Contamination

The thesis outlines a project for Santa Fe, the first port city of Argentina situated on the Rio Paranà. The character of the region is shaped by the city and the river, and the port area is the place of relations between them. To this end, a spatial device is proposed that unifies the different landscapes and enables a more comprehensive perception of them.

The interplay between artifice and nature and the symbiotic relationship between city and river have always been fundamental elements of the Argentine territory. This dynamic is particularly evident in the city of Santa Fe, where the two distinct landscapes shape its character. The artificial landscape is composed of three different textures: the regular and saturated checkerboard layout of the city grid, interrupted by the network of railways; the port, characterized by its confusing mixture of accessible and inaccessible spaces and dominated by large industrial structures; finally, the Altoverde neighborhood, a complex structure of endless labyrinths and corridors without sidewalks, intertwined with the dense system of "ranchos" constructions. This artificial landscape contrasts with the natural landscape of the large river system, which is characterized by an ever-changing terrain of water and earth. Elements that alternately portray themselves, blurring the same line of the horizon in different ways and transforming the landscape into an interweaving of lines and islands that sink to re-emerge in ever different ways, creating changing but ancestral scenarios. The port area is proposed as a place of possible relationships between water and land, offering opportunities to rediscover the city's ancient ties. The project fits between these two large systems, assuming the unstable and sometimes dramatic relationship between water and land as the formal matrix of the collective space. The proposal, therefore, defines a spatial device capable of integrating various landscapes and providing a coherent perception of them. It creates a unitary space where different public spaces come together to form a continuous system characterized by water and land, nature, and artificial elements. This perfect integration unites the different entities, but preserves their distinct character, within a single spatial system that balances the relationship between the city and the original territory, it is configured as their harmonic interface.