New York-based architecture and interior design firm ODA has unveiled of its first large-scale mixed-use project in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

The project, named OLA Palermo, was converted from a decaying parking structure into a public park and Class A office building, replacing the concrete shell with cafés, restaurants, retail, an open-air promenade, offices and a sheltered parking lot.

OLA Palermo will serve as an iconic new civic space and a vital connection point for the city, reuniting areas that are currently separated by this land parcel, situated between the racecourse and the well-known park "El Rosedal de Palermo."

BSD Investments was awarded a 15-year concession to develop the property known as Ámbito Gigena by the government of Buenos Aires City.

"We have an abandoned concrete infrastructure that does not speak at all with its surroundings nor is useful for the city and its inhabitants," explained the architect and urban planner Álvaro García Resta, secretary of Urban Development of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires. For this reason, the goal is to transform the three-story building into a “multi purpose development."

The adaptive reuse project takes advantage of its unique location at the edge of an active park to complete the park loop by extending the green path up along one side of the building to reach the landscaped roof and then ramping down on the other side to reconnect with the park. 

The rooftop extends the public park, featuring a commercial brewery and private terraces for office tenants. This design positions the project as a significant intersection of public and private sectors, unified by nature. 

The remarkable glass front reflects the sky and verdant environment, generating organic curves that soften the lines of the current parking structure.

"This project is a great example of a public-private partnership to create a truly unique typology that will benefit the city and its citizens for decades to come," said ODA founder Eran Chen. 

"These types of partnerships are the future. Itʼs ambitious and takes bravery and bold leadership on all fronts, but when this is completed we will have a park that will become an icon for the city, and quite possibly the coolest office building in the southern hemisphere," Chen added.

Recycling 80 per cent of the original structure, this sustainable design creates a 160,000-square-foot (14,864 square meter) building that connects two neighborhoods that were previously separated. 

Gigena will feature over 40,000 square feet (3,716 square meters) of public terrace and open green areas, designed with pedestrian pathways and a parking facility for 250 cars. 

"The treatment given to these open air gardens is that of a wild landscape with native flora. But it wonʼt be a park made to contemplate, it will be a dynamic area, to stroll and explore," said García Resta.

"The healthiest city is that which has a balanced mixed use of its public space. Where only one thing happens and not many, the number of people making use of these shared spaces is restricted," Resta added. 

The project was completed in November 2024. The design team comprises ODA as the design architect, Aisenson studio as the executive architect, ODA and Inscape Landscape as landscape architects, BSD Investments, a well-known developer with projects in both Argentina and the United States, and Coinsa, a leading firm with a proven track record of over 7,000,000 square feet (65,000 square meters) of completed work in Argentina.

ODA also designs the distinctive structures for Deer Valley East Village, the first ski village built from the ground up in North America in forty years, in Park City, Utah. In addition, the firm has unveiled design for Ombelle, a pair of sculptural residential towers in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

All images © Alan Karchmer.

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