This office building in Avenida Leandro N. Alem 719 perfectly reflects the architectural style of Early Modernism. Completed in 1950, it was the tallest building in Buenos Aires for almost 50 years. Legend has it that Juan Domingo Perón personally ordered to include a nuclear bunker in the building which he would use in case of war or a coup d'état. But de facto, he never did. Maybe the bunker is yet another urban myth because it doesn't exist nowadays. A bare fact is that in 2009 the Edificio Alas with its 141m (463ft) ranks 20th of the highest buildings in Buenos Aires. Actually, I liked the building on first sight for its futuristic and puristic looks. The Alas Tower could be, as it stands today, from the movie Metropolis or a dystopian fiction novel by George Orwell or Aldous Huxley.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Edificio Alas in Downtown Buenos Aires
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6 comments:
I like this a lot! Bunker or no bunker!
Your composition shows it off well.
Could use a little cleaning up, though. Can you imagine what it would look like if all that mildew was pressure cleaned?
And yes, we have a lot of tangled lines. The subdivision in which we live, however, has all lines underground which looks very nice.
The trouble is, if a power line a couple of blocks away gets blown down, then we lose power, too. Maybe some day they'll put all the lines below the sod.
Reminds me of a lot of buildings in Moscow, or even Helsinki. I always though this type of constructions was a sure sign of someone's megalomania. It was in Russia.
It does look a bit like the headquarters of some totalitarian Big Brother party. I like the framing.
Nice perspective and composition too!
I agree with Rob, the Alas building does remind me of buildings in the then Eastern Germany. When I lived in Prague in the 70s I saw many buildings - not as high - but with the same lines and look.
The sky is so blue! I like the angle you chose to take this photo from as it emphasizes how tall the building is.
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