The Petroperú building, jointly designed by architects Walter Weberhofer and Daniel Arana Ríos, was the result of a state competition held by the military government of Velasco Alvarado in the early 1970s. The building, strategically located in the capital of Peru, within the prosperous district of San Isidro, was designed to house the recently created state company in charge of the whole petroleum process of the country (Petroperú S.A.). The monumental building, built and inaugurated in 1973, became the symbol of the newly installed regime.
The materiality of the building's brutalist character managed, in its time, to project a progressive and technological image. This is due to the combination of hammered exposed concrete, curtain walls and coloured tempered glass. Thus, it managed to transmit the technical skill and efficiency of the Peruvian construction industry. In the same way, the revolutionary government valued the monumental character of the building, which, unlike its context, made the complex visible from all directions.
The architectural complex takes advantage of the corner site and is composed of a series of superimposed orthogonal volumes that move in height towards the centre of the site, gently accommodating the city. The volumetric hierarchy begins with a wide horizontal entrance platform, a medium-sized tower attached to the main tower and the 22-storey central tower, which stands out from the lower blocks. In this way, the care and management of the various scales of the project allows the monumentality of the building to be maintained without detracting from the pedestrian experience: "The double vision of the building, from far and near, from outside and inside, leaves the sensation that both have been very well managed. This project, because of the precision of its approach, achieves something difficult to accomplish: the monumental scale does not contradict the human scale" (Bonilla Di Tolla, et al., 2009, p. 388).
For this reason, the design of the first levels plays a very important role, achieving an interesting play of heights and large spaces for the public areas. The auditoriums, exhibition halls and customer service areas are located here. Equally important, the interior plazas play the role of connecting the spaces at different levels with the car park and its fountains on the first floor. In contrast, the upper levels maintain a more controlled scale as they are intended for offices, which are topped at the top by the company's board of directors.
The Petroperú building presents an imposing and unified image, designed to create harmony between the pedestrian and the city, while meeting the requirements of the Military Government First Phase. Today, it is a classic of Peru's modern architecture movement, which continues to inspire generations of architects in the country.
Sources:
Acevedo de los Ríos, A. y Llona Ridout, M. (2015) Catálogo Arquitectura Movimiento Moderno Perú. Recuperado el 16 de Julio de 2018, de cammp.ulima.edu.pe
Universidad de Lima (Ed.). (2017). Walter Weberhofer: el proyecto moderno en el Perú. Lima: Universidad de Lima. Fondo Editorial.
Bonilla di Tola, E., Fuentes Huerta, M., García Bryce, J., Guzmán Juárez, M., Martucelli Casanova, E., Negro Tua, S., et. al. (2009). Guía de Arquitectura y Paisaje. Lima y el Callao. Lima: Universidad Ricardo Palma
FAUA-UNI, y Fundación Ford. (2012, Enero 11). 4969 EDIFICIO PETROPERU [Entrada de blog]. Recuperado desde http://arquitecturacontemporanealima.blogspot.com/2012/01/161.html
