CUIDAR

The CUIDAR Community Center for República de La Sexta neighborhood is the continuation of an essential social program established by the municipality of Rosario, Argentina. The program aims to create small community centers for education and social support in marginalized and crime-ridden areas. This revitalization project seeks to create new architectural prototypes that provide both public amenities and a cultural identity for the community. As part of this network of centers distributed throughout the city, CUIDAR aims to become a catalyzing presence within the neighborhood and a steppingstone for the city.

Our proposal aims to build a social landmark, a point of reference both at an architectural and urban scale. A sequence of tilted volumes, appearing in profile like a serrated mass, allows each space to capture natural light from the south while avoiding the direct northern sun exposure. The project is organized around a large open patio. Here, classrooms as well as other supporting areas, including a flexible assembly space as well as a small kitchen and dining room, have direct relationship with the garden. A small, partially oblique tower in the shape of a “minaret,” houses the water reserve tank and serves as ventilation, crowning the composition in the corner and above the entrance, while introducing a distinctive and idiosyncratic element that demarcates the civic and social aspect of the center.

The distinct and recognizable outline of CUIDAR gives the center its own iconography and a unique urban character. The experience of volumes as aggregate from the street and as a unified roof from the interior courtyard creates familiarity, one that helps integrate individuals with their social and collective environment in a profoundly human way.