The building is located in the neighborhood of San Telmo, a traditional neighborhood of Buenos Aires, whose heights are regulated by the building code of the ctiy. For this reason it was necessary to work on a compact building project and this necessarily impact the decision that the access is below the level of the sidewalk.
The building has 16 functional units, parking lots for 6 cars and a commercial space at the front. On the ground floor is located a retail space and at successive levels are 3 story housing of studios apartments, one bedroom apartments, and two bedroom apartments.
The project contemplates a structure of long beams that confers to the floor plants some flexibility and this allows that diverse sizes of dwellings. On the rooftop there are 4 private terraces which in the future can be accessed by spiral stairs.
What characterizes the project is the use of two facade lines: one of them more dense and monolithic; and behind that line a lighter and translucent one. Because of this we decided to use a palette of materials such as concrete and galvanize iron that defines the aesthetic configuration of the project. Our work in general is characterized by trying to use bitonal materials that do not compete with formal expression or functionality.
The plasticity of the concrete has allowed us to mold the partitions with dents placed in a repetitive rhythmic, and this gives the concrete structure a rupture in the typical homogeneity of this material. The use of galvanized meshes panels offers a certain balance between their transparency and the density of the concrete.