02 PAGES 1-7 - Virginia Tech

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Puerto Rico is a Caribbeanisland, the smallest of the GreaterAntilles. Our origins evolved from the“indios tainos” who were colonized in1492 by the Spanish Crown. PuertoRico was a Spanish colony until 1898when the United States won theHispanic American War and the islandbecame a colony of this NorthAmerican country ever since.Because of the Spanish colonizationand the approximately 400 years ofSpanish rule we are considered part ofLatin America, sharing a similarculture and language; but the UnitedStates’ influence is more evidenteveryday in our traditions: language,music, architecture and life style.Being part of the Antilles Archipelagoand the lack of a common frontier withother countries recognizes the seaand the coast as two very importantfactors in the economic andrecreational aspects of our country.One of the most important activities,which emanates from our relationshipwith the sea, is the fishing industry.

LONGITUDES= 65 16’ O & 67 16” O

LATITUDES= 17 54” N & 18 31” N

AREA= 100 mi X 35 mi

History tells that ever sincethe natives lived in the islandfishing was one of the mostimportant means of obtainingfood. The 1950’s brought a newera of industrialization to PuertoRico and, looking for a betterquality of life, the fishermenchanged the coastal work for thefactory work. But, being anisland, it was very difficult toabandon the fishing industryaltogether. Time eventuallydemonstrated how both the localand tourist market’s demand forgood fresh fish was everincreasing.

In 1959 the governmentcreated an economic program thatprovided tax credits to thefishermen while helping them buymotors for their boats. With thisprogram the government directlyapproached the seafood markettrying to bring back the fishery asa mean of maintaining an activefishing industry and improving itsstatus as an important economicactivity necessary for the island’swell being. This governmentactivity helped promote thereappearance of the fishery as aneconomical activity in coastaltowns across the island.

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Looking for better exposureand more organized workingconditions fishermen developedfishing villages throughout variouscoastal towns. One example of suchfishing villages in Puerto Rico is the“Playa de Ponce Fishing Village”,home to approximately twentyfishermen. The more proficientvillages provide the fishermen withstorage areas for their workequipment, pier space for their boatsand a market, which prepares andsells their daily catch to consumersand restaurants. The fishermen inthis village work daily employing theirfishing activities as their maineconomical activity used to sustainall their families. The villagepresents the fishermen with betterworking conditions, thus providing amore efficient, profitable and safeworkplace and lifestyle.Fishermen who utilize small boats,usually smaller than 20 feet,regularly start their workday at 12:00am and continue on to 7:00 am.This routine is usually repeated sixdays a week. Fishermen with largerboats leave for periods of up to twoweeks and return either late at nightor early in the morning with tons offish. In both cases the availability ofdocking space for their boats andworking space for themselves iscritical in order to safely perform theirdaily duties.


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Puerto Real is a small village in the coastal town of Cabo Rojo that actually functions as a big andindependent town by itself. Its main economical activity is fishing. The picturesque and vernacular architecturewith a geographical location depicted by an enclosed bay in the southeast coast of the island gives Puerto Reala special sense of authenticity. This village is a place where the hostility and modernization of the city has notinterfered with its population. Puerto Real was the first fishing village established in Puerto Rico and probablythe most important of all fishing centers in the island.

Recognizing the fishermen influence and contribution to the island’s fishing industry and being thevillage’s main economic activity as well as its main source of food, Puerto Real celebrates a yearly Fish Festivalduring Lent season. During this festival the residents of Puerto Real, visitors and tourists alike gather in thestreets of the town to enjoy tropical music, typical food, artisans and logically to buy fresh Caribbean fish. Thelast day of the festival’s festivities include a fishing tournament and a display of their most unusual catches. Thefish displays are famous among the kids that visit the town looking for the big shark that is the exclusiveculmination of that special occasion.

Although Puerto Real is the most important fishing center in the island, it still provides less than adequatefacilities for the yearly festival and even worse facilities and conditions for its working residents. In addition,there are no services or amenities offered to both residents and tourists alike. Therefore, I took notice of all thefacilities missing in the village while maintaining all the authentic characteristics of Puerto Real to propose the

design of aFish Market.This Fishmarketprovides thefishermenworking areafacilities toprepare thecatch of theday alongsideseveralcommercialspacesavailable to sellfresh fish totheir customerson a dailybasis. Thismarketplacewill becomethe economicandentertainmentcenter of thevillage: a placewhere anyonecan enjoy thenaturalresources thetown and itsadjacent bayhas to offer.


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“The Hispanic heritage of theCaribbean world entails much more than theimpact of a single cultural force; it certainlyembraces Spain, but also the influence of themany immigrants of diverse nationalities-Africans, Danes, Germans, Catalonians,Corsicans, French, Dutch, British, and aconsiderable number of North Americans-who settle in the region under the Spanishgovernment’s auspices.” 1.

This multicultural influence is evident inarchitecture, literature and art. Since Spanishcolonial days the marketplace has become animportant element in the architectonic, culturaland economic development of the island. Thedesign of market places, under the Spanishcolonization, developed a building typology thathas been adapted through the years up to themodern architecture of the island, in its actualpolitical as a United States colony.


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1. Leon Krier, Preface to Puerto Rico 1900: Turn-of-the-CenturyArchitecture in Hispanic Caribbean 1890-1930, by Jorge Rigau (New York:Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1992), 9.


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“Their quality and charm lie not in theirancienneté but in the beauty of their proportions andthe quality of their dimensions, in the efficacy of theircomposition and construction methods. These arenot only vastly different and superior to all theenvironmental garbage which in the name ofprogress was unloaded onto Puerto Rico in the pastdecades, but they represent the very material whichmakes the island a civilized country, a homeland tolong for, to be proud to come from and to return to.”2.

It is important to understand the precedents inmarket’s architecture, to figure out how those architectsorganized the needed spaces through the marketbuildings, to be able to design and develop an efficientmarket program. Some of the architectural programs ofthe market places measured up to the needs of thefishermen of the fishing villages. Elegant columns,perfect proportional spaces, colorful ornamentation andtall and majestic ceilings are representative of theeclecticism and formality of the Spanish colonialarchitecture. Others designs, developed during theprogressive United State colonial period, arerepresentative of a modern, practical and innovativearchitecture. But all of them respond to the sameprogrammatic problems, as retail space to sell andexchange the merchandise and as gathering places forclients and visitors. This kind of building has to deal withlarge quantities of people and different kinds ofmerchandise at the same time and in the same place.This continuous and profound activity helps delineate anddevelop the cultural evolvement of the town. Thediversity in social scale, education and experience of thepeople that visit and gather in this building and employthese spaces as means of cultural and economic growthand development.

2. Rigau, Puerto Rico 1900: Turn-of-the-Century Architecture inHispanic Caribbean 1890-1930, 25.

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The site of this project has two existingwood and brick abandoned buildings. The lackof use, poor maintenance, and a deficientstructure design has left these buildings in verybad condition. Presently only a small amount ofspace is utilized for a small fish market. Whenthese buildings were built back in the 1950’s,their foundation was located in land stolen to thesea by the placing of large amounts of soil androcks. This action caused an irregularity in thecoastline but made the piers more accessible tobigger boats. Large fishing and recreationalboats nowadays use these piers for their dailyactivities.

The site of the project is the only site leftin this coast with free uninterrupted access to thebay around the coastline of the village. Privatehouses and buildings, many of which obstruct thephysical and visual access from the land to thewater, have mostly occupied the coast of PuertoReal, as in many parts of the island. Only thehouse owners have free access to the water.When people walk through the streets of PuertoReal they totally forget how close they are to thewater. The accessibility of the site to the bay, itslocation in the village and the existing four piers,made the site a perfect one to develop a fishmarket as the center of this fishing village.

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