ARCHITECTURE FINAL THESIS PROJECT

PUERTO DE L AS A M É R I C A S

PONCE, PUERTO RICO FEDERICO MARTINEZ DE SOL A MONEREO C E U S A N PA B L O P F C _ M R Z . 2 0 2 0

ARCHITECTURE FINAL THESIS PROJECT Title: “PUERTO DE LAS AMÉRICAS” Location: PONCE, PUERTO RICO Author: FEDERICO MARTÍNEZ DE SOLA MONEREO University: EPS CEU SAN PABLO, Madrid Spain Year: March 2020 Grade: 10/10 (with honors)

P R E S E NTAT I ON

V I D E O

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJlDLXxEt1U

THE WARMING COMPETITION 2020 Director’s Choice Award

THE NEW PORT OF THE AMERICAS On September 20, 2017, the Category 5 Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico, one of the strongest to date. Causing serious material damage to the island’s infrastructure and multiple fatalities, revealing the island’s shortcomings in the face of this type of natural disaster. Being the coastal areas, such as the port of Ponce, the most affected by the cyclonic tide and sea level rise generated by the hurricane.

In this context, the new General Plan for the abandoned industrial port of Ponce, the largest city in the South of Puerto Rico, emerges. The city has been in decline since the economic crisis of 2010, having to stop the port works due to lack of funds.

The port has been abandoned since then, having invested up to 250 million dollars in infrastructure that has never been used.

After the passage of the hurricane and with the arrival of tourists back to the island, the need arises for the recovery of this abandoned infrastructure. The New Port of the Americas proposes a system that allows the industrial use of the port in conjunction with a new leisure area that promotes activity and tourism in the city of Ponce, establishing the Port of the Americas as the central axis of the economy for the city and for the South of Puerto Rico. A new mangrove ecosystem is created in the abandoned and flooded areas of the port, opening them to the sea and allowing the free movement of water on the plot, thus avoiding stagnation. The backbone of the proposal are the port’s ERTG cranes, which serve as an element of synergy between the private industrial space of the merchandise port, and the new public ecosystem through an elevated promenade ( the Container High Walk ) that underpins the proposal.

“ The new Port of the Americas is established as an element of synergy between the industrial and public spaces, ...

... between the Port and the Mangrooves �

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