JOSE GANDARA PARK

Public Space, Hato Rey - San Juan 2010

The arrival of the urban rail system to San Juan has transformed the urban order in the city. Many new residential, commercial and mixed-use projects are being developed along the train’s lineal path, in the active and strategic urban nodes generated around the train’s stations. But close to these new urban hubs and prior to the arrival of the urban rail system, there were already some public spaces of strategic location, although in a neglected or abandoned state. The rescuing of these spaces could contribute to the reactivation of the day and night life of the city around these nodes.

The project proposes the rescue of an urban park dating to the 50’s, located at the threshold of the financial district of Hato Rey in San Juan, close to residential developments, and contiguous to the Roosevelt Avenue, the commercial artery that runs through “La Milla de Oro” up to the Guaynabo Municipality.

A body of water is being introduced in the park as a contemplative and organizing element around which the different park activities could take place. Towards Roosevelt Avenue, in a markedly commercial and urban zone, the approach was to have a generous paved trail suitable for cyclists and runners, but to also incorporate resting and seating areas with urban furniture and landscape architecture around the existing trees, which we intend to preserve in their totality. At this point, the existing metro station building has commercial spaces overlooking the park that could be occupied by restaurants or other activities that could contribute to the vitality of the place. Towards the residential sector, we are visualizing vegetated paths of smaller scale, with areas for leisure and family activities, roofed and shielded from the weather. The body of water has been sited to pass through the visual barrier imposed by the viaduct, as a strategy to transform this condition by generating the perception of permeability. Accentuating this new urban spatial condition, a pedestrian boardwalk is proposed exactly below de viaduct, which is now implemented as a roof that protects the path below from rain and sunlight.

The Jose Gandara Park in Hato Rey rescues an existing park from the 50's, contiguous to Roosevelt Ave. and proposes an urban intersection of the commercial, recreational, and residential uses of the city.