Thesis Project

The project that I would like to use as an opportunity to "test out" my convictions is located in the mountainous rainforest of Puerto Rico. The required program for the building will be roughly something like an eco lodge, but one that also incorporates logging, scientific research, art, theatre, and seminars for the local community. This "eco lodge" is a part of Las Casas de la Selva, a bohemian non profit place outside the small town of Patillas, Puerto Rico.

The full extents of this property are about 2000 acres of land comprising three adjacent river valleys in the mountainous rainforest. Las Casas de la Selva operates on about 200 acres of this land, all that rainforest being used for a sustainable logging operation developed and implemented in the 70's by a non profit company called Global Ecotechnics.

Much of their infrastructure was damaged by hurricanes during the last couple decades, and the facilities that support these numerous undertakings have all been repaired as well as can be. It goes without saying that the operation needs a new facility.

It is within these programmatic requirements that I wish to design a new "eco lodge," for lack of better words. In addition, after having spent much time there, I am deeply invested in the well being and growth of Las Casas de la Selva.