"We See Difference as a Value and Uniqueness as a Catalyst for Collectivity." Get to Know the Work of BBOA Balparda Brunel Oficina de ArquitecturaSave this picture!Edificio Baigorria. Image Javier Agustn RojasIn recent years, the Argentine architectural field has been shaped by a group of young architects striving to create architecture that responds innovatively to contemporary needs and, above all, to local contexts. Adding their individual perspectives and interests, among them, we can highlight the work of architects Toms Balparda and Fernando Brunel.In 2012, Toms and Fernando founded their office, BBOA Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura, while finishing their studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Planning, and Design at the National University of Rosario. They started working together as students, gradually transitioning into the professional field. Today, their journey positions them among the key figures in local architecture.Save this picture!In their built work, which primarily focuses on housing at various scales, we see a strong interest in finding opportunities to explore, innovate, and create. Through architectural design, they aim not only to fulfill commissions and meet established requirements but also to generate unique and unrepeatable solutions. Related Article Emerging Architecture: Discover the Work of Five Leading Studios in the City of Crdoba, Argentina Among other awards and recognitions received both in Argentina and internationally, their work was featured in the Argentine Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale, La Casa Infinita, curated by Gerardo Caballero, which showcased representative social housing projects in Argentina. Additionally, they were one of the 13 emerging architecture studios selected to present their work at the Latin American Architecture Biennial held in Pamplona in 2021. Save this picture!We had the opportunity to speak with them and learn more about their work, interests, and perspectives on their own architecture and the region.AD (Paula Pintos): How is the BBOA team structured, and what is your working methodology?BBOA: We are a relatively young office whose structure has been highly flexible from the start. Over time, more than 20 collaborators have been involved in different capacities, with the team fluctuating between just the two of us at times and expanding to 10 members at others. We see this dynamism as a reflection of the ever-changing reality in our country, particularly in relation to the volume of commissions we receive. Currently, our team consists of the two of us (Toms Balparda and Fernando Brunel), two collaborators (Franco Mascetti and Bruno Degiorgio), and an intern (Gianluca Bella).The office's methodology consists of trial-and-error mechanisms, where all possible solutions for a specific commission are tested and explored horizontally by the entire team. The systems or "rules of the game" that later become project guidelines emerge as a result of the exchange with the client and discussions with the team. In general terms, we could say it operates like a testing laboratory, where countless possible outcomes for the same problem are evaluated.The life of the studio is very dynamic, driven not only by the range of commissions we receive but also by changes in the structure of the team. As long-time partners and friends, professional and personal growth constantly intertwine, making it difficult to define a routine.Save this picture!AD: Where do you find inspiration for architecture? What are your resources when designing?BBOA: As a professional office, where carefully considered architectural design is not always a requirement from clients, we find great motivation and satisfaction in proposing architecture within the gray areas of the commissions. The unsolicited response often arises almost intuitively, driven by our conviction that architecture can positively surprise those who experience it. Pushing the boundaries set by the market is a constant challenge in our professional practice. At the same time, the challenge of proposing architecture that equally recognizes all the actors involved in each commission has been a common interest of the office since its inception.Currently, as a creative duo, we are in a process of research and discovery of our architectural identity, where we push the boundaries of our proposals in a freer way, developing a certain project handwriting that draws from personal interests and inspirations. These are collectively tested within the office.AD: Through the narrative of their works, it is evident that they approach architecture with a constant search to break with the established. How does this search unfold?BBOA: From the beginning of the office, the conceptual search has been driven by experimentation, usually within the theme of housing and its various scales. The predominance of uniqueness within the collective and the interstice as a tool to achieve this have become common denominators in our work. We understand society as the sum of individual beings, each with diverse identities, interests, and possibilities. For this reason, we develop ideas that address this condition of community, using architecture as a tool to blur these boundaries.When we explore collective housing systems, the primary intention is to address the concept of the whole without neglecting the individual condition of its inhabitants. The search for variations, options, and possibilities that cater to diversity is fundamental in the development of our proposals. We believe that altering the order of things can generate significant benefits in the pursuit of identity and the uniqueness inherent to a sense of belonging.BBOA: We understand difference as a value, uniqueness as the generator of collectivity, a collectivity that, in turn, recognizes and expresses the context in which we develop our profession, with its own distinct social, cultural, and housing access disparities.AD: Which of your projects do you believe best reflects this search?Save this picture!BBOA: In the Baigorria project, for example, we address the issue of impersonality in collective housing, reflected in the endless repetition of identical units dictated by the basis of the commissiona characteristic that contrasts with the notion of identity we mentioned earlier. Therefore, understanding that the perception and experience of a diverse architectural environment provides the user with a sense of belonging and ownership of the spaces, the proposal seeks to address this imminent need for singularity and individual identity.Without abandoning the base implantation strategy developed by the State Property Administration Agency, a proposal was developed to delve deeper into the projected hypothesis, taking into account the program, orientations, views, green spaces, interstitial spaces, circulations, and access points. The main intention was to achieve greater diversity in the types of units, while always respecting the surface areas and features established by the base.One of the resources used to deepen this search was to separate the vertical circulation cores and incorporate them into the building mass as void cells. In this way, a linear circulation that would cross all the units was avoided, and it allowed both fronts of the apartments to have direct contact with the exterior. Additionally, these void cells, in contact with the city level, served as entrances, creating a visual-functional connection between the street and the interior courtyard of the complex. This optimized the relationship of the building with the urban environment, as the public pedestrian level gained greater control by the users. This volumetric operation was developed by creating a duplex typology that bridges the social floor with the bedroom floor, generating a series of common terraces that act as distributors, perforating the building mass and allowing large amounts of light into the central courtyard.Through the resolution of the different housing typologies and the application of the various considered variables, we achieve the result of a fragment of the city where the inhabitants not only experience a heterogeneous and dynamic urban environment but also where the owners of the units enjoy the same living conditions. Spatial quality is equally addressed in all prototypes, respecting surface areas, room dimensions, and the placement of openings. Ultimately, the aim is to express an architecture that not only benefits the inhabitants of the dwellings but also considers the citizen in the offering of possible urban scenarios, understanding the residential project itself as the construction of a landscape.Save this picture!Save this picture!AD: What are your professional projections for the future? What topics are you interested in researching and developing further?BBOA: As an office that also builds, we find several advantages in promoting our own small-scale developments. We believe that being involved in all the stages of a project allows us to have greater control over the proposed architecture, which in turn opens up the opportunity to explore solutions that are of particular interest to us. This approach seems to be one of the areas we are most interested in strengthening and developing in the near future.On the other hand, personal interests that intertwine with our professional goals drive us to seek opportunities that will allow us to develop our office both in Argentina and abroad. Academic experiences in France, England, and Spain, along with some projects completed in Italy and Russia, inspire us to dream of the possibility of establishing a branch of BBOA overseas.Save this picture!AD: Tell us about your participation in the Latin American Architecture Biennale in Pamplona. Why do you think a biennale of this kind is important?BBOA: The experience of the Latin American Architecture Biennale (BAL) was incredible. The exchange with colleagues from the same generation, coming from different regions of Latin America, was very enriching. We believe that the convergence and juxtaposition of nuances that came together there strengthens all the professionals involved, both the invited and the organizers. The idea of creating a collective of emerging Latin American architects is crucial for fostering networks of contact and exchange, as well as personal and professional relationships that allow us to understand the different contexts and works being carried out across Latin America. We celebrate and support future editions of this biennale from our position, while also encouraging the replication of this exemplary BAL Pamplona model, due to the valuable contribution it makes to the architectural discipline.Save this picture!AD: What recommendations would you give to students and/or those starting out in the profession?BBOA: Our office, like many others, was born in the academic setting as a duo of students, an essence that we believe we have not lost when practicing the profession. While the limits of intervention in professional practice are more rigid, we believe that the initiative to research and explore personal interests when making architecture is always possible, even if it doesn't seem that way at first glance.We understand that the circumstances and situations of students are so varied that it is difficult to recommend, from our perspective, general guidelines that could be universally applied. That being said, we consider it essential for students to have self-awareness about what they find valuable, enjoyable, or interesting within architecture, along with the desire to develop their search when practicing the profession.Save this picture!What is your vision of Latin American architecture and your region's future?BBOA: Throughout the presentations of different colleagues and numerous reflections arising from various debates during the BAL, we identified "scarcity" as a common denominator in the discourse. At times, there is a scarcity of resources, technologies, commissions, and materials, typical of a region with developing countries. However, the contrast with the realities of Spanish colleagues highlights the virtues, advantages, and possibilities that exist in Latin America.In our region, the possibilities of actually building projects are much more attainable than in more developed countries, where regulatory constraints make it much harder to develop the profession. In this regard, we believe that an optimistic view of Latin American architecture, and in our case, Argentine architecture as well, must particularly recognize the potential of what is possible in terms of built architecture.Save this picture!Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorPaula PintosAuthorCite: Pintos, Paula. ""We See Difference as a Value and Uniqueness as a Catalyst for Collectivity." Get to Know the Work of BBOA Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura" [BBOA - Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura: "Entendemos la diferencia como un valor, la singularidad como generatriz de colectividad"] 07 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027691/we-see-difference-as-a-value-and-uniqueness-as-a-catalyst-for-collectivit-get-to-know-the-work-of-bboa-balparda-brunel-oficina-de-arquitectura&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream