In 2005 I went to Buenos Aires for a project in a slum called Villa Tranquilla. Together with enthusiastic inhabitants, people from the municipality and students from the University of Buenos Aires, we worked on the reorganisation of this slum, divided from the city centre by the immense poluted river Rianchuelo. Continuing with the results of the workshop and my fascination for the cartoneros, I decided to design a cooperation building for them. On one side, a cooperation can get better prices for collected materials. On the other side, employment is one of the most important factors to 'heal' the district. The building provides ateliers and a production hall where people can work with professionals. Together they create products from 'garbage' collected by cartoneros. Of course, the main purpose is to sell these products. The new building will be built in an abandoned and deterioreted warehouse. At the ground cartoneros can deliver their materials and use the sanitary facilities. The lifted volume contains the ateliers and guesthouses for artists in residence. Everything is built with second-hand building material, collected in Buenos Aires. Next to the building, a small park is created. The shop in this park functions as a billboard for the products created here.
