UNIVERSITY OF SAGRADO CORAZÓN
San Juan, Puerto Rico
The University of Sagrado Corazón was founded during the second half of the 19th century with the main purpose of educating women. In the mid 1970's it transformed into a university level co-ed academic institution.









During that time, the 31 acres of the campus developed spontaneously and with little planning. With the growth of the student body many buildings began to be used in ways not predicted by their original design. As consequence, what before were dormitories became offices, what had been a chapel was transformed into a cafeteria and classrooms, etc. Also, the parking and the pedestrian walk areas were intermingled without distinction, making the functionality of both suffer.
Photo by Max Toro
The neighborhood is not typical of a university environment, but the recently built urban train station near the entrance of the campus will act as a key factor in the restructuring of the university's environment. The planning process included abundant participation from all the university community. Through meetings, exhibitions and discussion groups, a long-term master plan for the development of the university campus was forged.
Photo by Max Toro
The evaluation and planning process had four phases:
1. A detailed evaluation of all the land and buildings within the campus, their current use and thier physical condition.
2. Discussion groups and meetings to debate and define the concerns and topics to take into account during the present and future development of the academic campus life.
1. A detailed evaluation of all the land and buildings within the campus, their current use and thier physical condition.
2. Discussion groups and meetings to debate and define the concerns and topics to take into account during the present and future development of the academic campus life.
Photo by Max Toro
3. Evaluation of different planning alternatives; each idea was edited, evaluated and re-studied taking all the observations into consideration.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
3. Evaluation of different planning alternatives; each idea was edited, evaluated and re-studied taking all the observations into consideration.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
3. Evaluation of different planning alternatives; each idea was edited, evaluated and re-studied taking all the observations into consideration.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
4. Definition and development of the most viable alternatives into a set of documents that now form the final master plan.
