The National Archives Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina

An important site southwest of downtown Buenos Aires will be open for development. It consists of 236.000 square meters in the neighborhood of Barracas, called Estacion Sola; the land is currently occupied by abandoned railroad yards to be eradicated.The Municipality of Buenos Aires has established a corporation, \”Corporacion Buenos Aires Sur,\” to promote and supervise the development of this area. It has been agreed by those involved that the new building of the National Archives of Argentina (NAA) shall not occupy more than 14% of the site\’s area and that the rest of it will be dedicated to housing and green, sports-oriented public space. Housing densities and typologies have not been determined, and it will be up to the individual student – or student team – to propose densities and programs. There is interest in the new district\’s identity being generated by the design – presence, reverberation, geometry or character, classical correspondence or contemporary dissonance between object and fabric, etc.- of the new National Archives Building, a subject matter that establishes the relation between these two Urban Design and Architecture studios.