A cutting-edge architectural proposal that integrates the unique facade design, contracted to the international firm Zaha Hadid, and on the other hand, the solidity and experience of Grupo Portland, in leading a large team to carry out this important project in Palermo.
The L’Avenue tower is located at Avenida del Libertador 3858 between the intersection with Avenida Bullrich and the San Martin Railway tracks. It is a key element in shaping the urban profile between Avenida Sarmiento and Avenida Bullrich, whose location and historic buildings like the United States Embassy, is surrounded by buildings of great quality such as the one by Engineer Vilar, the MRA Panedile Towers, and the one made by Architect Borthagaray.
It is conceived as an enclave that defines the perspectives from Av Bullrich and Av Libertador which continues northward through a large void that is the polo fields. The chosen typology is a tower with a base that takes the height of the boundary. The triple height on the ground floor is free. An integrated architectural piece is proposed where the tower cleanly rises above and defines a unique skyline of 120 meters in height.
The origin of the project comes from the local architecture studios BMA and associates and Lopatín Architects, who were joined in a second stage by the Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) team, to contribute their particular design to the facades and interior design of the common areas. Project management and construction management are carried out by Grupo Portland and the Iannuzzi-Colombo studio respectively. The UTE formed by the construction companies Crik and Caputo SA, are responsible for the overall construction and the administration and coordination of the various installation and supply contracts for the work.
The materiality of the facade proposed by Zaha Hadid Architects’ studio – contemplates the incorporation of a new material of concrete with glass fiber with incorporated color GRC (Glass Reinforced Concrete) and fiberglass, which in this case forms like a black skeleton that on the inner glass skin will give a unique image in the urban landscape of the city.
The project has 33 floors, 2 mezzanines of amenities, a terrace (rooftop) with long city views. It will have 5 underground parking levels executed with a structural and technological proposal of the latest generation.
The work is located on a plot of 26.00m front by 50.00m deep on Avenida del Libertador, facing the Palermo woods, with wide views of the Rose Garden, the Palermo racecourse, the polo field, and the rest of the city of Buenos Aires. The building has 36,400m2 of covered space and is constituted by a base that takes the height of the neighboring building, with which it is flush, from which the tower is detached, ending at floor number 34 with two perimeter rings of finishes.
The entrance is through a semi-covered space in triple height that spatially integrates with the lobby through large glazed panels and its ceilings, giving a special integration between interior and exterior. Within the lobby, the triple height surfaces have a undulating cladding that continues in the ceiling and perimeter columns that give it a particular spatial imprint.
The building has exterior gardens, a solarium, and a pool fully integrated into the interior through its triple-height curtain wall, to which are added two mezzanines with amenities and on the 34th floor a terrace that includes a bar and outdoor spaces.
It has 33 floors of housing units of 4 and 5 rooms from 220m2 to 500m2 with all their perimeter glazed and a particular aesthetic in the balconies product of the ZHA studio design in which they combine glass railings and their particular shape. In the service area, it has 5 basement parking levels, machine rooms, meter rooms, and general services. For vertical movement, the building will have 7 Mitsubishi elevators, high-speed, state-of-the-art, five of which will be main and two service.
The facade project will be executed with a system composed of Glassfiber Reinforced Concrete (G.R.C.) pieces, which will allow the balconies to have their particular movement, being the first facade of these characteristics within the country.
The volumetry of the work, up to the height of the neighboring building, has a base from which the tower itself emerges. Both parts, the base, and the tower, are vertically integrated by a kind of spine formed by a series of “T” shaped columns that unify it vertically and integrate it horizontally with the cladding of the balconies that run along the entire perimeter of the tower.
On the facades facing Avenida Bullrich and Segui street, the longest sides, the “T” of the spinal column is replaced by an “X” piece fulfilling the same formal function.
Finally, the building ends with two rings of the same characteristics as the cladding of the balconies. Both the GRC elements called “T” and “X” as well as the finish have special lighting that highlights their sensational shape.
To complete the regulatory height of the balcony railing, a double tempered glass will be used joined with a Sentry glass sheet that will be inserted into the GRC structure.
As a vertical closure of the tower, continuous sections of carpentry will be installed from floor to ceiling. They will be Schuco brand ASS-50 line with sliding sashes of the lifting type and will have double glazing, consisting of high-performance glass.
The technical integration of the facade elements, GRC, glass railing, aluminum carpentry, drainage, and lighting, implied one of the most difficult challenges to solve. Although the work is one, its structural resolution could be divided into two construction stages:
Stage 1: From “zero” level to foundations.
Given the characteristics of the land, its dimensions, hydrogeological conditions, the water table at -4.00m and with the Puelche flowing below it at -25.00m, added to the characteristics of the project with its 5 basements, it was decided to use a system of rods for deep foundations, which helps stabilize the bottom and with a structural head that varied between 2.00 and 3.00m in height depending on the sector.
For the submurcation, it was decided to use the wall casting system on 3 sides, and the fourth by a system of pile screen and sprayed walls, with their respective active anchors. Structural work began from the “zero” level with the execution of the cast walls, for which the ground had to be prepared for the transit of heavy equipment that had to be moved in order to carry out the different predetermined sequences in each of the party walls.
Subsequently, the execution of the rods for deep foundations and the pile screen began, as the last task from “zero” level. With the water table lowered and the aforementioned tasks completed, massive excavation began, executing it in stages according to the placement needs of the corresponding anchors and spraying of the wall on the pile screen, until reaching the level of “safe quota”, the minimum level necessary to ensure the lifting of the bottom due to the effects of PuFacade: structural resolution. From the “safe quota” level, another stage of excavation began, which had to be done in a sectorized manner and coordinated with the execution of the header panels and sub-pressure slabs.
Facade: structural resolution.
From the “safe quota” level, another stage of excavation began, which had to be done in a sectorized manner and coordinated with the execution of the header panels and sub-pressure slabs.
This last stage was complex because it had to work in areas of little space given by the planned sectors and with the water from the Puelche that sprouted and had to be controlled. Likewise, these work areas were crossed by the rods that had to be “trimmed” to finally put the armor and concrete to subsequently move to the next predetermined sector, until the total completion of the sub-pressure slab and headers.
Stage 2: From foundations to finish.
The structural system is, basically, composed of a central core, plus slabs, partitions, and columns, with a transition structure at the level where the housing unit floors begin, after the triple height, above the ground floor and mezzanines.
The sequence of filling the sub-pressure slabs and headers was designed in order to be able to start raising the concrete structure of the tower core, even without having completed all the foundations, which allowed progress simultaneously with both tasks.
For this structure, a rationalized formwork system is being used, which allows for a first filling of partitions and columns, optimizing the use of these elements and subsequently filling the slabs.
The provision of hot water will also be centralized, driven by a system of pressurized units, as will cold water. Inside the service landings, there are fire extinguishers and fire hydrant cabinets plus smoke detectors that complement the fire system. In terms of security, cameras will be mounted on all landings as part of the CCTV system. Units will have backup power from a generator for essential items.
Access to the building is through a semi-covered space in triple height, with the imprint of its spine reaching “zero” level. This space is removed from the municipal line generating a transition space with similar characteristics to the entrance lobby, integrating with it through its large glazed joinery, the continuity of its undulating ceilings, the detail of its marble floors, and its lighting.
In the triple height of the lobby, the continuity of the semi-covered ceiling descends along one of its walls giving a criterion of design unity between both parts, which is complemented in the details of the capitals of the perimeter columns. In the rest of the lobby faces, a large Curtain Wall integrates it with the exterior gardens, the pool, and the solarium with the same treatment of floors and columns with the ZHA design.
From the lobby, through the undulating wall, you can access the different areas of the building, to the elevator landings of the units, to the in-out pool or also by climbing a carefully designed staircase, to the mezzanines where the sauna, hair salons, massage rooms, and gym are located. These activities take place within very particular spaces and are framed by their exterior sides by the continuity of the Curtain Wall of the lobby’s triple height, which integrates it with the exterior.
On the 34th floor, the “Rooftop” is developed, a space for social use in a privileged place for its views, and that, as happens in all the common spaces of the building, integration with the exterior, shapes, the use of materials are its main constraints when it comes to design. On this floor, you “feel” the presence of the two perimeter rings of the tower.
The building has 7 high-speed elevators, 5 main and 2 service, one of which is of the stretcher type. The main cars have an interior design designed by ZHA. In the 5 basement levels, there are parking lots, board rooms, and electrical meter rooms. Machine rooms dedicated to the generation of hot water for consumption and heating with three boilers powered by gas, which generate the hot water necessary for heating and water.
The building has a typical floor plan of three units, two more important ones, which face Avenida Libertador and the third facing Seguí street. All with very privileged views of the racecourse, the polo field, or the Rose Garden. The units have a private lobby, entrance hall, living-dining room, kitchen, reception toilet, two suites with their respective full bathrooms and a master suite with dressing room, sink with two basins, bathtub, and separate shower tray, equipped with high-performance and high-performance faucets.
On the outside, the units are closed with Schuco brand aluminum joinery, ASS 50 line, lifting type, which significantly improves the hermetic closure. In addition, they will have double glazed windows with high performance. A continuous balcony runs around the perimeter of the units with the GRC and glass railing with the ZHA studio design imprint.
The units will have kitchens equipped with gas cooktops and ovens, with their corresponding air extractors connected to centralized ducts that end on the roof, thus avoiding ventilation elements appearing on the facades.
The air conditioning system provides underfloor heating powered by a central system, which is completed with an individual VRF system from the Samsung brand with indoor distribution by ducts. The location of the condensing units is planned on the roof to avoid annoying sounds in the units.
The fire system has a water tank with a capacity of 100,000 liters, with its pumping system in a pump room located on the 5th basement. The supply and distribution of drinking water are done through a system of pressurized pumps with a reserve tank of 95,000 liters capacity, located in the 5th basement. It also has a tank-slowdown with a capacity of 70,000 liters and a water recovery tank for sidewalk cleaning and green areas irrigation of 2,000 liters.
The main branches of the installations run through the building through the vertical shafts located within the cores and from it make their distribution to the different areas of the floor.
For the execution of the installations, a previous coordination study of the bidding projects has been carried out and currently the adjustment of the executive engineering coordination is being carried out to later be able to carry out the corresponding control of them during the construction stage.
*Article published in Architector Magazine - Edition 108. Original article here
