Precedent and Parti

            Sta. Marta City opened an international competition to design the marine investigation center “Invemar”; in which Luis Callejas and his team participated and were awarded third prize. His design consisted in creating an alternate succession of pavilions that houses the academic, scientific and administrative program. These elongated pavilions create spaces in between each other and can be used as gardens for scientific research.

            The pavilions are elongated and extruded from the center of the building creating designated areas, but also leaving a fluent and continuous space in the middle. This space articulates the whole project and at the same time houses the library, museum and main circulation. By closing the administration and laboratories located at the pavilions, the program allows open access to the public in the center of the building.

            This extraordinary precedent allowed me to create a useful parti for the program. The site in South Town, San Antonio, requires an open space that promotes events like recreational and cultural activities, sports and community markets. By flipping Luis Callejas’ project, scaling it down and inverting the areas, the parti fitted the context. What used to be pavilions will now be open designated spaces: a market area for vendors, a baseball court, an amphitheater, and the building for the aquatic activities. The areas created between the designated spaces will now consist of a building with a café and gallery, a pool, parking and water features. The main circulation path will be similar, allowing easy connection and movement, flowing from beginning to end. The river will be completely accessible since the main path connects the river to the other side of the park and has entrances from each area of the site.

            The objective for both projects was to create a main path that promotes circulation, surrounded by designated areas. In turn, these areas create spaces usable for more activities. The main form, which consists of alternation of convex and concave configuration, creates multiple areas and interesting spaces.