Bâtiments Civils

The  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  analyze  the  role  that  architects  had  in  the  construction  of  public  architecture  at  the  technical-state  departments  since the end of the 19th century, being a relevant case  the  General  Direction  of  Architecture  of  the Ministry of Public Works. From its creation in 1906  to  1932,  the  year  in  which  an  architect,  José  Hortal,  was  appointed  director  for  the  first  time,  the  Direction  oversaw  notable  engineers  from  the  local  institutional  field.  However,  we  find  other  characters,  whose  education  oscillated  between  art  and  technique,  in  charge  of the design of public architecture. Although this process  recognizes  social  actors  and  institutions  of different provenance, we are interested in the relationship  between  the  institutions  dependent  on  the  recent  National-Estate:  The  University  of  Buenos Aires and the Ministry of Public Works. We assume  that  the  construction  of  the  institutional  buildings of the State supposed to overcome the ideas  of  rationality  economics  of  19th  technical-scientific knowledge, insufficient for the symbolic expression  of  the  state  architecture.  In  this  direction,  the  adoption  in  the  local  institutional  field of the beaux-arts system provided the tools for theoretical  and  design  discussion  to  express  the  public and national character of the architecture of the rising modern State.