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front and rear views
Sonsoles PreSchool, Cupey, PR
entry stair and typical classroom
Just completed in November 2011, this building is the product of an adaptive reuse of a Heavy Timber Post & Beam Structure rescued by the School and previously used to house a plant nursery. Metal Panels in primary colors announce the new use.
Street and Courtyard Progress
Georgetti Street and Courtyard
Caguas Courtyard Progress - December 2011 Aerial
Update coming soon...
Courtyard Housing Development - Caguas Courtyard Community Housing
view of Interior Patio
Courtyard Housing Development-Caguas Courtyard Community Housing LP
view from Calle Georgetti
September 8, 2810 marked the formal ground breaking at the start of construction of Caguas Courtyard.
This is the first development of its kind in Puerto Rico: that is, a Section 42, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) project located in an urban center. LIHTC projects outside urban centers, and in rural areas have been developed in Puerto Rico for some time, but their ability to help restore urban centers is not suffcient. Some of the reasons that this type of project has not been attempted in urban centers until now is the great difficulty building high quality-low income housing in the urban center, ie: poor infrastructure, complicated and costly land acquisition, expense of urban construction, lack of retail and commercial activities that normally make urban centers vital, and other perceived complications associated with development in city centers.
The reason this achievement is important is its role as a successful model for communities, civic leaders and developers to understand how this powerful tool can be used by the central government and municipalities to bring people back to the depopulated urban centers in Puerto Rico. That migration helps support commercial activities in the urban center, and encourages market rate developers to consider other types of residential development in the downtown. All of this meets the goals of the Junta de Planificacion - real estate development in Puerto Rico's traditional urban centers.
This project also meets the main goals for Sustainable Development.
First, Environmental Sustainability: Development that avoids the counterproductive use of rural lands, extension of utilities, expansion of automobile trips, and high levels of carbon use associated with commuting to the workplace and services in Puerto Rico. The design also introduces a lushly landscaped interior courtyard for families and seniors to enjoy.
Second, Economic Sustainability: The project brings millions of dollars of investment into the municipal urban center of Caguas from the sale of IRS tax credits, it supports the need for high quality affordable housing, and eventually leaves the municipality with valuable real estate.The project also intoduces a mixed-use development, at the sidewalk level, without competing with existing businesses serving the city center.
Third, Social Sustainability: Besides providing affordable housing for low income seniors and families, it provides an in-house day care facility and training space to help people help themselves. It also includes numerous design elements that help keep families safe and children supervised. Also, because the project must maintain the operational standards of the IRS to continue providing tax credits to the US investors, the maintenance and management must be consistent and professionally rendered.
El Nuevo Dia: http://construccion.elnuevodia.com/proyecto-innovadorconceptodeviviendasencaguascourtyard-10895.htmlPara información sobre este proyecto, puede llamar al Departamento de la Vivienda del Municipio de Caguas al 787-653-8833, exts. 1500 y 1501.
Villa Mi Terruño, Culebra - Culebra Resorts II
August 2010, Planning approval received.
Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development are the two major design themes for this project. The protection of the land to maintain the relative undisturbed, natural and low-key quality of the island and sustainable development to contribute to the long-term sustainability of Culebra Island are the central policy concerns of this project. These themes promote the environmental preservation of the specific development sites and the outer reaches of the island’s fragile terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystem. In addition, the development concept is sensitive to the concerns of local residents and will ensure the area’s unique historic, cultural and physical character will be integrated into the project.
Culebra’s limited, but episodic rainfall, dry forest vegetative environment and sunny Caribbean island natural setting requires sensitive environmental management and a commitment to conservation of its ecosystem. The Mi Terruño Village developer established from the outset of the conceptual planning, a commitment to natural resource conservation and a design criteria of sustainable physical development with conscious respect to fauna and flora, watershed areas and other significant parts of existing eco-systems.
Environmentally sensitive and significant forest habitat areas will be identified and protected and units of development will be sited on lower impact areas. All mature trees and all cacti are considered treasures, that require strict protection and conservation. Terrain features, natural land-forms, and ridge lines will be respected. Home sites are carefully introduced into the landscape below dominant hill profiles and other significant site specific features.
A “Bay Site” site organization strategy will set the development plan, defining specific home-site locations (GPS locations) within the property to minimize development impact and insure the maximum of natural resource conservation of the indigenous vegetation in the remainder of the property and to minimize non-sustainable irrigation.
Water and watershed resources shall be protected and developed for conservation purposes. Detention ponds are planned to enhance the limited watershed resources that are presently lost as runoff and thus improve the natural habitat. The development design criteria require the conservation of rainwater through the use of cisterns, and constructed wetlands. Water, energy efficiency, waste management, recycling programs and conservation are also core development goals. The development design program also makes use of passive and active solar strategies to capture and store energy, employs energy efficient lighting, integrated control systems and renewable energy design to reduce the development’s overall energy requirements.