Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Architect: SCF Arquitectos.

The BPPR Urban Hub is a vision to transform a once barren and inactive lot in the centre of San Juan’s financial district into a vibrant nightlife district with commercial and entertainment amenities at night and a public green oasis in the daytime. It takes advantage of prime real estate within Popular Center’s rooftop and gears the space for the enjoyment of people instead of cars, with uplifting elements such as green walls, water features and a retractable roof. The $32M expansion included a pedestrian bridge and covered walkway that provide a continuous and safe pedestrian passage from the Financial District via Popular Center to the new restaurant, urban park, Tren Urbano Station plaza and the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. This project includes a 17K sf outdoor Popular Plaza (Assembly Hall) with retractable roof, pond areas and green walls, a 184 ft long x 18 ft w pedestrian bridge, a 206 ft long covered canopy, a Public Plaza and Park, a 28,376 sf Restaurant with a grass-covered roof, and art interventions by several renowned Puerto Rican artists. Flooding mitigation and water features were resolved architecturally as water features at the Popular Plaza, along the bridge, and surrounding the restaurant and Public Park.

Solar Collector Systems were integrated into the architecture, as a first phase on the bridge and as a future phase on the on-grade parking areas. The project has recreated a connection between this expansive site and the Martín Peña Canal to the North, welcoming different species (particularly birds) and other fauna.