YPM
)
Not until the mid 40s did major oil companies decide to build corporate headquarters in Caracas, making an impact on its growth and urban landscape. In Venezuela since 1912, Royal Dutch Shell decided to centralize its operations in 1945 and acquired a 12,132 m2 plot at the end of Avenida Vollmer in San Bernardino (first sector of the city to break with the grid pattern of the old city center, with a layout of axes and star-shaped nodes). San Bernardino would become an epicenter of activities demanding high-quality housing and hotels. Shell commissioned the project to Badgely & Bradbury, a New York firm, whose proposal of a three-level 14,430 m2 construction is marked by the land located as the visual limit of Avenida Vollmer. The work’s academic composition scheme contrasts with the use of typical modern language resources on its covering. Markedly horizontal, accentuated by the continuous windows that characterize the brick covered façade, the headquarters has a rectangular 84 x 48 m floor plan, pierced by two almost-square inner courtyards, around which the offices are organized. Its location on the upper part of the plot to be appreciated from a distance and its symmetry highlight the beaux-arts spirit with which it was designed. In 1960, Shell built new headquarters in Chuao and the building was occupied by the Navy General Headquarters.
EGP
NE-15
NE-14