Comparative Study: High Density Residential Typology Buenos Aires

Laura Murray | Margot Shafran Case Study Comparative Analysis Arch 523D ¡ History of architecture in South America: a Corbusian perspective

WUSTL Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Buenos Aires International Program | Fall 2015

casa de renta |

Scalabrini Ortiz 2910, C. A. de Buenos Aires Jorge SabatĂŠ

1940

Edificio Los Eucaliptos | Virrey del Pino 2446, C. A. de Buenos Aires Juan Kurchan, Jorge Ferrrari Hardoy

1943

casa de renta |

Scalabrini Ortiz 2910, C. A. de Buenos Aires Jorge SabatĂŠ

1940

Edificio Los Eucaliptos | Virrey del Pino 2446, C. A. de Buenos Aires Juan Kurchan, Jorge Ferrrari Hardoy

1943

Site: trapezoidal plot within the middle of the block on a street of Palermo.

Program: Rental Housing Building with 19 units (basement garage and laundry services) Typical plan: 4 units on each floor with the main living spaces oriented to the street/back garden and the services towards the two auxiliary side patio (ventilation shaft) Exterior: Le Corbusien inspired composition of the facades, with longitudinal openings as a “run window� and an asymmetric (solid|void), independent reinforced concrete structure.

Site: trapezoidal plot within the middle of the block on a street in Belgrano Program: Rental Housing Building with 29 units (communal facilities at ground level externally accessible) Typical plan: 4 units on each floor (with exception of lofted 2-bedroom unit which is repeated every other floor) variation in unit size and type. Main living spaces oriented to the street and services towards back of the plot (ventilation shaft) Exterior: Primarily Rectilinear facade made out of reinforced concrete with unexpected elements (curves, trees) as part of overall composition. Other materials include coloured tiles, and wood louvers that help to emphasize the qualities of void and solid.

| introduction

Jorge Sabaté _(left) Structure for the First Book Fair April 1943 _(centre)Book written by Sabate to document the architecture of Eva and Juan Peron on Social Architecture _(right) Eva Perón Amphitheater en Parque Centenario.

Buenos Aires, 1950-1953.

Demolished after the 1955 Coup (Jorge Sabaté y Dir. de Arquitectura de la Municipalidad de Bs. Plastic use of concrete for 3D shapes

Juan Kurchan, Jorge Ferrrari Hardoy _(left) Le Corusier’s proposal for New York City _(center) Le Corbusier’s Plan for Buenos Aires (Hardoy + Kurchan) _(right)BFK/Butterfly Chair 1938 (wire-frame)

| Architect Backgrounds

Typical Block Structure, Buenos Aires

proposed block structure

| urban structure

Existing Block 1943

Ideal Block

current block

| BLOCK

RATIONALISM Measured proportions (especially articulated on elevation Harmony between Solid and Void.

Absence of Ornamentation or Texture Monochromatic (white) Facade

SAnchez, lagos, torre apartment house, 1936

modernism Measured proportions (especially articulated in plan and elevation) Harmony between Solid and Void.

Absence of Ornamentation or Texture Use of strategic colour Agenda towards Social Welfare and Improved Quality of Life

Unite d’habitation, Le Corbusier, France

| architectural context

“In spite of its apparent vitality, this architecture exhausted itself by the end of the decade. It became isolated from sources of power and popular sensibility.

As it was also weakened by the lack of any ideological content that could counterbalance a driving professionalism on the part of its protagonists, it would drift into empty state monumenta1ism and populist anonymity.”

Katzenstein, ‘Argentine Architecture in the 1930s’ p.74-75]

SAnchez, lagos, torre apartment house, 1936

“Renewed interest in the identity of architecture and in the less rational aspects of creation; but their focus was on the broader subjects of mass housing and town planning, topics that differentiated them from the previous generations.”

Katzenstein, ‘Argentine Architecture in the 1930s’ p.75]

Unite d’habitation, Le Corbusier, Marseille France (1952)

| architectural context

| Urban context

CAsa de Renta A new typology of building required to meet the demand for adequate housing for growing upper middle class.

Conversion from renting rooms to renting whole living Precursor to the Rental Building Typology Casa Chorizo (typical plan, left)and tenement housing

SAnchez, lagos, torre apartment house, 1936

Social Housing Incorporates communal amenities into building footprint to be shared by all residents.

Focus towards most efficient use of space Utilizes strategic site orientation and placement to increase thermal comfort Variable unit configurations for greater tenant diversity and adaptability.

Unite d’habitation, Le Corbusier, France

|building typology

(i) Building pushed to back limit of plot

(i) No public outdoor space

(ii) Community Amenity Space (ii)Enclosure takes up majority

(iii)[Semi] Public Garden at front of plot

(iii)Building at street plot limit

(ii)

(ii) (i) (i) (iii)

(iii)

| PLOT

|Approach and entry

Each level has 4 uniform units (2 bedroom + maids room)

First Floor Plan

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

Each level has 4 units (1x 2 bedroom split level, 1x 1 bedroom, 2x studio) * Ability to expand peripheral units (1 and 2 bedroom into studio apartments

Lofted condition (LVLS 2,4, 6, 8)

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

| unit

First Floor Plan

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

2 bedrooms

Maid’s Quarter Living Kitchen

CASA de RENTA

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

penthouse plan

1 bedroom kitchen ability to expand unit

living

LOFTED Condition (lvls 2, 4, 6, 8)

Penthouse loft

EDIFICIO EUCALYPTUS

ventilation shaft

ventilation shaft

PUBLIC

core services

core services

PRIVATE

main living spaces

SERVICES

circulation

PUBLIC

SERVICES

circulation

ventilation shaft circulation

circulation

PRIVATE

main living spaces

main living spaces

core services

core services main living spaces

main living spaces

| UNIT

PUBLIC Private

First Floor Plan

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

PUBLIC PRIVATE SERVICES

CASA de RENTA

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN

penthouse plan

LOFTED Condition (lvls 2, 4, 6, 8)

Penthouse loft

PUBLIC PRIVATE SERVICES

EDIFICIO EUCALYPTUS

Ernesto Katzenstein, “Argentine Architecture of the Thirties”, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts,

no.18, 1992: pp.55-75 Fabio Grementieri, “Rationalism 1930-1945”, Fabio Grementieri, Xavier Verstraeten, Buenos Aires. Architectural Heritage, Buenos Aires 2001 (includes a paragraph on Comega building).

Marcelo Barreiro, “Low-cost Modernism”, Abitare, no.342, 1995.

Carlos Brillembourg (Editor), Latin American Architecture 1929-1960, Penguin, 2004.

Kenneth Frampton, “The New Objectivity: Germany, Holland and Switzerland 1923-1933”, Modern Architecture. A

Critical History. London, 1980: pp. 130-141.

S. Borghini, H. Salama, J. Solsona, Arquitectura Moderna en Buenos Aires 1930-1950, Editorial CP67, Buenos

Aires, 1987.

Jorge F. Liernur, “La arquitectura moderna como profesión eficiente”, Arquitectura en la Argentina del siglo XX,

La construcción de la modernidad, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, 2001: pp. 196-207.

“Edificio de departamentos y restaurant. Virrey del Pino 2446”, Canon no.1 (1950) Jorge Francisco Liernur, “The Tree in the box: Abstraction and Nature in the Virrey del Pino Apartments”,

Assemblage no. 40. (2000) AAVV, “Virrey del Pino 2446. Juego estético con eucaliptus”, Vanguardias Argentinas, Obras y movimientos en el

siglo XX, Vol.1, AGEA, Buenos Aires, 2005: pp. 110-115.

“Casa de renta en Belgrano”, Nuestra Arquitectura. No.301, August 1954.

“Casa del árbol. Virrey del Pino y Cabildo”, Summa+, no.2, August-September 1993.

Jorge F. Liernur, “Departamentos en Virrey del Pino: el equilibrio inestable”, BLOCK no. 2, CEAC-UTDT, Buenos Aires, 1998.

Francisco Bullrich, “Argentina”, New directions in Latin American Architecture, New York, G. Braziller, 1969: pp.30-34.

Carlos Brillembourg (Editor), Latin American Architecture 1929-1960, Penguin, 2004.

Jorge F. Liernur, “Almas de Austral”, Arquitectura en la Argentina del siglo XX, La construcción de la modernidad, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, 2001: pp. 230-241.

| REFERENCES