Foster+Partners - Mixed-Use in Buenos Aires

The Aleph Residences apartment building, designed by Foster + Partners, is located in the Faena Arts and Technology District of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners has completed the nine-story Faena Aleph Residences, in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Berdichevsky-Cherny Arquitectos were co-architects for the project. The mixed-use building comprises 50 apartments on the upper floors, ground-floor retail space, and a landscaped rear garden. The project is part of a phased development called the Faena Arts and Technology District, which combines new construction with the refurbishment of historic buildings to create a sustainable mixed-use urban neighborhood.

An apartment living space in the Aleph Residencs. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

The Aleph apartments offer indoor and outdoor living experiences. Double-height patios are combined with split-level living spaces. A predominance of bronzed floor-to-ceiling glazing provides each apartment with considerable daylight access while operable exterior sun screens shade both patios and interior spaces.

Shaded balcony of the Aleph. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

The building's structure is predominantly fair-faced cast-in-place concrete that is exposed both inside and out. In the ceilings, repeating, segmentally vaulted concrete infill panels span between structural beams, giving each space a bit of texture. Bathrooms are finished with stone tiles and balustrades are wood.

Third-floor plan drawing. Image: Foster + Partners

"Inspired by the architectural and cultural legacy of the Belle Époque era, the apartments blur the boundaries between outdoor and indoor space to redefine urban living. Double-height patios are combined with split-level living spaces, and each apartment has vaulted ceilings and bronzed sliding windows to maximise natural ventilation. Through a combination of moveable sunscreens and projecting balconies, shade can be modified for both low and high sun angles, while ensuring privacy and drawing daylight into the living spaces and terraces." – Foster + Partners

A bathroom in the Aleph Residences. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

The project is the firm's first in Latin America.

Project Credits

• Architect: Foster + Parnters
• Co-Architect: Berdichevsky-Cherny Arquitectos
• Client: Faena Group
• Consultants: Jose Norberto Galay and Buro Happold, Bovis Lend Lease, Estudio Grinner, Olin Partnership, Estudio Grinberg, Estudio Labonia, Fluidity Design Consultants, Martin Evans and Sylvia de Schiller, Theatre Projects Consultants 

Cross section drawing. Image: Foster + Partners

Looking up. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

Longitudinal section drawing. Image: Foster + Partners