A twisting tower signals the presence of this cultural centre and historical archive in Spanish city Córdoba, which features a huge sloping public square on its roof.

The proposal for the regeneration of a site in Córdoba?s Sarmiento Park is the result of a collaboration between architects Ivan Castaneda, Juan Salassa and Santiago Tissot of STC Arquitectos, along with Alejandro Cohen, Cristian Nanzer and Inés Saal.
Commissioned by the local government, the project aimed to create a new home for a centre commemorating the bicentennial of the Argentine Republic, alongside a historical archive and auditorium.

The brief called for a design that was more like a landscape than a building, enabling the centre to merge with its surroundings while also functioning as a space for hosting large public events. Its location between two existing museums on a plot that drops 6.5 metres in height prompted a subtle solution that aims not to detract from its neighbours.

"The operation consisted of replacing a piece of land from the natural ground with the planned building," said the project team. "In this way, the square and the [tower] are the only tectonic devices seen as urban pieces and landscape."

The building is made up of three main elements; the slender tower, a pavilion containing the cultural centre, and the plaza, with its various pathways and meeting places.

The fluid surface of the public square forms a thoroughfare connecting the park on one...