Location | Mercedes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Team | AFT Arquitectos + Región Austral
State | under construction
Client I YPF – MINCyT – CONICET
Year I 2022
In the face of climate change and worldwide population growth, ensuring access to food thus improving productivity and efficiency, is of paramount importance. The Humid Pampa region, Argentina’s productive core, may embrace this challenge and become a leading territory to envision the sustainable development of agriculture. Embedded in this flat and extremely fertile landscape with a clearly distinct horizon line, suburban Mercedes city will hold the Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Agriculture (CISA hereafter).
The 132-hectare CISA combines an ecological land use strategy with cutting-edge technology, experimental seed fields, and Argentina’s solid scientific community, all working towards sustainably improving agricultural practices. The Masterplan transforms a heritage property into a technology and innovation campus with repurposed century-old buildings and preserved vegetation, protecting the lot’s ecosystem services. Research through experimentation takes place in open fields and in a new laboratory building constructed entirely with glued laminated timber technology. Within an environment of constant information flux, some areas establish a programmatic link with the community of Mercedes.
This state-promoted regional pole establishes a benchmark for applied research and the transformation of agriculture. Hence, providing a significant contribution to Argentina’s productive development in light of climate change and the imperative need to promote food security.
