Buenos Aires 2009: Vertical Zoo in Front of Puerto Madero

For this competition the challenge is to create a “VERTICAL ZOO”. This innovative zoo will be located in the “Costanera Sur” Ecological Reserve, a few blocks from the center of the city, in a natural space of “artificial” origin created spontaneously over a base created from landfill and declared a Protected Natural Reserve in 1986.

The project must form a distinguishable vertical element which should seek to become a landmark, imposing its presence within the context of the horizontal profile of the reserve and visible to those who navigate along the river, in the same way that tower block residential buildings form part of the riverside skyline of the city but, as a consequence of its function, in a natural and organic manner.

This vertical structure not less than 100 meters in height should be versatile enough to house a number of educational and recreational functions, as well as providing a home for animals and a space for the administrative services associated with the Zoo.

Nevertheless, the competitors remain free to produce totally experimental projects which address extremes as diverse as the subordination of architecture to the urban and natural profile or the creation of a new model designed to serve as a way of redefining the idea of what is “monumental” in the context of the debate between the urban and the scenic.

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