THE PROJECT BACKGROUND

This design-build intervention was carried out directly on site, guided only by hand sketches during construction. It forms part of a series of projects implemented during 2011-2016 within a 500-acre private parcel on the southwest edge of El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico.

THE SITE

An unpaved road on the property ended at a clearing known as “Mina,” believed to have once served as access to a mine. The owner asked whether this unusual opening could be transformed into an experience or lookout point, taking advantage of the expansive “borrowed” landscape beyond their land.

THE INTERVENTION

On the hillside beside the Mina, a cleared slope had been overtaken by exotic ferns and grasses after repeated tree-planting attempts failed due to severe erosion and loss of topsoil. To restore it, we engineered drainage and slope stabilization, creating a “step” at the base of the escarpment to anchor new planting soil. Boulders were introduced to hold pockets of soil, allowing for the establishment of a grove of palms and other trees that now conceal the scar and reknit the slope into the surrounding forest.

We selected fifteen Areca catechu palms for their slim, elegant form, using them to provide a vertical lift that visually connects the site to the mountains beyond. Their thin trunks could not be braced with stakes, so we strapped them to one another, anchoring the group against the hillside for support. To the right, the owners chose to preserve the existing grass sward as an open space for picnics and children’s play.

The path was laid with local granite pavers, winding through new plantings interspersed with existing native trees. Among them are Goetzia elegans (matabuey), propagated on-site in the nursery from collected seed, along with Tibouchina for its deep blue-violet flowers and the native forest palm Prestoea along the edges. A 140-foot-long walk unfolds through this layered planting, as shown in the first video during its construction phase.

This video captures the site after planting was completed. The walk unfolds as a slow, peripatetic experience among fruit trees, palms, ferns, and rare or endemic species, with views shifting upward to the palms and sideways to the understory. At its conclusion, the Mirador is revealed almost unexpectedly, framed by lush vegetation of transplanted Cyathea arborea and Danaea jenmanii ferns, along with Prestoea montana, tying the garden to the forested slopes beyond.

THE MIRADOR

A 15-by-15-foot deck was cantilevered several feet above the adjoining property, its base supported by boulders retaining the new grade. An L-shaped bench was placed opposite the view, and the platform was left without railings to heighten the sense of openness.

THE CROSSROAD

The helipad road ended in a T-intersection, where the turn toward the Mirador lacked visual strength. To define this focal point, Montgomery and Ptychosperma palms were added to lift the view and soften the hillside, while a curving edge of palito plantings anticipated the turn.

AFTERWARDS

Hurricane María, a Category Five storm, became the ultimate test for this work. Many trees fell, but most survived once raised and staked; others broke, leaving gaps where seedlings quickly regenerated. Rather than replanting immediately, stewardship focused on observing and allowing natural succession. What emerged is a self-sustaining forest—dense, layered, and resilient—that continues to evolve as silvestre: a landscape inseparable from the wildness of the Luquillo Mountains.