London / Buenos Aires / Caracas
ALL
SELECTED
ARCHITECTURE
URBAN
ART
PUBLICATIONS
ACADEMIC
ABOUT
London / Buenos Aires / Caracas
ALL
SELECTED
ARCHITECTURE
URBAN
ART
PUBLICATIONS
ACADEMIC
ABOUT
Public Offices / Urban Strategy
Public Competition — Second Mention
Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina
2022–2023
The proposal for the new Ministry of Human Development is conceived as an austere, emblematic and lasting public building: an institutional architecture that combines efficiency, environmental quality and civic presence.
The project is organised through three clear operations: an office ring, a central atrium and a green rooftop. Together, these elements transform the administrative programme into a more humane and open workplace, while connecting the building to the city and its landscape.
The office ring defines a continuous 5-metre-wide perimeter dedicated to workspaces. This strategy ensures natural light, thermal comfort, flexibility of use, efficient distribution, privacy and open views. Its rational and modular organisation allows the building to adapt over time, supporting different layouts and contemporary ways of working.
At the heart of the building, a large central atrium concentrates vertical and horizontal circulation, meeting areas, informal workspaces, floor cafés, restrooms and internal expansion areas. Illuminated from above, the atrium creates an interior microclimate surrounded by natural landscaping — a shared space that activates daily life and gives the Ministry a symbolic dimension of care, encounter and humanisation of the workplace.
The green rooftop extends the public character of the building upwards. Connected to the urban axis through a semi-public ground floor, it incorporates the auditorium and multipurpose room, opening onto a large perimeter terrace with controlled public access. Conceived as the Viedma 360° Viewpoint, the rooftop becomes a civic and touristic platform for citizen integration.
Rather than a closed administrative object, the project proposes a public building as social infrastructure: a place where work, landscape, service and collective life meet.
Client: Ministerio de Desarrollo Humano y Acción Solidaria — MDHyAS
Endorsed by: Colegio de Arquitectos de Río Negro
Program: Public offices and urban strategy
Location: Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina
Building area: 6,800 sqm
Authors: Karla Montauti, Leandro Crook and Gabriel Ramírez
Associates: Verónica Mariano and Pablo Waku
Local architect: Alexis Dawidowicz
Acknowledgements: Agustino Mercado
Hand sketch: Karla Montauti