“The Lola Mora Cultural Center is more than a museum; it is a place where architecture, art, and landscape come together to create a unique cultural experience – it celebrates creativity, cultural identity, and the transformative power of public spaces"

- Victoria Martínez Fascio, Director of the Lola Mora Center.

This week, we celebrate the completion and opening of the Lola Mora Cultural Center, located in northwest Argentina and dedicated to the life and work of Argentine artist Lola Mora (1866–1936). The project is our practice's first cultural building in South America and the final project led by our founder, César Pelli, FAIA (1926–2019).

Situated at the foot of the Andes and surrounded by dense subtropical Yunga forest, the cultural center overlooks the city of San Salvador de Jujuy. The building's curving form follows the site's topography and embraces an existing grove of native trees. A narrow entrance leads to a bridge that spans a natural ravine — engineered to minimize disruption to the land — and gradually widens to a main lobby and exhibition hall clad in floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing Lola Mora's sculptures to be viewed from multiple angles and distances against a backdrop of forest and mountains. Beyond the main exhibition hall, the building houses an interpretation center, restaurant, library, gift shop, and atelier for visiting artists and temporary exhibitions.

The cultural center occupies a 1.3-hectare site, with gardens designed by Balmori Associates, the landscape architecture firm founded by César Pelli's late wife, Diana Balmori. The project places significant emphasis on preserving and strengthening the existing ecology, with the architecture woven among the existing native trees, minimizing its impact on the terrain.

The center brings together, for the first time in more than a century, six monumental neoclassical works carved in Carrara marble by Lola Mora, a pioneering Argentine sculptor of international renown. Originally commissioned for the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires for its inauguration in 1906, the sculptures were removed fifteen years later and donated to the province of Jujuy. After standing exposed to the elements for over a hundred years, the six allegorical works — The Lions, Liberty, Progress, Work, Peace, and Justice — are now displayed in the Lola Mora Cultural Center, a space conceived specifically to house them and honor the artist’s legacy.

The building’s horizontal form is contrasted by a vertical tower that signals the cultural center’s presence from afar and houses five wind turbines. Together with other on-site renewable-energy sources—photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors for hot water—the building generates 100% of its energy needs. A high-performance building envelope and state-of-the-art mechanical systems reduce energy consumption by 23%. The center also features a rainwater-harvesting system for irrigation where small dams located across the ravine slow runoff, mitigating erosion and helping preserve the surrounding ecosystem. A significant portion of materials, including the building's stone cladding, is locally sourced, reducing the transportation-related impacts while supporting regional economic development. The project is pursuing LEED Gold certification.