What recession? Argentina constructing the largest building in Latin America

this_permalink = “http://voxxi.com/category/impremedia/”; this_site = “http://voxxi.com”;View gallery

UPDATE (9-16-14): The Audiovisual Polo project may now be the second largest building in South America. Find out what structure will be the tallest.

—

President Cristina Fernandez just announced the construction of “the highest building in Latin America” and Argentines have taken to Social Media to crack jokes about the news. The colossal project of the Audiovisual Polo on Demarchi island will include a hotel, TV studios, museums, an arena stadium with the capacity to house 15,000 people, parks, and restaurants in an area of 2,325,004 ft^2 (216,000 m^2).

Already existing industrial buildings will be turned into filming and TV studios, archives, as well as storage units for machinery, props and costumes. The National Institute of Audiovisual arts and Cinema, the offices of public channels, as well as the open Digital Television will be relocated there.

The whole design will expand to the green sectors of Puerto Madero, merging the new park with them. The scale would reach that of New York’s Central Park.

The 67-story tower, which will be white and blue -the colors of the Argentine flag- will be built in four stages and should be finished by 2019. “This means that the Government that takes over after me, has to commit to following through with the institutional framework and continue projects already started by previous governments, instead of letting them go and starting from scratch,” said the President on national broadcast, while 42 million Argentines listened in astonishment, disbelief and many unable to hold their laughter. It took just a few seconds for the net to burst with jokes and memes.

This outburst of jokes on the subject is brought forth because few people believe this announcement can be serious, viable or is at all timely, given the political, economic and social crisis affecting the country at internal and international levels.

“It will become the symbol of the city of Buenos Aires, our capital”, remarked the President visibly delighted with the project.

The plan to build an Audiovisual Polo was announced earlier in 2012, but it took two years to come to light. This time, finally, the winning project for the construction of the Audiovisual Polo was unveiled:  “It will be the tallest building in Latin America, the polo to to its tip will measure 1099 feet (335 meters), only beaten by the Chrysler Building and the Empire State building. Who cares! Ours is cuter because it will be in Buenos Aires,” said CF.

The Isla Demarchi is an enormous area located in the South of Puerto Madero. It was home to a huge industrial complex, which included factories, shipyards, chemical plants and barns. Nowadays Puerto Madero has a number of tall buildings, and some rise up close to 656 feet (200 meters), however none of them reach the standard of “skyscraper,” only applicable to those over 984 feet (300 meters).

The tallest building in Latin America already generates controversy

Before starting the new building project some problems have to be dealt with, and cannot be ignored, the unions representing the workers still working on the Isla Demarchi are reluctant to leave. Who are they? The Directorate of Waterways, the training school of the Union of Maritime Workers (SOMU), the National Fluvial School and workshops, deposits and construction of dredging companies.

In times of crisis the answer is to spend more?

The complex will be built in partnership with the public and private sector. The State will provide “the goods,” i.e., the land at the southern end of Puerto Madero – appraised by the National Court and set to $620 million – and the company Riva SA, which won the tender among four other companies, will handle the construction and investment, $250 million (2.5 billion pesos). On 17 October -Peronista Loyalty Day- will be the inaugural unveiling of the official building plan.

The opposition

The national Government and the Government of the city of Buenos Aires (PRO) are clearly against each other on the political level, and the idea of CF may not circumvent the Buenos Aires legislature. The Government Deputy, MarIa Eugenia Vidal, said that Cristina Fernandez’s initiative must be evaluated by the Buenos Aires deputies; “The idea will be attractive if it’s good for the city” since the grounds are in the Federal Capital’s jurisdiction.

Social Media teases mega tower in the Isla Demarchi

The announcement the President made on the construction of the tallest building in Latin America flooded the networks in no time, becoming a trend with large doses of irony and humor. The image released by the Presidency, which was a design of the project by Riva S.A. company, was used to add words and illustrations like King Kong, former President Carlos Menem and his project of the rocket to Japan, and even Tony Hawk, the world’s skateboarding legend. Well, the fact is that there’s not much more left but humor for Argentines to cope with stormy times like these.