2022
MCHAP
Asociación para el Fomento de la Cultura
Mc Cormack Asociados
Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 2023
AUTOR PRINCIPAL
Sebastian Balbuena (Partner), Mike Mc Cormack (Partner)
AUTOR CONTRIBUYENTE
CLIENTE
Asociacion para el Fomento de la Cultura
FOTÓGRAFO
Daniela MAc Adden
OBJETIVO
The 2000 m2 building consists of a ground floor where the public and social function and two upper floors, where the 40 permanent university residences are housed.
The challenge was to make a mixed program work where the public and the permanent private had to be separated or joined in the social areas and alternate in different ways without modifying the daily lives of the residents.
Plan stratification:
Simple solution building with services back to the south and open to the north and long views
Section stratification:
Ground floor for social area, mixed uses with access to the oratory
Private landscaped upper floor for residences
Patio to amalgamate the simultaneous uses: oratory and living rooms on the ground floor and the garden terrace.
Oratory: it is a symmetrical space, with subtle elevation and entasis in its walls, oppressed by the black of the walls and adorned by the mixture of colors of the stained glass windows.
Garden terrace rises above the first floor, giving an expansion to the residences, allowing the use of the pool and garden in a private area.
Free facade concept
In the north, maximizing the glass panels to enjoy the long views and good orientation
In the south, using the enclosure of equal and repetitive masses with vertical windows that, mixed in a random way, filter the circulation.
Constructive sincerity: What is erected is shown and with this the construction problems are resolved, giving concrete character to the work.
CONTEXTO
The Association for the Promotion of Culture (AFC) was founded in 1961 as a non-profit Civil Association, with the aim of promoting cultural, professional and spiritual initiatives that have a social impact.
Since then, initiatives have been promoted that carry out various training, cultural, spiritual, social and sports activities, which are carried out in their own buildings such as university residences, educational and cultural training centers, located in the City of Buenos Aires, and in other locations
In this particular case, the building is located within the Campus of the Universidad Austral, with large green spaces and leafy trees, surrounded by complexes of single-family and multi-family homes and services 40 minutes from the city of Buenos Aires, where the Hospital is located. Large-scale Austral University, different buildings of the IAE Business School Universidad Austral and this building that accompanies the university spirit that is experienced on the property, (joy, dynamism, enthusiasm and youth) and tries to assimilate its footprint on the green of its surroundings, raising your park to the first floor and generating a private expansion to the rooms located on that level
The ground floor uses are social and service in direct contact with the surrounding park.
The AFC is based on a Christian vision of society and the person
This is one of the reasons why the building has an oratory inside that is an active
ACTUACIÓN
The geometry of the building is inspired by the shapes and directions of the immediate context, therefore it adapts strongly to its immediate context, generating a geometric “mimesis” in its implementation.
Its green roof on the first floor reduces the impact of the gray footprint on the absorbing terrain, thus recovering the green, in this case by raising it, thus creating a minimum visual impact of the building in its immediate surroundings, which is made up of large-volume buildings. , height, density and very intense use due to its functions as a hospital and University from where you can see the new construction of green roofs and simple lines
We understand that the room sector gives the students who reside permanently, order, privacy, intimacy and expansion, generating the climate that was intended.
Likewise, the ground floor, with the most dynamic and varied uses, is articulated through the patio, which in turn links them vertically, creating, together with the entrances of natural light, a positive synergy that is palpable when one walks through the different areas of the building. building
The inauguration of the Oratory generated immense joy in the client and public and it was possible to verify that the mixture of uses does not interfere with each activity, which is very different in itself.
Although the building was inaugurated recently, its use has already been verified and it is being used with great intensity and as planned.
