Local expertise, global vision: Foster + Partners’ work in South America

In a rapidly shifting geopolitical and economic landscape, British architectural practices are having to adapt quickly to maintain their international standing. For decades, UK firms have enjoyed a strong reputation abroad, particularly in the Middle East, where large-scale, high-profile projects have defined their presence. However, as economic headwinds, political realignments and shifting investment patterns reshape the global market, the most agile and ambitious firms are constantly seeking new opportunities. Foster + Partners has long been at the forefront, leveraging its global repureputation to establish a foothold in emerging and evolving markets.

In recent years, the practice has been deepening its engagement with South America – a region of economic volatility but also significant growth potential. Leading this effort is Juan Frigerio, an Argentinian architect who has played a key role in expanding Foster + Partners’ presence across the continent.

Based in Buenos Aires since 2007, he oversees the practice’s work in the region, navigating a complex business environment where international fees are constrained, close interpersonal relationships underpin success, and the political context can shift suddenly. His role is not just about securing projects but about demonstrating that high-quality design can thrive even in challenging markets.

Starting out

Frigerio’s path to architecture was shaped by a childhood spent living across Latin America, though formative years in Buenos Aires left a lasting impression. Born in the United States to Argentinian parents, he moved frequently but developed a strong connection to the city’s architecture.

“There were a lot of buildings in Buenos Aires that inspired me as a child,” he recalls. One of them is the Kavanagh Building on Plaza San Martín, designed by Gregorio Sánchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis María de la Torre, and completed in 1934.

“It’s a beautiful art deco building and was one of the most technologically advanced buildings of its time,” Frigerio explains. “It’s like a triangular skyscraper – a little like the Flatiron in New York.”

He was equally fascinated by the city’s former post office, a grand palazzo-style building in the neoclassical beaux-arts style by French architect Norbert Maillart, that is now a major cultural centre, and stands near one of Foster + Partners’ current projects, a new office tower at Avenida Córdoba 120. “Argentina always looked to Europe a lot,” Frigerio notes.

“In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country’s elite modelled its cities on Paris and London, and the schools were shaped by the beaux-arts tradition. You can see the legacy of that throughout Buenos Aires”.

That early exposure sparked a passion for architecture, though his ambitions were initially met with resistance. “My parents weren’t very keen on me studying anything artistic, so I went to engineering school,” he says. “I did a first year of civil engineering but, after realising it wasn’t the right fit for me, I decided to switch to architecture!”

It was a decision that set him on a path leading to major international projects, from Wembley Stadium and Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan to Faena Aleph Residences in Buenos Aires – Foster + Partners’ first built project in South America.

From New York to London

Frigerio began his architectural studies at the University of Buenos Aires and spent a couple of years working in his home city before deciding to move abroad. “I went to New York. I loved it and was adamant I would stay there, so I took my portfolio from door to door, ringing the bell and trying to get work.”

Eventually, he secured a role at Gabellini Associates, working on luxury interiors, including flagship stores in Germany and New York.

After nearly two years in New York, he pursued a master’s degree at Harvard University, later joining Machado and Silvetti Associates in Boston. “The principals were also Argentine, so I had a great connection there.”

His next move was prompted by personal circumstances rather than career planning. “My partner at the time got a scholarship to study planning at the Bartlett in London. She was like, ‘you’re either coming or it’s over’, so I kind of had a gun put to my head. I said to myself, ‘well, London can’t be that bad’.”

Frigerio arrived in London in 2000, initially applying to multiple firms. “Of the four, three offered me jobs, and I wasn’t sure who I wanted to work with. So I said, ‘well, I will go and see their built work and decide’.”

Although he had studied Foster + Partners’ work at university, he had not previously considered working for the practice. “I was more thinking of going to Spain to work with Rafael Moneo. So it was my partner’s fault – she was the Anglophile.”

At the time, Foster + Partners was still expanding its presence in the US, with projects like the Hearst Tower and MFA Boston yet to establish its reputation there. “I’d only ever seen Foster’s work through books, but when I saw Canary Wharf station, I just thought it was a gorgeous piece of architecture and said to myself, ‘this is where I want to work’.” He joined the practice in 2000 and was soon involved in some of its most significant projects.

From Wembley back to Buenos Aires

“I’m a football nut and I knew Wembley was getting started. So, when I was interviewed, I said I really wanted to work on the project.”

He joined the stadium team in 2000, initially working on detailed design packages before moving on-site to oversee construction. He was the site architect for the last couple of years of the project – a formative experience.

“I had always been the project architect in smaller firms, but I really wanted that experience of learning about being on site,” he recalls.

For seven years, Wembley was his primary focus, though he also contributed to other significant projects. “From 2000 to 2007 I spent periods back and forth between the main office and Wembley.”

He also worked on Bexley Business Academy, which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, and then on the design team for Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan. By this time, he had risen through the ranks at Foster + Partners to become an associate partner.

By 2007, Frigerio felt a growing pull back to Argentina. After years of working on high-profile international projects, he was increasingly motivated to contribute to the architectural landscape of his parents’ home country.

He returned to Buenos Aires at an opportune time. With a major project already underway in the city, Foster + Partners saw an opportunity to establish a stronger presence in South America and wanted Frigerio to lead the effort. It was an offer he could not refuse, allowing him to return home while maintaining his role within the practice.

In 2009, Frigerio was promoted to partner and, by then, his career was about to take a decisive shift. A new project in Buenos Aires provided the perfect opportunity to establish a more permanent presence in South America.

“Site offices usually begin with one project, so the project is the seed that then grows. At the time, we were getting going with Faena Aleph Residences in Puerto Madero. When I moved here, we were in the middle of the scheme’s detailed design, and the client wanted us to have a presence here. So it worked well and was good timing for me.”

Puerto Madero, a redeveloped docklands area akin to London’s Canary Wharf, was an ideal setting for Foster + Partners’ first built project in South America. The residential scheme gave the firm an initial foothold in the region.

“That was the first Foster’s project in all of South America”, Frigerio explains. “On the back of that project, we said, ‘We’re here, we have a presence, let’s get an office going and grow in the region’.”

That decision led to the formal establishment of Foster + Partners’ Buenos Aires office in 2012. “We share offices with other collaborators – the local delivery architect on Faena Aleph Residences, who were then also our collaborators on the Ciudad de Buenos Aires City Hall.”

The move cemented Foster + Partners’ long-term commitment to South America, with Frigerio now spearheading the practice’s expansion into Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Design philosophy and Foster + Partners’ global approach

Frigerio’s architectural philosophy is shaped by both the constraints and opportunities of working in South America. He notes that international practices face particular issues in the region. “The challenge for international firms is the fee levels. The fees you can agree and negotiate in the market are not the same as you would get elsewhere.”

At the same time, he highlights that design holds significant cultural value in Argentina, where architecture plays an important role in shaping the urban fabric. “People here really value design. They see what it can bring. At least in Argentina, architecture is very ingrained in the culture.

“We also have Open House here, where people visit buildings as part of a city-wide event. The buildings I mentioned earlier are major protagonists in the city and contribute to the wider perception of its architectural culture.”

Foster + Partners’ global outlook is deeply embedded in the way its Buenos Aires office operates. While much of the design work happens in London, the local presence is essential for building relationships and securing work.

“South Americans really appreciate face-to-face interaction. They want to shake your hand, sit with you in meetings. There’s a hospitality culture, where business development is very social. You have to have a local presence for people to trust you and know you.”

Government policies and economic conditions in South America can shift abruptly, creating an unpredictable environment for international firms. As a result, the Buenos Aires office was designed to be “a light and flexible structure”, adapting to the fluctuations of the regional economy.

“We work a lot with local architects and form teams with different collaborators rather than having permanent staff. This is how many international practices operate in South America – it allows us to be agile.”

Ciudad Casa de Gobierno: a new city hall for Buenos Aires

One of the most significant projects Frigerio has led in South America is the Ciudad Casa de Gobierno, a new city hall for Buenos Aires completed in 2105. A striking civic building that played a crucial role in establishing Foster + Partners in Argentina and the wider region, it provides offices for the mayor and 1,500 employees.

Originally designed as the headquarters for Banco Ciudad, a civic bank partially owned by the city, the project underwent a major shift late in the process, becoming the home of Buenos Aires’ city government just a year before completion.

Despite this transition, the core architectural principles remained intact. “Although we never set out for it to be a civic building, it is very civic,” Frigerio reflects as he gives BD a tour of the building.

“It has the welcoming space of the atrium, a small auditorium, and it’s used a lot for all sorts of institutional meetings… so it’s been really successful as a new city hall.”

During the design development of the project, Frigerio and his team looked to Foster + Partners’ unbuilt Televisa Headquarters in Mexico City for inspiration. The 1986 project explored an open, flexible office environment with integrated gardens and courtyards, designed to enhance natural ventilation and daylight.

While never realised, its emphasis on transparency and landscape integration informed key aspects of the Buenos Aires project, reinforcing its ambition to create a modern, open-plan workplace that transformed public sector working culture.

The Ciudad Casa de Gobierno project was procured through a design-and-price competition, allowing the client to balance architectural ambition with cost control. Foster + Partners partnered early with CRIBA, a mid-sized family-run Argentine contractor known for its expertise in concrete construction.

“We were always employed by them. Our client was a construction company,” Frigerio explains. “You usually think, well, there’s going to be a lot of conflict of interest because we’ll always be pushing for quality, and they’ll always be pushing for savings. But we really formed a great team.”

CRIBA’s deep understanding of concrete was a key factor in delivering the project within strict budget constraints, resulting in a highly refined structure that remained true to Foster + Partners’ design intent.

Design intent and spatial quality

Frigerio describes how the intention behind the Ciudad Casa de Gobierno was to shift entrenched habits within the public sector through a more open and inclusive environment. The open-plan layout, transparency and fluid circulation were deliberate moves to break away from the traditional cellular office model of common in older Argentinian office spaces, which he notes were still often marked by “central corridors and cubby holes on either side.”

Instead, the building fosters a more collaborative and dynamic working environment, reinforcing the city’s broader ambitions for modernisation and efficiency in governance.

A defining feature of the building is its strong connection to Parque Patricios, the park opposite. As with many Foster projects, the emphasis was on ensuring unobstructed views in and out, reinforcing a sense of civic transparency.

“From every point in the building, you’d be able to see the park,” Frigerio notes, describing how open terraces, double-height spaces and a rational structural layout help to frame the surrounding greenery.

The roof, inspired by Buenos Aires’ industrial heritage, features a series of curved profiles that create an expressive yet rational enclosure, allowing natural ventilation. “It’s almost like a big factory,” Frigerio says.

“It has the pitched roofs, which we created as curves. It has central daylighting to light the interior, and we really conceived it as a machine to transform the work culture.”

Sustainability was another core driver, with the project achieving LEED Gold certification. “This is the first and possibly the only building that has displacement ventilation with chilled beams,” Frigerio points out, adding that passive shading and free cooling strategies significantly reduce energy consumption.

A catalyst for urban regeneration

Beyond its architectural and environmental credentials, the project had a strategic urban dimension. The city administration, under then-mayor Mauricio Macri, sought to redirect development towards the south of Buenos Aires, an area that had long been economically neglected.

“The idea was to redirect the growth of the city to the south, which had always been neglected,” Frigerio explains. “They created a number of different incentive zones… universities have moved here, technology companies, start-ups. The strategy has really worked.”

The decision to relocate the city’s administrative functions to this area was politically significant and has had a tangible impact. “The real estate values had the largest increase of any other neighbourhood, and this building was kind of the face of that,” Frigerio adds.

Business development and South American opportunities

For Foster + Partners, the Ciudad Casa de Gobierno project was more than just a significant design – it was an anchor project that helped to cement the practice’s presence in South America. “We love the building,” Frigerio says. “It’s already in the architecture tourist guides, it’s part of Open House… Norman [Foster] also selected it for the recent exhibition in Paris. It was really rewarding to be involved on, because it’s one of those projects that just works at every level.”

Frigerio continues to bring potential clients to visit the building as part of his business development, using it to demonstrate the practice’s capabilities in delivering complex, high-profile projects in the region.

Avenida Córdoba 120: A New Landmark for Buenos Aires

Frigerio drives BD across town to visit Foster + Partners’ latest project in Argentina, Avenida Córdoba 120. It’s a brand new, 35-storey tower, that is set to redefine the city’s skyline at the intersection of downtown Buenos Aires and Puerto Madero.

Frigerio believes it is going to be “one of the best new workplaces anywhere in the world”, citing its expansive terraces, open-air meeting spaces and dynamic spatial organisation.

Designed with senior executive partner David Summerfield, the tower’s triangular form responds directly to its surroundings, maximising views of the Río de la Plata while shaping a new entrance to the city’s financial district. The building’s form also invites comparisons with the nearby 1930s Kavanagh Building, similarly, using its geometry to optimise sightlines and natural light, creating a striking yet highly functional workspace.

Already five storeys out of the ground, a raised entrance lobby is approached via a sequence of terraced steps, with escalator banks to the east and west and a dedicated cycle ramp at the south-eastern apex. The material palette is typically refined yet robust – fair-faced concrete, timber and polished stainless steel. Designed around a “picture frame” principle, the facade strategically frames key city views while mitigating solar gain, reinforcing the tower’s sustainable ambitions as it targets a LEED Gold certification.

At street level, the project embraces public space, with more than 70% of the ground plane dedicated to a lush garden that extends beneath the elevated tower. “We lifted the building so that the park continues below it,” Frigerio explains, reinforcing a sense of permeability and openness.

The building’s form evolved through careful site-specific studies, balancing visual connectivity, structural efficiency and flexibility for its future tenants. “It’s a fantastic location – one of the great development sites in the downtown,” he says. “It will be a really important addition to the city.”

One of the defining features of Avenida Córdoba 120 is its use of high quality concrete, setting a new benchmark for construction quality in Argentina. Unlike most commercial towers in the country, which rely on more conventional finishes, this project embraces the raw materiality of concrete as a key architectural element, ensuring durability while adding richness and depth to its facade.

Achieving this level of precision has required close collaboration with local engineers, particularly Ing. XXXX, whose expertise in high-performance concrete has been instrumental in refining the building’s expressive structure. “The quality of the concrete here is something that hasn’t been done before in Argentina,” Frigerio notes. “It’s about elevating the standards, proving that exceptional craftsmanship is possible at this scale.”

The next chapter

Avenida Córdoba 120 represents the next chapter in Foster + Partners’ South American presence – one that Frigerio hopes will continue to grow. For him, the practice’s work in Argentina demonstrates how an international approach can evolve into something distinctly local.

“It’s not an international architecture, it’s a local architecture done by an international practice,” he says, emphasising the integration of context and innovative techniques to create buildings that respond directly to their surroundings.

He sees a clear continuity across the practice’s projects in the region. “There’s a consistency between the building you saw before and this building as well… They all have the same language and the same values, and they’re all very specific to their site.”

That adaptability – balancing global expertise with local conditions – has been central to Foster + Partners’ success in South America.

For Frigerio, working on Avenida Córdoba 120 is also a moment of reflection. “I never thought I’d work on a building as amazing as Wembley,” he says, referencing one of his earliest projects at Foster + Partners. “Then the City Hall happened, and now this tower. It’s been an incredible journey.”

Even as he acknowledges the economic and political uncertainties that shape development in the region, Frigerio remains optimistic about the firm’s future here. Maintaining a presence in Buenos Aires is essential to that vision, ensuring that the practice’s work continues to grow, evolve and respond to the unique challenges and opportunities the continent presents.

With Avenida Córdoba 120 progressing rapidly and new opportunities emerging across the region, Frigerio’s focus remains on balancing global expertise with a deep understanding of local conditions. “The ambition is to keep growing, keep contributing and keep making a difference to the cities we work in.”