12th Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture at the Recoleta Cultural Center
Buenos Aires. In 1716 the Solar was donated to the Recoletos Franciscan friars. Jesuit architects John Krauss and John Wolf made the first drawings of the construction, and the front and the interior spaces of the convent are believed to have been built by the Italian Andrés Blanqui. The work was completed in 1732.
Since the early decades of the nineteenth century the building had several uses, including a design school created by Gen. Manuel Belgrano, and from the seventies its cloisters provided accomodation to the Beggars Home. The building and the whole area were privileged sites within the sanitation and beautification plan carried out by Torcuato de Alvear, the first mayor of Buenos Aires.
The architect John Buschiazzo was responsible for the significant refurbishment that was performed throughout the eighties of the 19th century. Such recycling can be considered a pioneer and one of the best redisignings of the city of Buenos Aires. Regarding the Cultural Center, it included the construction of several pavilions, a chapel which has become an auditorium, as well as facades, walls and terraces of Italianate style.
The Elderly Nursing Home General Viamonte was later set up. In 1980, the complex was remodeled to carry out its new function as a Cultural Center, a task entrusted to architects Clorindo Testa, Jacques Bedel, and Luis Benedit.