The Paseo la Plaza has always captivated us locals for its enigmatic urban space, whose language empathizes with the collective imaginary of the heterogeneous nature of a city, especially like Buenos Aires.

As its name suggests, the prevailing emptiness, air and vegetation literally illustrate its identity. Its alleys of cobblestones surround the theaters where each building has an identity that emulates an old village. It is in this unique attribute that we have analyzed how we can integrate a new identity, that must keep "Paseo la Plaza" as the protagonist and the "Mercado Manduca" as its integrated market.

This integration is translated into an element that we define as " metal strip", which constitutes the very identity of the market. It is a communication platform in itself and it conveys a contemporary and integrated language throughout its length. The Manduca plaza within the promenade also makes it a sustainable vegetation proposal.

The strategy has been to maintain the heterogeneity of its buildings in its tectonic and formal aspects while also homogenizing its volumes. Therefore, we implemented dark tones so that the new use as a market is differentiated not only by its light tones, but also by its tectonics.

The "metal strip" is light and made of metal sheets. This piece rises from the ground level between vegetated flower beds, containing 10 commercial premises designed as windows of the old sidewalk bars. Under the same porche language we have defined areas of common use for the diners, as a continuation of the construction system itself.

White floorings at the front of the venues serve as their own sidewalks. Next, gray and black generate a gradient towards a central organic figure that emulates a stream, unifying the green areas along the promenade.

The large garden areas located around the tower perimeter have been intervened, allowing for use within them via a transitable and absorbent paving. There we placed new, cement-made organic figures to accompany the shapes of the garden areas filled with new native species.

On the first level, we set up picnic tables in front of the main theater room. This area is covered by two large tightened fabrics, under which a sort of garlands illuminates with a kermis-like code.

The first floor of the Manduca promenade was adapted with a restroom for the disabled, as well as a service elevator connecting the basements and first floors of half of the commercial premises.

The sustainable strategy was to reuse the old building, demolishing the minimum and necessary, taking into account existing Modularity, respecting the same access spaces to the old commercial premises, but in this case incorporating new facades. The project has added vegetated areas on the roofs of all the stores fronts, adding vegetation to the already vegetated "Paseo la Plaza". Cobblestones and peremable floor were incorporated to absorb rainwater and the original trees of the promenade were respected during demolition.