ARCHITECTURAL WORLD

Throughout the 20th century, several factors contributed to Buenos Aires’s architectural significance. In the early decades of the century, when Buenos Aires was the capital of one of the wealthiest countries in the world, architects were commissioned to design luxurious residences and institutional buildings, many influenced by French and Italian styles. Later, different immigrant groups looking for status constructed important examples that followed European traits of Viennese secession, Italian liberty, and Catalan modernism. The rationalist architecture of the early 1930s and 1940s in Buenos Aires is one the most significant of the world. This era of architecture greatly influenced the present profile of the city. Also relevant are the examples of Brutalist architecture. The last decades of the century have been characterized by an interest in preserving this rich architectural heritage and by new architectural interventions related to the existing urban fabric. Buenos Aires is sit...

Designed by Clorinda Testa; completed 1966 The Bank of London and South America, located on a congested corner of Bartolomé Mitre in Buenos Aires, is one of the most significant buildings in Argentina and a landmark achievement in concrete construction. Designed by Clorindo Testa in association with SEPRA architects, the introverted building presents a robust concrete facade that belies a seductive and subdued labyrinthine interior. Set within a context of formal neoclassical architecture from the 19th century, the cleverly orchestrated design mediates between the busy and crowded Argentinian streets and the methodical operation of the bank headquarters. It compliments the urban fabric in a manner that is both charismatic and controlled. The building was constructed at a time of tremendous economic turbulence in Argentina, resulting from political changes internally and the rampant tension across Latin America that had culminated in the Cuban revolution of 1959. The election of Arturo ...