Discover all the winning projects of the competition for the Raincoop site in Montevideo

Read the original version in Spanish here.

Published on July 06, 2026

As part of Montevideo's urban housing management framework, the local government, together with the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and Environment, launched a national public ideas competition to develop a housing and public space program on the site formerly occupied by the Raincoop company in the La Unión neighborhood.

The objective was for contestants to design, on a nearly 3-hectare plot, a housing development within a public space that promotes the integration of compatible activities and services, thereby ensuring mixed-use land and inclusion. Learn more about the winning projects in the words of their authors.

First Prize

Authors: Architects Gonzalo Pastorino, Lucia de León, Sofia Massobrio, Florencia Paredes, Vanessa Scarencio, and Sofia Pinto.

The site is identified as a singular element within the urban fabric, free from significant road or building hierarchies that exert pressure on it. The strategy is to capitalize on the block's uniqueness to propose an autonomous urban project that opts for a dispersed model of spatial, social, and economic organization.

An elementally diffuse plan that proposes a permeable and fluid collective space where different programmatic proposals coexist simultaneously. The boundaries between public and private space become blurred, allowing for unregulated appropriation and the potential for transformation over time.

Subjects, spaces, and time organized within the territory to build a system. Neighborhood as the act of living in close proximity to diverse realities and cultures that foster dialogue and exchange among people.

A management and coordination system between private developers and public actors is proposed, allowing for the integration of different housing typologies and programs within the same project, thereby aiming to strengthen social integration among residents.

Second Prize

Authors: Architects Jorge Gambini and Rafael Solano. Collaborators: Andrés Capurro, Emilio Garateguy, Sebastián Lambert, and Ignacio Trecca.

Third Prize

Authors: Architects Pablo Bacchetta, Jose Flores, Gonzalo Boccardi, and Martín Larroza.

Mention

Authors: Architects Rodrigo Garcia Fernandez and Laura Neira.

Mention

Authors: Architects Enrique Martínez, Fernanda Ríos, Javier Díaz, Bernardo Martín, and Luis Oreggioni Collaborators: Andrés Varela and Martín Minassian.