PROJECT BACKGROUND

This design-build intervention was completed directly on-site with the help of only hand sketches to guide construction. It is part of other projects implemented during 2011-2016 in a 500-acre parcel of private land in the southwest side of El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico.

THE PROJECT SITE

At the southeast end of the property, to the side of the road that led to a helipad, there was a small gazebo sitting on the high point of a grass mound where the owners would stop and rest during their horse ride across the forest trails. The owners asked us to create something special without changing the place too much. We used the square space of the gazebo's concrete slab as design inspiration.

From the gazebo, the large circular space of the helipad ruined the view of the ocean and islands beyond. We decided to raise the grade of the sloping existing lawn by building a planted-level terrace to mask the middle ground where the helipad was juxtaposed with the background view, using boulders strategically placed to hold the soil, which would later be hidden by the plants.

THE AUSUBO BENCH

On one side of the gazebo, the owners also wanted us to design and build a bench from an old ausubo tree log that they had leaning on the ground. We proposed a bench cluster of log pieces, with double seating and half-sized pieces for smaller seating, visually strung together and supported by a necklace-like metal line. Cutting portions of the log would allow us to create curvilinear movement, where people could sit on many sides for interaction. Here is what the owner's construction crew was able to accomplish from our drawings.

The metal supports would eventually be completely hidden by low ferns advancing under the benches, so that they would seem to float with no pedestal above the vegetation.

PLAYING WITH SQUARE SHAPES

The checkerboard pavers we proposed and custom-built directly on-site on both sides of the gazebo interplay with the ausubo bench portions, which are also offset from each other. This would be a game for the children to play and an indication to the adults of where to access the gazebo and the forest-hidden playground beyond, rather than following a path.

The gazebo disappears into the background of the forest, while all the new plantings call for attention. The shrubs and ferns hide the difference in level between the terrace and the road to the helipad.