Buenos aires’ landmark convention center is a beacon of sustainability

The centre’s three underground levels allowed the preservation of surrounding green spaces and trees, while innovative design features include solar panels, a careful use of natural light to save energy, and the collection of rainwater for watering plants.

By: Jimena Martignoni

The Convention and Exhibition Center in Buenos Aires was born out of a national competition in 2012, run by the Ministry of Urban Development, a division of the City Government, and the Central Society of Architects (SCA). Architects Edgardo Minond and Estudio Bulla scooped the prize to design the new convention center and the project is now in its final stages, with a first of its kind park displaying large masses of native plants already open.

The site is enclosed in an area known as the museums’ corridor, forming part of an urban axis, which connects some of the most important local museums. At one end, it connects with the traditional building of the Faculty of Law of the Buenos Aires University and an existing large park, and to the opposite side with another large traditional park. The wining project proposed to bury the building for the Convention Center and to create a large green roof, or “topographical roof”, which would be perceived as another park. Not a separate park but a piece of a larger single green plain crisscrossed by a pedestrian integrating path system.

Lucía Ardissone, one of the partners of Estudio Bulla, explained: “We wanted the three parks to be read as a single urban green piece; an ecology patch within the city. A natural place to serve our native fauna, attracting butterflies, birds, insects, especially being so close to the Ecological Preserve of the City of Buenos Aires.”

Today, with the new building, the access plaza and the green roof completed, it is fair to say that the original goal of the landscape designers was

achieved. Covering an area of 18,000m2, the green roof is established as an urban prairie, a landscape which evokes that of the local pampas, bringing bucolic images into the city and creating a new image more nature-related. Undoubtedly, what makes this project all the more remarkable is the creation of a new kind of park within the city: in Buenos Aires, where the old traditional parks present countless clusters of large trees mostly non-native and extensive areas of lawn, the incorporation of a place only planted with grasses and herbaceous extending for 240 meters means not only a novel image but especially a new kind of urban awareness for citizens. Planned in thick strips (a list of eleven species mostly native and a few widely adapted), the plants outline the path network. “The layout is clear,” explains Lucía Ardissone, — “Tall strips [of plants] at central spaces and short strips at the edge of the footpaths.”

Golden hues provided by the grasses and colorful patches made by native groundcovers and vines are what visitors find when walking the paths

up and down. Rapidly taken in as a new jogging circuit, which begins in one of the existing parks and ends in the sunken access plaza of the Convention Center, the green roof’s pathway becomes also a new panorama trail opening onto the city. Formerly, the old convention center was built at street level and facing the wide avenue where most of the most important local museums are located. Now, with the semi-buried building and, on top, the green roof reaching seven meters above street level, the park acts also as an urban veranda offering views to the city never possible to be enjoyed in the past. The long and wide vistas to the traditional avenue, the distant city skyline and the large existing trees are a bonus, and considered as one of the most interesting points about the project.

Completing the design for the green roof, a series of artificial mounds dots the space along the paths. Finished with a gentle slope and with a diameter of an average of seven meters, these green pieces break the horizontality of the new park and the frank reference to the pampas, thus adding a more dynamic visual experience.

In order to reduce the loads on the main slab, the main structure of the mounds is made up of expanded polystyrene (EPS). On top, a layer of earth becomes the lawn growing medium.

Although the green roof, or new park, is completed and started to be comprehended by

Buenos Aires’ inhabitants as a new (and now permanent) significant urban piece in a central area of the city, the project is yet to shine.

At the time the contractual documents for the project began, after the competition’s results were presented, the City Government announced some important changes for the site’s proposal. Consequently, this meant some important design changes. Edgardo Minond explains: “After we started the set of contractual documents, two main changes were made: the bus transfer center had to remain at its original location, in front of the new building [on the same avenue] and a new subway station would be incorporated into the site, with a large public lobby integrated with the access plaza of the Convention Center and the existing Faculty of Law. This meant big changes for us, but instead of viewing it as a problem we saw it as an opportunity to make a more profound urban commitment.”

The new architectural and urban proposal cohesively redesigned the access plaza in a way that is integrated with the levels of the subway station, truly changing the pedestrian arrival to the Convention Center both from the street level and from the green roof. Standing at 5,900m2 and 3.25 meters below street level, the plaza appears as a main open gathering space before entering the main building. Combining concrete and planted areas, this plaza is especially known for the three large Tipu trees (Tipuana tipu), native to Argentina, which were preserved at their original locations. Three massive concrete planters contain the trees and now are a strong landmark, or reference of the site. The excavation works for the project were huge and the full extension of the site is bordered by a retaining wall system comprised by double concrete vertical structures.

The final stages of the project will entail the construction of a public underground parking area that is directly connected to the subway station and access plaza; and a sprawling green wall to cover up the building’s facade that extends out from street level.

The completion of the subway station and the long-awaited connection between the three parks, will position the Convention Center and surrounding green areas as the focal point of the city’s urban fabric.

Location: City of Buenos Aires, Argentina Client: City Government of Buenos Aires Master plan and architecture: Minond Estudio (Edgardo Minond) Landscape Plan: Estudio Bulla (Ana García Ricci, Lucía Ardissone and Ignacio Fleurquin) Lot area: 48,500m2. Green roof area: 18,000m2. Built Area: 25,000m2 Date of completion of building, access plaza and green roof: 2017 Photography: Gustavo Sosa Pinilla

Books oF inteRest

Rooted in sesiGn

ISBN-9781607746973 PRISE-107.00Dhs.

BOOK DESCRIPTION: A stylish and full-color guide to creatively integrating indoor plants with home decor from the owners of the popular Sprout Home garden design boutiques. Indoor plants play a large role in the design and feel of a space. Focusing on indoor gardening--from small containers and vertical installations with air plants to unique tabletop creations--Rooted in Design provides readers with the means to create beautiful and long-lasting indoor landscapes. Tara Heibel and Tassy De Give, owners of the successful Sprout Home gardening stores, offer expert advice for choosing plant varieties and pairing them with unique design ideas. Sharing practical tips honed through hundreds of plant design classes, Heibel and DeGive tell readers everything they need to know to care for their one-of-a-kind green creations

oudolF HuMMelo

ISBN-9781580934183 PRISE-215.00Dhs.

BOOK DESCRIPTION: “Piet Oudolf is best known for his now-iconic designs for the High Line in New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago. Hummelo, his own garden in The Netherlands, is visited by thousands of gardeners each year. It serves as his personal design and plant propagation laboratory, and is where he has honed his aesthetic and created new varieties of plants for over three decades. This title charts how the garden of one of the world’s best-known and most-loved plantsmen has evolved, and gives frank assessments of his experiments that have gone both well and awry. Hummelo, timed to coincide with Oudolf’s 70th birthday and his acceptance of Holland’s most prestigious cultural award, provides his throngs of followers with a chronology of how his naturalistic style and career has developed. Lush photography documents how the garden has changed and inspired him over the years, and text by prolific garden writer Noel Kingsbury will ensure a lively read for all home garden enthusiast”

uRBan enviRonMental landscaPe

ISBN: 9781864706307 Author: Dieter Grau Hardcover: 256 pages Publication Date: (10 Jun. 2015)

Book Descriptions: The book provides the latest trends in urban environmental landscaping, with informative chapters on basic principles, dimensions, reference standards and considerations across a range of themes, such as public parks, public plazas, waterfront public open spaces, and urban street environments It Showcases a broad range of informative high-quality projects spanning the United States, Mexico, Australia, China, and Europe and provides comprehensive reference material for architects, urban planners, preservationists ,and landscape designers, and all who are directly involved in town planning in the urban environment. For each part, we selected the most striking cases with the newest design standards to showcase spectacular landscape design

With its headquarter in tokyo, Japan and world class stores spread over countries like america, singapore, indonesia, malaysia, thailand, australia, taiwan and now in duBai – uae, kinokuniya is a globally known book seller of repute. the store in dubai mall is a massive 68,000 square feet wide paragon book gallery which stocks more than half a million books and thousand magazines in english, arabic, Japanese, French, german and chinese at any given time. the store is also a distinct cross cultural hub wide range of time to time multicultural events such a comic art demonstrations, language learning workshops, book launches etc. the pleasant ambiance, stenographic design and add to it the impressive view of modern skyline – world’s tallest building, Burj khalifa, kinokuniya at the dubai mall is just the place to evoke emotions and add pleasure to your book shopping. You may like to visit our website for more information. www.kinokuniya.com

middleeasttenders.com +971 2 634 8495

StatuS : New teNder trade Category : agriCultural, laNdSCapiNg aNd irrigatioN

NEW & CURRENT PROJECTS

tender name

levelling & Backfilling of Farms

description

Project of levelling and Backfilling of Farms in separate areas.

client Region

m department of urban Planning & unicipalities - al ain city municipality al ain

tender cost (usd) Post date closing date

2/4/2021 2/14/2021

irrigation system supply and installation of irrigation system. social, humanitarian, economical intervention for local development (lebanon) lebanon 2/4/2021 2/14/2021

agricultural maintenance Works maintenance of agricultural Works. ministry of education (saudi arabia) saudi arabia 667 2/2/2021 2/17/2021

green house nursery & irrigation system Provision of green house nursery and irrigation system. mercy corps (lebanon) lebanon 2/1/2021 2/15/2021

maintenance & rehabilitation Works maintenance and rehabilitation of the department of agricultural development. ministry of agricultural, Fisheries & Water resources (oman) Qatar 2/1/2021 2/14/2021

maintenance & rehabilitation Works

maintenance and rehabilitation of the department of agricultural development in Yanqul. ministry of agricultural, Fisheries & Water resources (oman) oman 2/1/2021 2/14/2021

agricultural Works agricultural Works for al sabiya station. ministry of electricity & Water (kuwait) kuwait 500 2/1/2021 3/7/2021 agricultural maintenance agricultural maintenance of Football Fields in clubs and sports Federations (group 1). Public authority for Youth & sports (kuwait) kuwait 3333 2/1/2021 2/14/2021 equipment maintenance maintenance contract for 9 e at albustan 2021. quipments ministry of agricultural, Fisheries & Water resources (oman) oman 2/1/2021 2/7/2021 gardens & irrigation network maintenance Works maintenance of gardens, green areas and irrigation networks. najran municipality (saudi arabia) saudi arabia 2/1/2021 2/9/2021

Plants & irrigation systems maintenance maintenance Plants and irrigation systems at shaikh Zayed road Phase 1. dubai municipality (Published on esupply Portal) dubai 1/28/2021 2/9/2021

maintenance Works maintenance Work for the Fish in the state of liwa. market ministry of agricultural, Fisheries & Water resources (oman) oman 1/28/2021 2/14/2021

Parks & gardens Facilities maintenance of Parks and gardens Facilities. taif municipality (saudi arabia) saudi arabia 933 1/27/2021 3/2/2021

maintenance & replacement Works

irrigation canals construction Works

irrigation canals construction Works construction of irrigation canals and networks using labour intensive approach kfarhabou & Bakhoun miniyeh el denniyeh. united nations development Programme - undP (lebanon) lebanon

trees replant, cutting & removal

maintenance and replacement of damaged gardens, landscaping and irrigation networks. construction of irrigation canals and networks using labour-intensive approach.

replant, cutting and removing the trees from Various location. ministry of municipal & rural affairs (saudi arabia)

united nations development Programme - undP (lebanon) saudi arabia 667 1/27/2021 2/15/2021

lebanon 1/22/2021 2/17/2021

1/20/2021 2/18/2021

electricity & Water authority - eWa (Bahrain) Bahrain 39 1/11/2021 2/9/2021

integrated management Program supply of research needs for the integrated management Program of red Palm Weevil. ministry of agricultural, Fisheries & Water resources (oman) oman 65 12/31/2020 2/10/2021

landscape services Provision of landscape services. kuwait gulf oil company (kgoc) kuwait 12/10/2020 3/7/2021

miniature Parks & Playgrounds construction

maintenance and irrigation construction of miniature Parks and Playgrounds maintenance and irrigation of gardens and Parks

Parks restore & rehabilitate a Project to restore and rehabilitate Parks (dalgan, al-maski, al-Jarrah and al-hadba) department of urban Planning & municipalities - al ain city municipality al ain 11/1/2020 11/22/2020

taif municipality (saudi arabia) saudi arabia 1467 10/25/2020 11/22/2020

ministry of environment, Water & agriculture (saudi arabia) saudi arabia 933 10/25/2020 11/18/2020

MP ROTATOR® MORE COVERAGE. LESS WATER.

STANDARD MP MP800 MP STRIPS

0.4

in/hr

8-35 ft.

• Maximum water efficiency • Slowest precipitation rate • More heads on one zone

0.8

in/hr

6-16 ft.

• Small spaces • Tight water windows • Spray retrofit solution

5 ft. wide

• Rectangular spaces • Pair with standard MP or MP800 nozzles

Higher water savings. Faster installation. More than a decade of proven performance. Manage irrigation according to exact landscape needs with the industry-best MP Rotator nozzle family. With two precipitation rates across the widest radius range available, install the smarter solution for high-efficiency irrigation. Choose the MP Rotator.