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Bicentennial Civic Centre

GGMPU Arquitectos | Lucio Morini

Bicentennial Civic Centre
By Francesco Pagliari -

The intense new architecture on the former site of the General Mitre railway line running parallel to high-speed roads and the Suquia River is part of an urban renewal project for this degraded outlying area of Córdoba, Argentina. Called the Bicentennial Civic Centre, the new-build complex comprises a series of overtly representative public buildings housing administrative and provincial government offices, as well as the official residence of Córdoba’s Governor. The site will subsequently be enlarged to include a southern wing of the new horizontal administrative building, and another, separate building to the north: a Convention Hall accessed across the two new bridges now spanning the river and connecting the rest of the site on the other bank.
As its name suggests, the Bicentennial Civic Centre marks the 200th anniversary of the Republic of Argentina. So creating a symbolic landmark architecture was a priority feature of the programme. Accordingly, the complex comprises two contrasting yet complementary buildings. A 45-metre office and government tower block stands alongside a long horizontal construction housing a covered parking lot and auditorium at ground level. The intermediate level is given over to offices and meeting rooms while the Governor’s residence, with environments for official functions and separate private apartments, stands on the low building’s green roof. A connecting cylindrical volume in fair-face concrete is topped by a helipad.
Mirrored by a reflective pond, the tower is doubtless the eye-catching landmark building. A fair-face concrete structural frame with cornice has been cut away to form open lozenge patterns set inside large surface triangles. At a certain point the lozenge patterns have been dilated, creating an optical illusion. The resultant 3D optical effect gives the building an abstract distorted appearance in the manner of a work by Victor Vasarély. This singular envelope...

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