Plaza Crotogini
The intervention is located in the metropolitan area of Montevideo, well known as "Ciudad de la Costa".
This area begun to grow spontaneously with no planification since middle twentieth century.
This new linear city was developed to the sides of a route that links the capital with the east seaside resort.
Associated with a new centrality generated by the installation of a new Civic and Commercial Centre, this discrete intervention has become the only public collective facilities serving the area along the entire route.
The environment is characterized by a lake which has a great landscape potential.
The plaza is located adjacent to the new Centre and the lake, acting as a new damper between the new urban components and the nature.
The ride presents two possible itineraries that defines the access to the plaza and creates the transition link between route and lake.
The first one, continuing the route shape, acts as a linear path allowing circulation separately from the vehicles.
The second one describes a zigzag shape that deviates from the linearity of the route, caressing the reeds growing on the banks, to get into the lake.
This picturesque and random journey, enables getting away from the continuous bustle of engines, and at the same time introduces and allows the walker a close contact experience with a well-known but strange landscape.
The walk is physically materialized by resorting a unique material: treated pine wood.
On one hand, this material confers tactile qualities that offer a haptic and perceptual "soft" texture sharply contrasting with the asphalt of the route.
On the other hand the pine low cost was a fundamental aspect for the project viability.
Similarly, the plaza is built in polished concrete and is marked by circles that characterize it, breaking with the monotony of a single material.
Credits:
Guerra De Rossa Arquitectos. General Coordination and Project: Arq. Nicolás Guerra y Arq. Fernando De Rossa.
Colaborator: Arq. Pedro Livni.
Executive Project Coordinator: Arq. Fernando Cano.
Executive Project Team: Arq. Gabriela Álvarez, Arq. Fernando De Medina, Arq. Valentina Dalla Rosa, Arq. Andrea Sader, Arq. Isaac Cosme, Arq. German Reich, Arq. Carlos Noriega, Arq. Ana Faget, Agustín Fierro.
Work Supervision: Arq. Fernando Cano, Arq. Graciela Martínez, Arq. Fernando De Medina, Arq. Valentina Dalla Rosa, Arq. Vanessa Cerchiaro.
Electrical and Lighting Consultant: Ing. Ricardo Hofstadter.
Structural Engineer: Castro y Dieste Ingenieros.
Project Management: Ing. Rafael Zaffaroni.
Construction: Saceem.
Photograph: Fernando De Rossa.
