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FAENI Office Building
FAENI Office Building
National Architectural Competition
Location: Rosario, Santa Fé, Argentina
Year: 2024
Associated Studio: Balsa Crosetto Piazzi + Leandro Castro + Franco Gilardi
Like an artifact resting along the riverbank, the cultural building settles into the landscape as if it had always been there. Its strong horizontal
volume evokes the industrial and port infrastructure of the riverfront—warehouses, silos, cranes—reinterpreting this collective memory through
a contemporary architectural language. Rather than competing with the landscape, the project frames it.
The building aligns itself with the river’s direction, set back from the avenue to allow for a landscaped buffer that mediates between city and water.
Vegetation is organized in gradual layers, reinforcing ecological continuity and integrating the project into the river’s edge while extending public
space north–south along the waterfront.
Architecturally, the project is conceived as a single large hall elevated on a concrete base, freeing the ground level as an open, flexible public space.
This raised condition allows the park to pass through the building, creating shaded areas for gathering, circulation, and everyday use.
Programmatic elements such as the auditorium, practice spaces, and music school are located above, while the ground floor includes entrances
and adaptable public functions.The building is structured around a clear duality: a compact technical core enclosed within a lightweight, translucent
envelope.
This strategy ensures formal unity while addressing environmental performance through natural lighting, cross-ventilation, solar control, and
rainwater recollection. Interior spaces are organized around a multi-level foyer and peripheral circulation, encouraging movement, views, and
informal occupation.
Conceived as an open cultural infrastructure rather than an isolated object, the project supports multiple forms of use, adaptation, and public
appropriation. It does not seek to dominate the landscape, but to operate as a contemporary continuation of the riverfront’s public and productive
legacy.