Cultural Center Lastenia Sugar mill

Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Tucumán

Project idea

I invite you to learn about the history of my town, whose origins date back to the creation of sugar factories in 1832.
The idea of the project is to mend the sharp wounds that Lastenia has suffered with the closure of the factory, people who have been deprived of their jobs, who emigrated to other provinces, who could never recover from that blow. Transform the heavy and dirty industry that it once was, in the industry of thought, of culture, of life. With a social function that transcends the place where it is located, trying to give people back those jobs and the quality of life they had thanks to the local economy, creating new sources of work related to knowledge, culture, art and cultural tourism.

Project description

To visit the former Lastenia sugar factory is to discover a masterpiece made by man "the fallen industry", to see in it a huge sculpture in honor of the worker.
the old industry, has the particularity of having suffered a process of wear and tear and dismantling, currently its quality of "ruin" can be perceived. considering this fact as part of its essence and what it expresses: abandonment and damage, that are the visible scars of history. One of the concerns was to enhance this quality, which is currently part of the identity of this town.
I propose a project where resilience is treated as a value, working conscientiously, being respectful of the history of the place and its people.
New proposed building: Linear building, facing the old construction, generating a tension, contrast and dialogue between the new and the old. It also works as a backdrop, which seeks to highlight the old factory as a work of art in itself.
The unit of the whole is given from the materiality, the brick.
Functionally it is located in the new sector, temporary exhibition halls, classrooms, library, offices, commercial premises. And in the old sector, auditorium, projection room, production room and tasting of artisan sweets, thematic bar, exhibition room with the archaeological discoveries of the place, and the chimneys used as viewpoints, both connected by an elevated walkway.

Technical information

Materiality is a reinterpretation of what exists: the brick.
In the new building, this basic unit of the traditional construction system is used, and it is taken to an experimental plane, using this material in a non-traditional way. Instead of being a bearing wall, it is used as an envelope, generating a double skin, with a semi-open weave where, by alternating full and empty, they allow the passage of light and air.
There is a part of the project that is experimental, in the classroom sector, where this material was not only used in a different way, but with an unusual behavior within the whole: mobile brick panels.
The new building, raises an appropriate resolution regarding climate adaptation, is raised on a climate ceiling, which consists of a metal sheet, air chamber and slab. The air chamber is ventilated thanks to the use of this semi-open weave achieved with the main material on the facade.
The façade of the new building is transformed into a mirrored glass curtain wall at the pedestrian level, where the succession of arches of the factory that is facing is reflected, thus, the old is part of the new and participate in this game of reflections and illusion in the walk where tension and contrast are experienced.

Documentation

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