San Lorenzo Fortifications indigenous case: san lorenzo fortifications 1/4

colon, panama Martinez, Ana Veronica (master in urbanism, landscape and planning)
indigenousLANDSCAPE URBANISM LANDSCAPE URBANISM final ASSIGNMENT - fall 2021

Figure 1. Budget Direct Travel Insurance, Digital reconstruction of the

fortifications at Portobelo-San Lorenzo, 2020, World History Encyclo-
pedia, Accesed on January 10th,2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/
image/12552/fortifications-at-portobelo-san-lorenzo-reconstruc/
Historical Background.
Panama City La Vieja “The O ld City”, was born in the early sixteenth century and on the other hand, there was the City
of Nombre de Dios. At that time, galleons loaded with gold and silver that traveled from Peru to Spain passed throu-
gh Panama and as a result of these Panama had an strategic geographical position. (Luna, 2008) There was a road
called “Camino Real” that connected Nombre de Dios with Panama City. However, it was created in 1533, another
waterway through the so-called today, River Chagres, so that sailors could come by boat to Panama City. This was
called “Camino Real de Cruces”. In 1537 the attacks of pirates and corsairs on the coast on the brigantines begin and
in 1572 Francis Drake attacks for the first time Nombre de Dios with relative success.(Barrera, n.a..)
Spanish officials advised King Philip II that it was necessary to begin the construction of a system of fortifications. This,
commissioned the engineer Antonello Bautista who formulated a master plan of fortifications. There were key points
in this plan and one of them was the entrance of the Chagres River, and it was so that it was decided to build the San
Lorenzo Fortifications. (Arroyo, 2021a)

18 x 26 cm, en h. de 27 x 35 cm, Madrid, Spain, accesed January 10th,2022. https://bvpb.mcu.

Figure 2. Direccion de Trabajos Hidrograficos, Plano de la boca del Rio de Chagres : situado el
castillo de San Lorenzo en latitud N de 9º20’57’’ y longitud de 73º46’53’’ al O. de Cadiz, 1809,

es/es/consulta/registro.do?id=463051
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indigenous case: san lorenzo fortifications
Construction, destruction

Figure 3. William Harp and Nova Art, S.A., Triangulo estrategico Portobelo - Chagres
- Panama, accesed January 10th, 2022. https://arqurbpty.blogspot.com/2021/09/an-
and reconstruction
The first defenses were
erected around 1575 and
1595 were reinforced. In
1671, Henry Morgan des-
troyed the castle. Then be-
gan a second stage in the
history of the fort between
1676 and 1680 is rebuilt
conforming to the topogra-
phy. In 1705 and 1729 im-
provements were made. In
1740 british Admiral Edward
Vernon managed to take the
fortress.(Arroyo, 2021b)
What we see today is the

tonelli-el-triangulo-y-las.html
result of the reconstructions
carried out between 1761
and 1768 under the direc-
tion of the engineer Manuel
Hernández who respected
the existing topographic
conditions and the remains
of the previous castle.(Arro-
yo, 2021b)

Figure 4. Iradier Rovira, Que ver en el fuerte de San Lorenzo, accesed January 10th, 2022. https://www.recuerdosdemimochila.com/fuerte-de-san-lorenzo-en-pa-
nama/

With independence in 1821, the castle lost much of the strategic importance it had. Colombia used it for several deca-
des, even becoming a prison. When Panama separated from Colombia, the castle was in ruins and abandoned. Also
the castle and its surrounding areas were used by the United States to defend the Panama canal. The United States
Army took care of the castle and its surroundings until 1979. (Arroyo, 2021b) “A landscape without visible signs of
political history is a landscape without memory or forethought.” (Jackson, 1984)
In 1980, San Lorenzo and the colonial fortresses of Portobelo were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
today they are unfortunately on the List of World Heritage in danger due to their poor state ofconservation. (Arroyo,
2021b)
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indigenous case: san lorenzo fortifications

Plan designed as Urban Landscaping.

The Spaniards clearly have a reputation as great engineers of strengthens and especially in the colonial era when
America was discovered. In this case, you can clearly see how they began to connect at their convenience, with ob-
jectives of transporting from one side to another the riches, strategic roads depending on the topography and location
of the site. Moreover, that the so-called Camino de Cruces was not enough and they used the water route, Camino
Real de Chagres, as a more “sophisticated” way to get there since it did not need transport by mule or horse but the
loads could be carried by boat being more effective the arrival of the merchandise. “Horizontality maximizes oppor-
tunities for roaming, connecting, interrelating, assembling and moving - all while allowing differences to comingle and
proliferate. And so, the structuring of the horizontal surface becomes a predominant concern for landscape urbanism,
for the surface is the organizational substrate that collects, distributes and condenses all the forces operating upon it”.
(Corner, 2003)

Figure 5,6,7. Iradier Rovira,Visita al fuerte de San Lorenzo en Panama, accesed January
10th, 2022. https://www.recuerdosdemimochila.com/fuerte-de-san-lorenzo-en-panama/

It should be noted that the topography and the relationship with water was the key point of the construction of this
building since it was the connection to new infrastructures such as the Chagres River and Panama City. This was the
main reason why it was built. Its defensive value lay in the site that dominates a wide extension of the sea, which faci-
litated the defense of the entrance of the river. “Landscapes where the slightest differences of topography and relation
to hydrology was all- important – both pragmatically and symbolically. The built and unbuilt environments worked as
an ecosystem. Man adapted to the environment, through patient, pragmatic adjustment to circumstances with sophis-
ticated means and logics that worked with nature”. (De Meulder Shannon, 2010)
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indigenous case: san lorenzo fortifications

Figure 8. Ko Hon Chiu Vincent, Fortifications on the Caribbean

Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo (Panama), 2011,
13.72 x 9.14cm. whc.unesco.org/en/documents/132390
In the design of the building itself it can be seen that the design depended a lot on the topographic levels that the site
had. The high battery was built on a hill about 10 meters high that was the defensive point not only facing the sea,
but also towards the forest. This battery had a strategic point to spot the ships as they approached the land, however,
by the trees around it, from the sea it was not clearly seen. (Memories of my Backpack, n.a..)Clearly it is seen that
before the construction of this building, the Spaniards looked for the logic that existed in the landscape and therefore
an investigation in the design of the possible potentials to achieve their objective, which was that of protection.
It was a project looked at “from above” in terms of the connection I create with the water, however “from below” with
the levels that the same structure had demarcated by the topography of the site. This helped as an experience to un-
derstand the needs they had and how they should attack them.

Figure 9. Ko Hon Chiu Vincent, Fortifications on the Carib-

2011, 13.72 x 9.14cm. https://whc.unesco.org/en/docu-

bean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo (Panama),
It is clearly an indigenous project
since their culture was to pro-
tect themselves from the enemy
and the water, which in this case
plays the role of nature, was the
decisive point for the construc-
tion of the structure. Somehow
nature was connected with struc-
ture based on the user’s need.

ments/132392
References
- Arroyo, S. (2021a). Antonelli, el triangulo y las fortificaciones del Caribe: Portobelo y San Lorenzo. Introduccion. Las Fortificaciones del Caribe
Panameño. Arquitectura y Urbanismo En Panama. (Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad de Panama). https://arqurbpty.blogspot.com/2021/09/
antonelli-el-triangulo-y-las.html
- Arroyo, S. (2021b, September 7). San Lorenzo. Arquitectura y Urbanismo En Panama (Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad de Panama).
https://arqurbpty.blogspot.com/2021/09/san-lorenzo.html
- Barrera, A. (n.d.). El Camino de Cruces. La Primera Ruta Multimodal de las Americas. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from http://www.cich.org/
publicaciones/01/camino-cruces.pdf
- Budget Direct Travel Insurance. (2020). Fortifications at Portobelo-San Lorenzo, Reconstructed. In World History Encyclopedia. https://www.
worldhistory.org/image/12552/fortifications-at-portobelo-san-lorenzo-reconstruc/
- CORNER, James (2003) ‘Landscape Urbanism,’ in Moshen Mostafavi and Ciro Najle (eds.) Landscape Urbanism A Manual for the Machinic
Landscape; London: AA Books, pp. 58-63.
- DE MEULDER, Bruno, SHANNON, Kelly (2010) ‘Traditions of Landscape Urbanism’ in Topos #71 (June 2010), pp. 62-67.
- JACKSON, John Brinckerhoff (1984) ‘Concluding with Landscapes,’ in J.B. Jackson (ed.) Discovering the Vernacular Landscape; New Haven:
Yale University Pres, pp. 145-158.
- Luna, M. (2008, June 8). Panamá Viejo el vínculo con el Camino Real. El Diario La Prensa. https://www.proquest.com/docview/368442824?pa-
rentSessionId=evjWXjLS2fKiie46GG7rpKOY5jm%2F2EsajJ3KsBrgkuQ%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=17215
- Recuerdos de mi Mochila. (n.d.). Visita al Fuerte de San Lorenzo en Panama. Recuerdos de Mi Mochila. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
https://www.recuerdosdemimochila.com/fuerte-de-san-lorenzo-en-panama/
- UNESCO. (n.d.). Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/135/
CIUDAD DEL SABER Accomodation DESIGNED CASE: CIUDAD DEL SABER ACCOMODATION 1/4
Ciudad del Saber, Panama City, panama Martinez, Ana Veronica (master in urbanism, landscape and planning)
DESIGNed LANDSCAPE URBANISM LANDSCAPE URBANISM final ASSIGNMENT - fall 2021

Figure 1. Ana Mello, Alojamiento Estudantil en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic] arquitetura,,2015,
Plataforma Arquitectura, Panama City, Panama., accesed January 10th,2022. https://www.pla-
taformaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamiento-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-saber-sic-arquitetu-
ra?ad_medium=widget&ad_name=navigation-prev
Cuidad del Saber is located in front of the The Panama Canal, near the center of the Panamanian capital. It houses
200 buildings of what was a former military base and today it is a space that integrates innovative companies, interna-
tional organizations and academic and research institutions. (Ciudad del Saber, n.d.-b)

The Complex.

Figure 2. SIC Arquitectura, Ampliacion - Fase 1, Plataforma Arquitectura, Panama City, Pana-
ma., accesed January 10th,2022. https://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamien-
to-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-saber-sic-arquitetura?ad_medium=widget&ad_name=naviga-
The City of Knowledge Accommodation Complex
offers 96 guest rooms with accommodation for a
total of 190 people. They are usually used by peo-
ple attending congresses and events on campus,
as well as short-term accommodation for students,
professors and professionals who participate in
training seminars, consultancies and research ac-
tivities. (Ciudad del Saber, n.d.-a) Through an in-
ternational tender, the proposal presented by the
Brazilian architect Eduardo Crafig under the archi-
tectural firm SIC, was the winner.(La Prensa, 2013)

Changing the transport system

It is normal that in Panama the car is used to go to
the next block. In this project it is recognized that
the Master Plan does not have parking for vehicles
but for bicycles, indirectly giving a message to the
user of “there is no need to use a car”. “Tradition
possessed social and cultural parameters to para-
llel its aesthetic concerns. In these terms it is the
aspect of landscape that takes into account dura-
tion and time that reinforces our understanding of
how the city lives, and the lives that are lived throu-
gh it. According to Bergson, duration is a transition,
‘... a change, a becoming, but it is a becoming that
tion-prev

endures, a change that is substance itself’”. (Mos-

tafvi, 2003)
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DESIGNED CASE: CIUDAD DEL SABER ACCOMODATION

Figure 3 and 4. Ana Mello, Alojamiento Estudantil en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic] arquitetu-

https://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamiento-estudantil-en-la-ciu-
ra,,2015, Plataforma Arquitectura, Panama City, Panama., accesed January 10th,2022.

dad-del-saber-sic-arquitetura?ad_medium=widget&ad_name=navigation-prev
An extension of Public Spaces.
The design of buildings becomes more important when it intersects with the pedestrian axis of circulation, pre-establi-
shed by the design. The courtyard between the blocks becomes larger, and the ground floor of the two adjacent buil-
dings draw an extension of sidewalk, configuring itself as a public space, of meeting, sociability and access. The dis-
parities create a new reference to the site, drawing the different relationships between the spaces - public, semi-public
and private. (Plataforma Arquitectura, 2015) “As a framework for the imagination, landscape produces new insights in
response to the contemporary urban situation. It allows to describe that territory in terms of an equal, although artificial,
dialogue between buildings and landscapes. Yet this dialogue is not limited by the traditional definition of the terms
‘building’ and ‘landscape’; it allows for the simultaneous presence of the one within the other, buildings as landscapes,
landscapes as buildings”. (Mostafvi, 2003)

Figure 5. Ana Mello, Alojamiento Estudantil en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic] arquitetura,,2015,
Plataforma Arquitectura, Panama City, Panama., accesed January 10th,2022. https://www.
plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamiento-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-saber-sic-ar-
quitetura?ad_medium=widget&ad_name=navigation-prev
 3/4
DESIGNED CASE: CIUDAD DEL SABER ACCOMODATION

Natural Ventilation
The application of the whole by the choice of small buildings connected by a common circulation, optimizes the use
of natural ventilation. The units are provided by large openings protected from rain and sun, and the network system
cross ventilation of the environments, occurring between the coatings. In the main circulation of the housing block, with
openings at both ends, airflow is also produced by suction.(Plataforma Arquitectura 2015)

Environmental impact
The building received LEED certification and somesustainable building strategies that were implemented were the
management of erosion and sedimentation control during construction, water heating by means of solar panels, 23%
of the luminaires are with face-to-face sensors for more efficiency. (Scaparate Panama, n.d.)”there is little or nothing
in common between what used to be called civil engineering and garden or landscape architecture”. (Jackson, 1984)

Figure 6,7,8,9. Ana Mello, Alojamiento Estudantil en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic]
arquitetura,,2015, Plataforma Arquitectura, Panama City, Panama., accesed
January 10th,2022. https://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamien-
to-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-saber-sic-arquitetura?ad_medium=widget&ad_
name=navigation-prev

Green Spaces.
It is interesting how the blocks were placed transversely to the street and parallel to each other, in a way that created
green spaces with patios without affecting the existing trees. These blocks are connected by means of a linear struc-
ture that are the common use, corridors, stairs and elevators. (Plataforma Arquitectura, 2015)The restoration of 70%
of the site with native and adapted plants that require little maintenance and irrigation was also taken into account.
(Scaparate Panama, n.a..)
There is an interaction with the internal part of the building since all the rooms instead of overlooking the main street,
which is what is usually seen in projects of this type, look towards these internal courtyards creating a continuity in the
vegetation around the building lot. 75% of regularly occupied spaces have natural lighting and 90% have a view to the
outside.(Scaparate Panama, n.a..)
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DESIGNED CASE: CIUDAD DEL SABER ACCOMODATION

Project as Landscape Urbanism

Ciudad del Saber, as it was a military fortress, before the time of the invasion of Panama in 1989, was designed by the
Americans and its buildings consist of a lot of vegetation with nearby forests and great distances from one building to
another. Today there are many new constructions that are being carried out in the area that break with this scheme,
instead this project combines both things: contemporary and technological with the environment that it has around it.
Being inside this building, makes you understand the territory and experience the true feeling of what landscaping
can convey to you. The connection of the structural with the natural is notorious when making a design integrated into
the landscape and vice versa. There is a clear connection with nature and in turn invites public spaces to be part of it,
creating a continuity in the journey from other areas that are not necessarily part of the project. Creating a public area
within the semi-private and private and added to this the integration of vegetation as part of the spaces is definitely a
clear example of landscape urbanism.
It is necessary to analyze if in a block all the projects were designed with the same scheme, it would become a large
public square / park / space / gardens on the ground floor, creating an interaction between the inhabitants and users
through the landscaping provided by the territory, this is what is all about.

Figure 10, 11, 12. Ana Mello, Alojamiento Estudantil

en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic] arquitetura,,2015, Plata-
forma Arquitectura, Panama City, Panama., accesed

cl/cl/760205/alojamiento-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-sa-
ber-sic-arquitetura?ad_medium=widget&ad_name=na-
January 10th,2022. https://www.plataformaarquitectura.

vigation-prev

Reference
- MOSTAFVI, Moshen (2003) ‘Landscapes of Urbanism,’ in Moshen Mostafavi and Ciro Najle (eds.) Landscape Urbanism A Manual for the Ma-
chinic Landscape; London: AA Books, pp. 5-9.
- JACKSON, John Brinckerhoff (1984) ‘Concluding with Landscapes,’ in J.B. Jackson (ed.) Discovering the Vernacular Landscape; New Haven:
Yale University Pres, pp. 145-158.
- Ciudad del Saber. (n.d.-a). Complejo de Hospedaje. Ciudad Del Saber. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https://admision.ciudaddelsaber.org/
es/servicios/dormitorios
- Ciudad del Saber. (n.d.-b). ¿Que es Ciudad del Saber? Ciudad Del Saber. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https://ciudaddelsaber.org/que-es-
ciudad-del-saber/
- la Prensa. (2013). Los dormitorios ´de platino´ de la Ciudad del Saber. Periodico La Prensa. https://www.prensa.com/impresa/vivir/dormito-
rios-platino-Ciudad-Saber_0_3721877999.html
- Plataforma Arquitectura. (2015). Alojamiento Estudantil en la Ciudad del Saber / [sic] arquitetura. Plataforma Arquitectura. https://www.plata-
formaarquitectura.cl/cl/760205/alojamiento-estudantil-en-la-ciudad-del-saber-sic-arquitetura