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Program:
Commercial
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Status:
Built, 2012
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Area:
42 679 m²
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Client:
Estudio Luis E. Lecueder
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Photography:
Martín Pérez Mesa y Patricia Torres
A double challenge is presented: to develop a work of our own bureau and to act in a contemporary key on the original work, with the inherent values of its time. One of the propositions was to raise the issue of the formal coherence with the original work, in the external aspect and in the redefinition of the building according to its interior image.
The exceptional qualities of the area in terms of location and connectivity confirm the building as a dynamic factor and reaffirm its character as first class metropolitan facilities. It is located in an area of dynamic and urban development, where commercial and residential usages coexist with transport dynamics, preserving the urban qualities of the area in the confrontation between the neighbourhood’s fabric and the open landscape towards Artigas Boulevard.
The project is understood as an urban object constituted by the building of the commercial and terminal centre and the public space area on Artigas Boulevard, with several pre-existences (a church, a school and the monument to General Fructuoso Rivera).
The original construction, the geometry of the site and the environmental conditions engender the proposal of a unitary structure that allows passing through at different levels.
The new construction is materialized in a prismatic volume, landscape format and parallel to the original one, with three points of connection with the original building, completing the commercial loop.
The new main entrance to the complex reformulates the public space on Artigas Boulevard. Two slender slabs and a marquee that reaffirm the axis of the complex flank the entrance. The existing monument is surrounded by two curved ramps that propose an exceptional promenade and connect the square with the mall. The presence of plants enriches this space. The entrance to the parking, service and suppliers is solved in the northern side.
A clear and forceful geometry, combining structural clarity, constructive rationality and optimization of material resources is presented. The architecture proposes a formal and contemporary language by combining traditional materials, such as the low maintenance red brick, the coating of grey aluminium plates and glazed panels. These elements are blended in a balanced way so as to créate a controlled proposal, of architectural quality, integrated into the assorted visual repertoire of the surroundings.
In response to the contemporary needs of the shopping centre, this year the works for the second enlargement begin, with the addition of a third level. In tune with the first enlargement, design, materiality and surroundings are respected. A challenge involving all the areas of the bureau, this work demands a strong internal and external coordination, including the client and public entities.
