Buildings in Montevideo

(what follows is part of an interview with a famous uruguayan architect translated from a piece in el pais)

How could the Uruguayan capital be improved from an architectural perspective?

Montevideo is in a class of fine architecture of the 30’s and 40’s, whie that in the rest of the world only a few buildings remain from this period. This city is one of the few, if not the only, where the modern style reoccurs for the construction of a good part of the people who lived in this period.

From the urban point of view, the buildings in montevideo, the uruguayan capital, is characterized by being extended looking towards the Plata river and for maintaining a nice balance between buildings and green space. Without a doubt the physical qualities, geographic and architecturally give it a great potential for future development.

What type of work would you like to build in Montevideo?

I’ve never worked in this city, however, I’ve designed a project — the new terminal for the Carrasco airport. It would interest me a lot to contribute a project to the Uruguyan capital that would attract ‘high brow’ people to be interested in living in Uruguy. I’m not referring to a large scale tourist project because the plata river is not the Caribbean. These is a place more adequate for building a city where people reside for part of the year. The project would have very little competition – not in argentina, nor in brazil – because Uruguay is sufficiently insulated from the political and social upheavals, but isn’t as far away as Australia. It’s closer by air from the more advanced countries.