The building is a benchmark of 20th century Argentine and Madrid heritage. A contribution that has well earned it its protection and recognition as a monument of 20th century Spanish architecture. The building is protected by the Madrid Urbanistic Plan and registered in the Docomomo.
The original use of the CMA until now has remained unchanged as a building for Endowment use and residence for graduates (similar program to Colegio Mayor Casa do Brasil), through which an average of 350 students have passed per year, of which 60% are Argentine.
The particular implantation of the building in a circular arc, where it adapts to the characteristics of the terrain, and the original application of the traditional construction system to respond to the functional and expressive needs of a 20th-century building, make it a clear example of how the international principles of the Modern Movement in architecture adapted and reformulated the environment in which they were built, generating the well-known "critical regionalism" that Kenneth Frampton would later formulate.
- Background
In 1964, the Ministry of Education and Justice, through the National Directorate of Educational Architecture and with the sponsorship of the Central Society of Architects, called a competition for preliminary projects for the construction of the CMA building on the property granted by the Government of Spain, located in the University City of Madrid.
The construction and institutional figure of the project were dedicated to the patron saint of Argentina (Uruguay and Paraguay), Nuestra Señora de Luján, whose image arrived in the country in 1630.
The proposal for the creation of the CMNSL arises (as in the case of Colegio Mayor Casa do Brasil), as a result of the payment of the debt contracted long ago by the Franco regime with the Argentina of Juan Domingo Perón, at the end of the 1940s during the period of autarky and international isolation. Thus, the Spanish government made an approach to the Latin American countries exploiting the kinship of ‘Spanishness’, reinforcing it with the presence of intellectuals close to the regime and based on cultural and religious aspects.
- Project
The building, of five heights, adapts to the steep slope of the land staggering with terraces resting on it. With its semicircular shape, it closes off the two urban roads, one of them, Martin Fierro street, with heavy traffic, is from which the CMA is accessed at the intermediate level where the social areas are developed. The main staircase, conceived as a transversal axis, gives access to the different levels, from where it is distributed on both sides of the staircase, through annular corridors to the bedrooms, single or double, and to the CMA units. The residual spaces house the service areas, facilities, and, notably, the homes of the Director and the Butler of the CMA. Differentiated volumes of the building house the auditorium and oratory of the center, as outstanding and differentiated pieces.
The design of the garden of the Colegio Mayor has been present from the first sketches of the building and without it, the architectural project would not be understood.
The original use of the CMA until now has remained unchanged as a building for Endowment use and residence for graduates (similar program to Colegio Mayor Casa do Brasil), through which an average of 350 students have passed per year, of which 60% are Argentine.
The particular implantation of the building in a circular arc, where it adapts to the characteristics of the terrain, and the original application of the traditional construction system to respond to the functional and expressive needs of a 20th-century building, make it a clear example of how the international principles of the Modern Movement in architecture adapted and reformulated the environment in which they were built, generating the well-known "critical regionalism" that Kenneth Frampton would later formulate.
- Background
In 1964, the Ministry of Education and Justice, through the National Directorate of Educational Architecture and with the sponsorship of the Central Society of Architects, called a competition for preliminary projects for the construction of the CMA building on the property granted by the Government of Spain, located in the University City of Madrid.
The construction and institutional figure of the project were dedicated to the patron saint of Argentina (Uruguay and Paraguay), Nuestra Señora de Luján, whose image arrived in the country in 1630.
The proposal for the creation of the CMNSL arises (as in the case of Colegio Mayor Casa do Brasil), as a result of the payment of the debt contracted long ago by the Franco regime with the Argentina of Juan Domingo Perón, at the end of the 1940s during the period of autarky and international isolation. Thus, the Spanish government made an approach to the Latin American countries exploiting the kinship of ‘Spanishness’, reinforcing it with the presence of intellectuals close to the regime and based on cultural and religious aspects.
- Project
The building, of five heights, adapts to the steep slope of the land staggering with terraces resting on it. With its semicircular shape, it closes off the two urban roads, one of them, Martin Fierro street, with heavy traffic, is from which the CMA is accessed at the intermediate level where the social areas are developed. The main staircase, conceived as a transversal axis, gives access to the different levels, from where it is distributed on both sides of the staircase, through annular corridors to the bedrooms, single or double, and to the CMA units. The residual spaces house the service areas, facilities, and, notably, the homes of the Director and the Butler of the CMA. Differentiated volumes of the building house the auditorium and oratory of the center, as outstanding and differentiated pieces.
The design of the garden of the Colegio Mayor has been present from the first sketches of the building and without it, the architectural project would not be understood.
“The curved lines of the building, no matter how much displacement they had, had a geometric center. To rethink them, a concrete platform was made, where a theodolite for 360º was planted, with an axis in that center, and it was divided every 5º…"
Horacio Raimundo Baliero.
The curved shape of the building, with suggestive architectural features, includes the garden that is accessed through a linear staircase, an extension of the main one, which, going through the different levels of rooms, reaches the main terrace of the building understood as an extension of the social areas of the same. The building opens all its rooms to the garden, thus incorporating its landscape in contrast to the huge blind volumes of brick, which with their sculptural forms, are shown to the exterior streets, and intuit, in a subtle way, the surprise that the visitor awaits you.
The interior shows great formal wealth, especially on the access floor with its stairs, fireplaces, openings, and the fantastic furniture designed by the author specifically for the building. The rooms conceived for work and rest are one of the most cared aspects of it.
The building is located on a 7,278 sqm. plot, assigned by the Government of Spain as payment of a debt. Its construction occupies an area of 2,276 sqm. and is developed on a constructed area of 5,293.25 sqm. with a roof area of 2,335 sqm.
It was necessary to carry out a detailed survey of the current state of the building, carried out in digital files, since the information that was possessed was old photocopies, of very low quality and with poorly defined plans. A topographic survey of the plot and height levels of the building has also been carried out by Pedro A Cabezuelo of the Tolmo Topography company.
- Madrid architectural heritage
Colegio Mayor Nuestra Señora de Luján in Madrid (1963-1971) has been included in the Madrid Architecture Guide, adding to the list of three hundred works that make up the city's Architectural Heritage. This is how the Colegio Mayor Argentino represents an active institutional heritage as a factor of sociocultural unity towards the entire Hispanic-American community.
It was also distinguished as Architectural Heritage of the city of Madrid jointly by the Official College of Architects Foundation of Madrid and the Caja Madrid Foundation of Spain.
- Renovation
The intervention and renovation in a building classified as architectural heritage is always a delicate task, which requires exceptional care and sensitivity, as well as a perfect knowledge of the site.
In 2012, a restoration project was undertaken for the Colegio Mayor, due to the widespread presence of leaks in its extensive roof, the germination of plants in different areas, insufficient thermal insulation, or the presence of salts in mortars, among many other pathologies.
The renovation was carried out with maximum respect for the building, trying to maintain and recover the original essence by eliminating additions and recovering some lost elements, such as lattices that cover the entrance to the garden from the main floor.
The roofs were raised to improve the waterproofing, remaking the ceramic covering pieces with the same dimensions and characteristics as the originals. In addition, it was used to recover the original topography of the garden that was modified over the years.
However, two years after the renovation, cracks and serious structural problems began to appear due to the rupture of a pipe in the public water network, which caused movements on the ground. The building had to be micropiled and even part of the exterior façade replaced. Despite this, the essence of the building was completely maintained, only modifying some aspects of the buried floors, which were used to add some study and leisure rooms to the school program.
In the Colegio Mayor Argentino project, the entire graphic process refers to an uninterrupted mental process in which decisions were refined and evolved, always through drawing.
