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The tallest buildings will be built on Calle Perú. In March, the first blocks will be auctioned. The opinions of architects and urban planners. The details of the project.
From the Metrotranvía tracks to the west is the area that corresponds to the first auction. Photo: Claudio Gutiérrez
Distrito Sustentable Estación Mendoza is a project that dates back to 2016. The first outlines of the master plan were drawn up during the administration of Rodolfo Suarez and now it is getting closer to being realized with the follow-up of Mayor Ulpiano Suarez and the support of the National Government.
The original idea was for the Nation to cede to the municipality of the City of Mendoza the 23 hectares that are between Peru, Tiburcio Benegas, Las Heras/Joaquín V. González and Suipacha. But this plan did not prosper and only this year the municipality and the Nation reached an agreement. The City of Mendoza sets the parameters of the project and the Nation takes charge of the auction of the land through the State Property Administration Agency. The first auction is scheduled for March 2025.
The land was part of the great network of Argentine Railways that united the country for more than a century. Now, there is a Metrotram station on the site and the maintenance workshops for the locomotives of the San Martín line of the state-owned company Trenes Argentinos.
The Mendoza Station land
Currently, Mendoza Station is an urban void that creates a traffic jam from east to west and contributes to the insecurity of the area; it also represents an opportunity for the development of the City. So, will it be an exclusive “Puerto Madero”? What will they allow to be built? Will the project that won the competition in 2018 be built? How tall will the towers be? Why don’t they build a large park?
The Mendoza City Council explained that the competition was not binding but that many ideas and parameters were taken from it. “We improved some indicators such as the green mass, which was previously distributed in buildings and now it is concentrated. We want a new green lung of 3 hectares,” explained the Secretary of Environment and Urban Development of the Capital, Sebastián Fermani.
Mendoza Station: what the “Puerto Madero” of Peru Street will be like
Illustrative photo of the note titled: Urban planning: they sign the agreement to auction the largest vacant lot in the City
Urban planning: they sign the agreement to auction the largest vacant lot in the City
The land where the towers will be located. Photo: Claudio Gutiérrez
“As for urban indicators, we only take what is allowed by the existing building code. The maximum heights allowed are the same as those already allowed on the street opposite. This guarantees continuity in urban planning,” he added.
What will the “Puerto Madero” on Perú Street be like?
According to the parameters of the City of Mendoza, the tallest towers will be allowed on Perú Street and buildings up to 60 meters high will be allowed from General Paz to Suipacha. In the block between Las Heras and General Paz, the tallest towers will be 12 meters high. In addition, the buildings must decrease in an east-west direction to maintain the typical mountain landscape of the province.
Another non-negotiable point for the commune is permeability, meaning that all people will be able to walk through the area and the towers must have a certain distance between them to allow residents and tourists to access the place.
Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires.
On the other hand, all real estate developers will have to comply with the requirement of a commercial, recreational, cultural, tourist, hotel, sports or gastronomic base that guarantees the movement of people in the place. Also, the construction of underground parking will be mandatory.
The metro tram runs through the area.
Regarding the building styles and details of the project, Fermani said that in each auction, “the guidelines will be defined to generate a homogeneity in construction.” Another condition is that 50% of the buildings will be intended for housing, but it cannot be guaranteed which social sector they will be intended for, whether they will be exclusive towers or housing solutions for the middle class. “That will depend on the market. We are generating the enabling conditions so that the project can take place,” said Fermani.
The opinion of architects
In general, architects in Mendoza see Mendoza Station as an opportunity because it will clear an urban void. However, they have a series of recommendations, ideas and concerns regarding the need for green spaces, compliance with the building code, land use planning, services and dialogue with existing buildings.
The College of Architects of Mendoza said that they look favorably on Estación Mendoza and celebrated the competition as a tool for ideas. “All competitions serve as a basis and in this case, the results of the competition provided a very good basis for urban indicators. Afterwards, the administration will leave its mark in terms of allowing greater height to favor developments and the most efficient use of spaces,” said the president of CAMZA, Leticia Martinez.
“CAMZA suggests that once the auction process begins, it should continue. Clear rules and a faster municipal process are very important to obtain good results. Any urban intervention that favors development is good. The only thing we ask is that they respect the laws of territorial planning and the environment to achieve good coexistence,” added the architect.
The areas surrounding Estación Mendoza.
For her part, Conicet researcher and university professor Belén Sosa focused on the density and height proposed by Estación Mendoza. “The project proposes a new logic allowing the development of towers of more than 20 meters. From a macro perspective, this strategy seeks to complete a vertical urbanization process that has been occurring in the capital city. From south to north, it consolidates the set of existing towers on Belgrano Street and the Procrear urban development, which culminates in the new Central District. However, the peripheral area to the west of the site continues to be a traditionally low-density developed area,” explained the urban planning specialist.
“This transformation poses a significant challenge, as it will be necessary to establish a dialogue with the residents to define which services, areas and spaces will be a priority in order to integrate the new with the existing. In other words, a large population of older adults will live alongside young families and a significant tourist influx, which implies that the uses of common spaces must contemplate a wide diversity of realities, needs and preferences, so that the open areas are appropriated by local users,” he added.
The winning project of Mendoza Station served as the basis for the urban indicators.
In addition, Sosa paid special attention to the climate issue and the need for public green spaces. “We live in a city where summers will be increasingly hotter, so open-air, public and open-use spaces for cooling off will be increasingly necessary. Creating areas that function as climate shelters is particularly beneficial in this sector, which has a large surface area of ??sealed areas with large built volumes,” concluded the architect.
Meanwhile, the architect specializing in habitat, Horacio Sicilia, highlighted the opportunity that Estación Mendoza represents because it is currently an “urban sprawl” that does not allow connectivity. “It is a great opportunity for development. It is important to find out what the needs of citizens are and establish a coherent criterion of sustainability in social, environmental and economic terms,” he said.
Mendoza Station and the areas of the first and second auction.
“We are surprised that since the tender was held, the regulations have been changed twice. It went from a sustainability criterion to a more pragmatic and economically sustainable one that established broader criteria in terms of square meters built and permitted heights. This often does not go hand in hand with sustainable variables,” he added.
Another concern of Horacio Sicilia has to do with the use of the land and the possible gentrification that could occur in the area, that is, the arrival of new upper-class inhabitants that displace the old neighbors of the place. “It should not be a super-luxury project but a space that really solves problems of open space, services, housing crisis and that values ??the Mendoza identity. It is an opportunity to intelligently direct private contributions to remedy urban voids and improve the social fabric of the city,” he indicated. On the other hand, he stressed the importance of knowing the morphological criteria and urban indicators that will be used in Estación Mendoza. |
