 to build (FOT), but it is very strict in terms of the volumetric limitations of the building.
The needs program required high performance on the surface to be built, with special emphasis on the flexibility of the various types (Housing, Offices, Commerce) and on the assembly and distribution of type plants, as well as a large amount of space for garages.
As a first project premise, we decided to divide the typical single block on a municipal line into two buildings, without losing the capacity for densification of the area. In this way, we generated two open gardens with different characteristics, one central and wooded, and another one later, as a result of respecting the required fund withdrawal. A central access street to the Set (pedestrian and vehicular), crosses the buildings and courtyards, recalling those cobblestone entrances for carriages of the old La Plata's foundational mansions.
Each of these Blocks or Prototypes, is composed of two built modules linked by a central space of access and circulation that allows generating a double front in the units, optimizing natural lighting and cross ventilation. The stairs and floors of technical grids incorporate transparency and great luminosity to this wide access shield to the units, reinterpreting those spaces that existed in the old “conventillos”; and the internal façade of this circulation brings to the whole, with its multi-colored glasses, an atmosphere that evokes the screens of the old houses "chorizo".
The enclosure of this large concrete box is composed of several layers: towards the outside large glazed aluminum carpentry, a terrace balcony run and a vertical bankruptcy system of pre-painted aluminum; towards the inner access shield, iron screens with multi-colored glass.
The use of sustainable criteria in the project and materialization of the building, allow the saving of energy consumption: the choice of the structural system; the dividing walls with double wall and air chamber; and the design of glazed environments with cross ventilation and solar protection of eaves and balconies.
The materiality of the building tries to synthesize the different principles that define our architectural action: the simple volumetry of pure lines; the concrete structure seen as the protagonist; the timeless and sober design language; the development of the detail, keeping correlation between the whole and the parts; and the careful selection and use of materials, colors and textures.
