It is located in the center of the city on the chamfer formed by Urzáiz and República streets. Argentina. It is a modern building with dynamic forms typical of rationalism , a movement already started by Xosé Bar Boo in 1957 with the Plastibar building. They emphasize the recessed dispositionof the top floors, the cantilevered terraces with curved shapes at the meeting of the streets that give a sensation of movement, the inclined arrangement of the windows on the first floor, and also the materials: granite with iron and glass on the parapets of the balconies , and the longitudinal bands of blue stoneware pieces that contribute to the plastic enrichment of the whole. Also noteworthy are the sculptures, the sides in relief , and the main one in the chamfer that represents a family protected by insurance, the work of Camilo Nogueira. It is one of the most significant buildings of rationalist architecture in Vigo, and one of the pioneers in introducing the modern movement into the city.
History
In 1959, the Aurora Polar insurance company commissioned the architect from Vigo, Jenaro de la Fuente Álvarez, to erect what would be his last work (together with the San Tomé de Freixeiro Women's Institute on Gran Vía). Previously, the architect, son of Jenaro de la Fuente Domínguez , had worked with Galician eclecticism , with early modernity and with post-war historicism ; now he creates a unique work and takes a step beyond his previous and also rationalist work , the Candeira buildingerected in 1954 (at 79 Pi i Margall street in Vigo). The work was executed between Urzáiz and República Argentina streets, with twelve floors and shapes that recall the world of machines and speed, with the colors and materials of ocean liners , automobiles and airplanes , and with the search for the best use of space. .
The building was restored in the 21st century. In 2006 he was honored by the Official College of Architects of Galicia on the occasion of the International Day of Architecture.
Style
It is one of the first rationalist-style buildings in Galicia, with 12 floors and a façade mainly in granite. The volume is modeled according to two basic objectives, the need to take maximum advantage of the site and to give an image of the main argument: the dynamic forms related to the world of the machine and speed (new aesthetic ideals of the time), that if they manifest in the facade, in the pergola of the cover, the colors and the railings inspired by nautical themes. The main entrance is arranged in such a way that it saves the steep slope of República Argentina street and thus takes advantage of all the space for commercial use. The mezzanine is also for commercial use and stands out for its glass enclosures sloping towards the street, forming aplinth that demonstrates the nature of the concrete reticular structure , so that the rest of the volume of the building "fluctuates" on this flimsy enclosure. The seven following floors stand out for the movement given by the curved terraces with the use of materials and colors that recall the nautical world and the ocean liners that depart and arrive in the city towards the Americas with white iron railings, glass and bluish stoneware bands. (pool type). From the eighth floor there is a setback of the next three steps as a roof that brings a sense of movement to the whole. At the top of the building there is a large pergola .
In the chamfer, above the main door, the sculptures of Camilo Nogueira Martínez from Vigo stand out , representing a family protected by the “insurance”. Jenaro de la Fuente separated the light dynamic forms of the terraces of the Aurora from the nearby buildings with a blind vertical band in which granite bas -reliefs are embedded with the name of the insurance company that promoted the building and a series of art -inspired motifs. deco _ The typography used and the design of the sculptural elements confirm the formal conception of modernity that characterized the last period of the architect's career, who died the year the work was completed.
The building has a ground floor and a mezzanine for commercial premises, seven floors with a large apartment-office per floor and three penthouses for offices."
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