Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a district of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos Aires. From its inception, the city of Buenos Aires had a problem accommodating large cargo ships. The shallow river did not allow for direct docking, so ships remained far from the shore and unloaded passengers and merchandise onto barges and ferries for transport to the pier. In 1882 the national government contracted local businessman Eduardo Madero to be in charge of the construction of a new port which would solve these disadvantages. Madero's project, designed by British engineer Sir John Hawkshaw, was chosen from among numerous others. Construction began in 1887 and was completed in 1897, although the installed fittings had been partially operative since some years before. Important amounts of money were spent in this construction and it was an engineering landmark of the time. Ten years after completion, however, the appearance of larger cargo ships made Puerto Madero obsolete. The government had to then face the construction of a new port, this time contracting engineer Luis Huergo, whose plans for a port of staggered docks which would open directly to the river was among those rejected in the 1880s. His plans resulted in the "Puerto Nuevo" (New Port), still perfectly operative after its first segment opened in 1911. Argentine sculptor Lola Mora's "Font of the Nereids", 1903The New Port of Buenos Aires was completed in 1926, making the existing Madero docks superfluous. Though these continued to serve in ancillary port functions, the zone gradually decayed, becoming one of the city's most degraded areas, a mixture of warehouses and large tracts of undeveloped land. In 1925, 1940, 1960, 1969, 1971, 1981 and 1985 successive proposals were put forth with the intent of
Size: 5146px × 3417px
Location: Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Photo credit: © Jonathan Gordon / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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