Conaprole Headquarters
Montevideo, Uruguay
2026
The renovation of Conaprole's Administrative Headquarters transforms a collection of twentieth-century industrial structures. The restoration of the original skeleton — reconditioned and exposed at the building's central space — was accompanied by selective demolitions that enabled both the opening of plazas and the construction of new prefabricated structures.
Starting from the premise that demolishing to build from scratch makes no sense, a hybrid construction model was adopted, reusing the structures with the greatest symbolic capital and physical resilience from the original complex.
We find ourselves on the historic city block where the company's first industrial plant once operated, situated in an urban landscape defined by its proximity to the Legislative Palace, the port of Montevideo, and the western gateway to the city.
In this context, the project establishes an urban landmark with a positive local impact: it reverses the deterioration of the existing built mass, frees half of its surface area for new public spaces, and resolves the image of the complex through a strategy of thermodynamic facades. The result is a landmark building, capable of welcoming cooperative producers, foreign delegations, clients, neighbors, employees, and directors alike.
Conaprole was founded in 1936 and is today the largest cooperative in Uruguay and the leading dairy exporter in Latin America.
After decades of transformations, expansions, and periods of inactivity, the complex still held structures of great structural and symbolic value, concealed beneath accumulated deterioration and successive interventions —which its renewed headquarters now brings together with new constructions oriented toward the future.
Following a methodical assessment of the concrete structure through inspections and testing, a strategy was defined to preserve elements in good condition and restore those that bore the marks of time: corrosion, cracks, and spalling.
70% of the new building's structure was already in place before construction began. This made it possible to drastically reduce on-site demolition and construction operations, along with their corresponding environmental costs.
The building was constructed primarily with a material of unmatched strength, accessible and available throughout the city: historical concrete. The reinforced concrete that was stripped from its formwork decades ago and has continued hardening ever since.
The building's atrium is a multi-height space where the exposed original concrete skeleton takes center stage. More than a circulation space, this is where the institution makes itself visible: where trajectories, scales, and working rhythms converge; where the material memory of the site finds new meaning.
A staircase and three suspended metal bridges cross the space, turning everyday movement into an experience that reveals the layering of permanence and transformation.
By removing buildings that had progressively occupied the block, the project reclaimed space for the creation of plazas, gardens, and open parking areas.
Where the logic of a closed industrial compound once prevailed, a project now emerges that opens the block to the city, bringing permeability, air, and open space to a setting historically defined by the density of its industrial construction.
The landscape design by Estudio Bulla engages with Conaprole's dual identity — industrial and rural. The proposal combines urban vegetation with native Uruguayan grassland, translating the cooperative's identity and bringing species from the countryside to the heart of the capital.
The additions to the existing building were resolved using industrialized concrete slabs and beams. Unlike traditional in-situ construction, the prefabricated system drastically reduced on-site waste, minimized the use of formwork, and shortened construction timelines. The building's sustainability does not emerge from individual gestures, but from its structural logic and commitments.
A double ventilated glass facade unifies the entire complex, establishes the building's corporate image, and regulates the thermodynamic behavior of interior spaces in response to external climate variations. Layered across both old and new construction alike, this transparent skin makes tangible the continuity between the site's industrial memory and its future projection.
Beyond the spatial, the project embodies one of contemporary architecture's most pressing imperatives: to adapt and reuse what has already been built. At a moment when the construction industry seeks to redefine its relationship with the existing, this corporate headquarters offers a concrete response. To preserve is not to resign — it is to choose the more conscious path.
Authors: Matías Carballal and Mauricio López (FROM) + Sergio Barreto
Project team: Santiago Alvante, Alejandra Arribeltz, Paula Bachino, Pablo Courreges, Hernán Gómez, Emiliano Lago, Sebastián Lambert, Aldo Lanzi, Lucía Martinotti, Cecilia Mautone, Diego Morera, Victoria Muniz, Federico Paz, Fabián Sarubbi, Agustina Vigevani.
Also part of this process: Luciano Andrades, Alejandro Cuadro, Emilia Dehl, Flavio Faggion, Andrés Gobba, Silvio Machado, Romina Mangini, Florencia Mastropierro, Valentina Mozo, Pierina Nervi, Martina Pedreira, Emma Prevett, Camila Tekiel.
Photography: Leonardo Finotti
Construction process photography: Aldo Lanzi and Airworks Media
Construction: Berkes Group
Construction management: Mario Di Marco
Civil and structural engineering: Magnone Pollio
Lighting and electrical design: Estudio Hofstadter Fregosi y Asoc.
Thermal conditioning and low-voltage systems: Taetech J. Cousillas
Hydraulic and environmental engineering: Estudio Pittamiglio
Fire protection systems: Estudio Otto Vicente
Acoustic design: Leonardo Fiorelli
LEED certification consultant: Estudio Lagomarsino
Automation: Eng. Gustavo Bellora
Landscape: Estudio Bulla