Transportation Workers Union Headquarters

The project proposes the refunctionalization of a single-family house into the transportation workers union headquarters in the city of Pergamino, Argentina.

1- Demolition of all non-structural elements blurred all spatial limits, accentuating the presence of the original slabs, previously obscured by the excessive fragmentation caused the existing partitions.

2- Insertion within the structural system of a series of "elements". Each of these elements generates their own logic to define functions, delimit space, connect levels, accentuate structure or delimit enclosures.

As a clear allusion to the materiality of the big trucks that populate the roads of the Argentinean pampas, sheet metal is used in different ways to articulate this inserted elements: folded up, perforated, formed in sections to resolve staircases, structure, rails and various enclosures.

The space between this sections works as a sound diffuser to decrease reverberation. Finally, the use of Venetian mosaics defines the institutional color and prevents the need of daily maintenance.

The translucent areas allows for a controlled visual exchange between inside and outside, with a diffuse, distorted image; only at times, the image becomes clearer through transparent areas.

A reference to the popular perception of the inner workings of the workers union, maybe?

At night, the light surges from the inside, illuminating the façade.

The U-Glass curtain wall acts as the diffuser of the artificial light, the whole building acting as a sign or as the lights of a big truck, coming at us unexpectedly from within the urban block.