UIA

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Nahuel Huapi National Park Hotel (Argentina)

The Argentinean promoter << Lago Espejo Resort S.A. >> launched an international architectural competition, open and anonymous, for the design of a five star hotel, close to villa La Angostura, in Nahuel Huapi National Park, located in the province of Neuquen, Argentina. The competition was organised in the framework of the Buenos Aires International Biennial of Architecture, which took place in November 1998.

Conform with the UNESCO/UIA Recommendation concerning international competitions in architecture and town planning, the competition received the approval of the International Union of Architects - UIA.

OBJECTIVES AND COMPETITION PROGRAMME

The objective of the promoter was the development of a prestigious tourism pole in this region of southern Argentina , on an exceptional site on the shores of Espejo lake, an area particularly rich in natural heritage. The area, protected by the administration for National Parks, called for an exemplary design in harmony with the landscape and vegetation in which it is integrated. The programme for the 100 room hotel, covering an area of 7 000 m2, included hotel services, a pool, leisure spaces and nautical activities.

JURY COMPOSITION

The jury was composed as follows: Sara Topelson de Grinberg (Mexico), UIA President, Josef Paul Kleihues, architect (Germany), Tomas Dagnino, architect (Argentina), Massimiliano Fuksas, architect (Italy), Jorge Glusberg (Argentina), Luis Grossman (Argentina), Hans Hollein, architect (Austria), Augusto Pantarotto, architect (Argentina), César Pelli, architect (USA), Stanley Tigerman, architect (USA), Angel Kalenberg (Uruguay) and William Kücker, architect, (Germany).

PRIZE WINNERS

• First Prize : Matti Ragaz Hitz Architekten and Camera Eye Architekten (Switzerland)
• Second Prize : Edward Mills & Associates (USA)
• Third Prize : Guido van Oyen, Christophe van Oyen, Dominique Dufait (Belgium)

Mentions:

• Paul Laurendeau, in collaboration with Jean-François Roy, Martin Beausejour (Canada)
• Ross Hylton Cox, Ilan Zvi Sharon (United Kingdom).

WINNING PROJECT

The jury's choice of the winning project may be described, in the words of Joseph Paul Kleihues, by the following three aspects:

• Consideration for the natural beauty of the area by proposing minimal building on the site;
• High architectural standard although of very modest appearance;
• The choice of a solitary building rather than a number of scattered buildings will from the outset avoid any over development of the site.

Finally, << even if the disposition of the winning design cannot be compared with the great hotels of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, it can be seen in their great tradition >>.

Paris, 18 February 1999