Monumento

MONUMENTO Authors: Nicolas Rudolph Leandro Villalba This project was developed within the framework of the Project subject, at FADU, UDELAR. It aims to solve a small-size, simple program, in order to give importance to other parameters, such as the poetics of space, atmospheres generation, detailed design at different scales, and technical research. The project is a civic pavilion that pretends to redevelop an iconic, but degraded public space. It assumes the challenge of resolving a building in a particular topographic situation, both for the uneven terrain as for its high urban visibility. The site not only informs the project from the topography, but also from its collective memory. The past mining exploitation, the frivolous use as a hygienist park at the beginning of the XX century, and the failed and forgotten competition for a monument to the statesman Jose Batlle y Ordonez, are recognized on its research process. Beyond the site linked constraints, the project aims to address discipline endogenous issues. It explores the concept of monumentality, both in the past and contemporary architecture, studying particularly the sculptor Jorge Oteiza’s trials. Talking about the program, the project solves a succession of spaces through a relatively constant section. Accessed from the top of the hill, down the staircase, the foyer appears, followed by a multipurpose room, culminating in a cafeteria with panoramic views. This series is backed by a services battery, containing: screening room, toilets, kitchen and surveillance cabin. Over this level, a civic esplanade unfolds a 1,080 sqm marble plane, backlit at night. Both floors are linked by a lift tower posed at the street level.