The Boca La Caja Lagoon is currently used by fishermen to dock their boats after a long day of fishing in the Panamá Bay. This tidal quagmire fills and falls within a 24-hour cycle, neglected due to the precarious nature of the site’s existing conditions.The project is situated within a formerly largely uninhabited space, juxtaposed by the existing urban fabric of Boca La Caja, typical of most informal settlements. In here children jump off the highway at high tide, and residents use sewage pipes for wayfinding. In its current state, it is an indefinable, sodden field and an undervalued landscape teeming with potential for human-driven design and programme that configures itself within perpetually urbanised conditions.
Regenerative Wetland creates a new landscape, with values extrapolated from designing within an informal vernacular and inspired by shipping vessels floating through the water. Seven Vessels compose the scheme, each unique in identity, serve as flexible civic program for fishermen and residents. These vessels are designed flexibly within an infrastructural scheme to allow for prospective additions to grow organically from the needs of the residents, as they continue to face adversity within a rapidly urbanised landscape. The wetscape, therefore, allows for design that incorporates natural water filtration using saltwater reeds, and an incremental response to flooding. This project seeks to design flexibly and organically to create an ecosystem that can continue to regenerate the landscape, economy, and lives of residents.
