Mario Roberto Álvarez (1913–2011) was an Argentine architect whose office, MRA, designed public buildings, offices, hotels and towers across Buenos Aires. Born in the city, he graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in 1936 with a gold medal and in 1938 won a scholarship to study and work in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Back home he became director of architecture for the suburb of Avellaneda in 1942 and founded MRA with Leonardo Kopiloff and Eduardo Santoro in 1947. Later works include the Le Parc tower (1996), the tallest in Argentina until 2003, and the Hilton Buenos Aires (1999). In 2007 the city named him an Illustrious Citizen.
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The firm's first major commission, won in 1954, was the Teatro General San Martín on Corrientes Avenue (1960), the largest centre for the stage in Argentina. Its success brought the adjoining Centro Cultural General San Martín (1973), built from 1962. For the state steel company he designed the SOMISA Building in Buenos Aires (1977), its headquarters, in the same years as the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel and the Salto Grande Dam.
