Pabellón del Centenario

The project begins with a critical reading of the territory: it identifies the historical layers that shaped the current urban condition and turns them into the starting point for a meaningful transformation. Its founding question is not technical but conceptual — how to build city without erasing what the city already is. Heritage structures are incorporated as active elements of the project. Rather than remaining as untouchable monuments, buildings of historical value are reprogrammed and connected to the new mixed-use fabric, generating a spatial continuity that responds to the contemporary needs of those who inhabit it. The project articulates a connectivity strategy at urban scale, transforming a physically isolated sector into a node of encounter. Open spaces and landmark buildings operate as reference points that guide the pedestrian experience and enrich the urban fabric with new public life. Developed at competition stage, the proposal demonstrates that urban integration becomes achievable when heritage is understood as an active resource — one that shapes, rather than limits, the architectural imagination.