2022
MCHAP
Edificio RZ1248
CMS arquitectas
Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
June 2023
AUTOR PRINCIPAL
CMS arquitectas (Chiatello Diana, Matiasevich Paula, Spinetta Melina) (designer, construction manager and developer)
AUTOR CONTRIBUYENTE
Arq. Mariela Echecury (construction manager) - Arq. Valeria Mecchia, Arq. Victoria Figueroa, Arq. Lucrecia Rossi, Arq. Camila Barrera y David Pippa (designers) - Camila Cividini (network management) – Arq. Paulina Santi y Julia Milano (drawings) (Study team), Pelle & asociados (Accounting study and administration), PH Constructora (Construction Company) – Arq. Claudia León (landscape) – Benigno Diseño (furniture) - Ing. Angel Salomon and Ing. Juan Pablo Ascheri (structural engineering) (Extra professionals)
CLIENTE
Fideicomiso RZ1248
FOTÓGRAFO
Ramiro Sosa, Guido Castellotti - Santo Estudio, Hernán Folmer
OBJETIVO
The collective housing project consists of two apartment blocks of different types, connected to each other by outside hallways as circulation paths. Patios, balconies and terraces with vegetation are interspersed. At the back of the lot, a three-level parking structure replicate the area they occupy on their green terraces.
All units have cross ventilation and a fifth of its surface area corresponds to balcony area, designed as a transition interval, as permanent space residents could enjoy and also as a strategy for thermal and acoustic comfort. The railings give identity to the facades through their materialization in a double concrete beam that hold pots with plants. In this project there is an intention to provoke a paradigm shift by considering the vegetation as the main asset of the building and a crucial element of the project composition. The concept of “ecosystem services” is thus integrated into the sustainability of the building-city interrelationships through the incorporation of native species that attract insects, butterflies and birds in the landscape design.
The building was built using materials accessible to local labor. Exposed concrete and common bricks have decent aging and require very little maintenance. There is an attempt to a noble integration the building into the urban landscape over the course of time.
CONTEXTO
Building RZ1248 is in Rosario, a mid-scale riverside city in Argentina, situated in the vast plains of the country, with temperate climate and hot humid summers. The lot is located in a high-density residential neighborhood with rectangular lots separated by party walls. One- and two-story buildings are progressively being replaced by high-rise residential tower, creating compact blocks with absence of green spaces.
In a social context of growing violence and insecurity, the building recedes its entrance as an atrium, marking a pause in the series of existing walls. The unique design of the metal enclosure allows views towards the courtyard of the building, where plants and flowers have been specifically selected. These strategies aim to create a closer connection between the interior of the building and the public space, where “seeing and being seen” contributes to the construction of safer and more humane cities.
In the framework of an economy in crisis with constant devaluation of the national currency and a deterioration in the social situation of the community, we focused on how to create high value architecture qualifying a traditional resource such as collective housing while considering the conditions of real estate development, high value of the land, investor profitability and demanding market.
ACTUACIÓN
Vegetation as a constituent part of the design ensures that natural and artificial components merge into a unique design. From the inside of the building, neighboring buildings and the public sidewalk, the green spaces provide a differential characteristic both in the center of the block and in the connection of the public space with the ground floor of the building. This strategy achieves a designed view of the urban landscape. A green oasis between buildings and cement.
The sensory experience that the building proposes gives meaning to the project. Generous open spaces, use of natural light, noble materials, and the use of vegetation both as thermal thickness and as a living material, allow the building to transform following the biological cycles of the plants.
The building opened its doors to the public during events including celebrations of project completion with owners and investors and architecture festivals. Our intention was to show novel opportunities to the traditional market of standardized buildings and educate investors and future owners around our concept where design, spatial quality, sustainability and optimal habitability are essential variables in the collective housing project.