This sheet of architectural drawings was created by C J Lim for submission to the 1997 international competition for the design of the Constantini Museum (now known as MALBA, Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires). CJ Lim’s ambitious scheme for the museum complex focused on reconfiguring the urban landscape to create a safe and social space in the centre of Buenos Aires. The scheme used the manipulation of water to create a flexible recreational ‘flood plane’at ground level which could be filled or drained to accommodate a range of activities, from concerts and performance art, to skateboarding and swimming.

The complex was to be divided into ten zones, the museum itself occupying the tenth. Inside the museum complex, space was allocated to an auditorium, car park, café and shops, as well as designated exhibition areas. Three public walkways were intended to allow visitors access from ground level to different points of the museum. The modulation of the water levels would define how the internal zones were used and experienced, by changing the light, colour, intensity, noise and occupancy of these spaces. Although unrealised, this architectural scheme offers an important visual record of the design history of the MALBA and the international competition that led to its creation.

C J Lim (b.1964) is a London-based architect with his own practice, Studio 8 Architects, specialising in urban planning, architecture and landscape. He is Professor of Architecture and Cultural Design at the Bartlett, University College London and was trained at the Architectural Association.