The Provincial Preliminary Project Competition for the remodeling of Plaza Gral. Manuel Belgrano in the city of Villa Allende, Córdoba, Argentina, was organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Córdoba (CAPC) and sponsored by the Argentine Federation of Architecture Entities (FADEA). As a binding competition, the Municipality of Villa Allende will contract the winning team to develop the project, which includes construction drawings, details, and technical specifications.
Located in the northwestern region of Córdoba, the Municipality of Villa Allende seeks to reorganize and repurpose both the plaza and its surrounding streets. The goal is to obtain proposals that offer new ways of using public spaces, integrating diverse activities and consolidating the identity of the urban center.
Out of the 22 proposals received, three prizes and three honorable mentions (with no order of merit) were awarded. The jury awarded first prize to architects Lucas Carranza and Juan Pablo Vazquez of Carranza Vazquez Arquitectos and Juan Manuel Balsa of Balsa Crosetto Piazzi. Their collaborators were Rocío Monje, Jorge Barucco, Benjamín Moneo, Franco Ricca, and Cristian Amuchastegui, with visualizations developed by Agustín García Haag. Check out the project below.
Project description courtesy of the architects. Set in the heart of the city, Plaza General Manuel Belgrano is an urban space of historical value, witnessing the transformation of the natural territory into the foundational Villa Allende. Its current layout, inherited from 19th-century academicism and modified by successive interventions over the last 70 years, does not support the new dynamics of use and appropriation expected of contemporary public spaces.
The proposal replaces the current layout of diagonal axes and central focus, which fragments and restricts space usage, with a structure that restores its dual identity as both an original natural void and a civic stage within the urban grid. This hybridization establishes the new plaza as a vast, continuous space hosting diverse settings: the grove and the esplanade. Furthermore, the proposed layout—specifically the placement of the esplanade—directly recognizes and highlights the Del Carmen parish church, a historical heritage site designed by architect Augusto Ferrari.
The design repositions the plaza's main gathering space—originally confined to the center—to relate directly to Ferrari's architectural heritage. It is configured as an open, multifunctional plinth that serves as a platform for various activities (fairs, shows, civic events, performances, etc.), fostering the democratic use of public space.
Within the grove, where a network of pathways spans the plaza from end to end, play areas for children, a sculpture walk featuring relocated existing artworks, and shaded rest zones are introduced, giving this area the character of a native park.
To ensure economic sustainability and the reuse of available resources, the design recovers both the original wooden benches and the existing light fixtures. The benches are placed along the edges of the plaza and at the transition between the esplanade and the grove, freeing up spaces for open appropriation. Meanwhile, the light fixtures are arranged as a system of reference points forming a regular grid. This layout reinforces the sense of spatial continuity between the wooded area and the esplanade, while guaranteeing uniform lighting throughout the plaza.
Vehicle circulation is reorganized by clearing the plaza's perimeter, concentrating the only parking bays along Alsina Street to create an eminently pedestrian environment. The paving design is based on the 2015 intervention on Del Carmen Avenue by the Municipality of Villa Allende, which acts as a reference to the heritage church building designed by Ferrari. Consequently, the design extends the paving pattern from that intervention across the entire surface of the proposed plaza.
The general landscaping strategy focuses on preserving all existing species identified in the provided survey. Trees marked for removal in the survey will be replaced with native species (such as Algarrobo Negro, Quebracho Blanco, Tala, Chañar, or Barba de Chivo). These species require minimal irrigation and are currently threatened or in decline.
In this way, the planting strategy supports ecological and environmental processes and their seasonal dynamics. Shrubbery is arranged in the play areas and paths of the grove, integrated into a system that traverses the plaza from end to end, creating new seating areas, alternative circulation paths, and play activities isolated from traffic. Recommended shrub species include ornamental grasses such as Stipa, Pennisetum ruppelii, and Russian Sage. The arrangement and design of these shrub masses within the open plaza connect this interior landscape with the surrounding urban backdrop.
This article was written by Agustina Iñiguez. The translation is powered by AI.
