Mario Roberto Álvarez

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Mario Roberto Álvarez (born November 14, 1913 in Buenos Aires ; † November 5, 2011 there ) was an Argentine architect . He was considered an influential representative of modern architecture in Argentina.

Life

Álvarez studied first at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires and from 1932 at the Universidad de Buenos Aires ; In 1936 he graduated with honors. His first design in 1937 was a hospital for the private Grupo Medical San Martín in the suburb of San Martín . In 1938 he received a scholarship from his former university that allowed him to work and study in Belgium , France , Germany , Italy , the Netherlands and Great Britain ; he visited 115 cities. During this time he gained experience in the construction of public buildings and hospitals.

In 1939 he returned to Argentina and in 1942 was appointed director of architecture at Partido Avellaneda . Together with Leonardo Kopiloff and Eduardo T. Santoro, he founded the MRA office in 1947. The architects' first major design was for the Teatro General San Martín . Completed in 1960, the design secured another contract for the neighboring Centro Cultural General San Martín , which was inaugurated in 1970.

Other famous buildings by Álvarez include: a. the Túnel subfluvial Raul Uranga - Carlos Sylvestre Begnis , a tunnel under the Paraná River in the province of Entre Ríos , the workshops of the Teatro Colón , the Headquarters for Somisa, a state-owned steel group, the Salto Grande - hydroelectric power station and numerous office buildings, including the Extension for the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange and the offices for IBM's Latin America division . In Punta del Este , a seaside resort in Uruguay , he built several private houses and hotels. In 1976 Álvarez was accepted as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects .

During the economic crisis of the 1980s, demand subsided and, as a donation, Álvarez designed the new building for the Leloir Institute. Other buildings designed by him from that decade are the American Express building in Plaza General San Martín and the “Costa Galana Hotel” ( Mar del Plata ). In the 1990s, the Rosario stock exchange , the Torre Le Parc in Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires Hilton and the headquarters of Microsoft Latin America were added, as well as numerous high-rise buildings in the districts of Recoleta and Palermo .

In 2003, almost on his 90th birthday, he received an award for redesigning the northern district in Osaka , Japan . The construction of the new company headquarters for the Galicia financial group in the district of San Nicolás caused controversy when a historic building was demolished for it. In Córdoba, Álvarez built the new airport terminal, in Rosario the "Torre Aqualina", in Buenos Aires - La Boca a building for the Fundacíon Proa and in Bariloche the Hilton Hotel, which was built into a mountain.

honors and awards

  • Medal of Honor of the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
  • Medal of Honor from the Universidad de Buenos Aires

Web links

Commons : Mario Roberto Álvarez  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ a b c MRA + A: Estudio (span.)
  3. ↑ La Nación of February 19, 2000 (Spanish)
personal data
SURNAME Álvarez, Mario Roberto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine architect
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 2011
Place of death Buenos Aires , Argentina