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To make the video more interesting, I used the music track Again and Again by The Bird and the Bee. As of October 11, 2009, the official website of the band is offline and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine was not useful in accessing its contact information. I will keep trying so that I can ask for a formal permit to keep the song in the video. If it is not granted, the song will be removed immediately.

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PROJECT CREDITS _ Concept Lorna Ramos, 3M Puerto Rico Design and Execution Miguel Ortiz & Alberto Rigau Assistants Denisse Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Rubayo, Sofía Acevedo

Conceived by the architectural firm, Jorge Rigau FAIA, Architects, the project was designed to garner support from government officials, institutions, and the general public for the development of Isabela’s irrigation channels as a key ecotourism attraction in Puerto Rico. The “canales” travel across plains, mountains, and forests of varying microclimate, flora, fauna, and views. Maintenance paths that run continuously next to them could today be refashioned as nature trails accessible to the general public, children, senior citizens, and handicapped people alike. This pilot project set out to prove the feasibility of this initiative.

After public access to these facilities had been denied for eighty years, one kilometer of channels was opened up for two days, attracting an audience of over 3,000 registered people, including key decision-makers like the Island’s Interim Governor. Environmental leaders and university professors joined the long lines of visitors from all over the Island.Advocacy is often linked to demonstrations, more than often committed to stop something from happening. In our case, we chose to demonstrate otherwise: How something can, in fact, happen. Letters of support have started to come and decision makers – already engaged – have invited us to sit and dialogue. This is what we planned for.

Participants were instructed about the history and design of the irrigation system, how it works, its cultural impact, and the changes endured by the neighboring rural landscape. Oversize words in environmentally-sensitive foam were “sprinkled” along the route to underline key questions concerning both the system and the proposed project: WHAT? WHERE? HOW? WHY? WHEN?

Professionals, academics, architecture and landscape architecture students – as well as volunteers – guided tours along the canal to make visitors aware of the potential of these trails from which the Island’s natural landscape and its early-20th century industrial heritage can be enjoyed.

The local Architects and Landscape Architects Foundation funded the pilot project, which included a day dedicated to K-12 schools within the canal region. Participants were requested to fill an assessment form, freely formatted to accommodate ideas, concerns, and recommendations. Upon completing the forms, each person received an informative brochure, specially designed to urge everyone to action.

Insertion of texts within the landscape owes much to the reinterpretation of precedents: Robert Smithson’s site-specific works; Jenny Holzer’s linkage of words to movement; Robert Indiana’s supersized treatment of typeface; as well as Dieter Kienast’s joint validation of typographic strokes and counters, using the latter as windows unto the landscape.

Elements that required a “footnote” from the interpreters were highlighted with an asterisk.

In endorsement of sustainable tourism practices, local involvement was integral to the initiative. Community members assisted in the organization, played host of the event, and offered bits of oral history. Local high school students that are enrolled in a tourism-guide training program led the walking tours. A map of neighboring restaurants and establishments was specially designed for the event and distributed among all assistants, urging them to sponsor them.

All photography by Gus Pantell.

PROJECT CREDITS

Executed with the support of the Foundation for the Association of Architecture and Landscape Architecture of Puerto Rico and the collaboration of the county of Isabela, the Energy Authority (AEE) and the School of Landscape Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

Concept and Project Design Jorge Rigau FAIA, Architects Project Coordination Miguel Ortíz Graphic Design Alberto Rigau, Estudio Interlínea Archaeological Consultant Gus Pantell Construction and Renovation Consultant Beatriz del Cueto Landscape Consultant Maria Isabel Rodríguez

This publication chronologically documents this record through a balanced presentation of research and a dense photographic archive, some of it unpublished before. The book jacket, a touch-point with potential readers, hints at the never ending nature of the topic through visual cues about the completion of the illustrated work-in-progress. A book of this size, both in pages and dimensions, called for a layout where readers could read, learn, reflect, enjoy, share, or just use as quick reference. Image captions, traditionally attached in proximity to the content they represent, here portray a narrative of their own, not only complementing the visual, but also providing a secondary text that can be read in conjunction with the rest of the composition or in an independent manner.

The publication concentrates on the process of construction, not the final outcome.

For those with more curiosity and interest, the cover hints at the finalization of the illustrated bridge.

There is a constant play between images and text, repeatedly changing the landscape and revealing new surprises for the engaged reader.

BOOK CREDITS _ Historical Investigation and Content Guillermo A. Baralt Editing Matilde Albert Robatto Design and Concept Alberto Rigau, estudio interlínea Layout Production Assistant Alfonso Gómez Arzola Typography Auto, designed by Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs y Sami Kortemäki of Underwear Cover Rendering Eduardo Miranda Printing RR Donnelley of Puerto Rico Printing Rep Luis González

PRINTING SPECS _ Print Run 3,000 Color 4/4 Paper Local matte, 157 grams Binding Hard-Cover Smythe Sewn

The Mill Center for the Arts sponsored a national contest in 2005, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, for the design of a new center in Hendersonville, North Carolina. In a collaboration with Jorge Rigau, FAIA Arquitectos, I participated in the creation, conceptualization and design of the proposal. Several components, from a typographical walkway, a narrative historical wall, and a remembrance pond were left on my charge.

Presentation boards designed and submitted to the competition.

Sculptural detail for suggested typographic wall.

Render of suggested typographic wall to show scale of piece.

Detail of the two design typographic systems for the proposal.

The content expressed in the typography is differentiated by a system based on height differentiation.

Bird's-eye-view of remembrance pond suggested for the project.

Axonometric view of remembrance pond suggested for the project.

This 3-year exhibit installation evaluates the contemporary transportation problem in Old San Juan, concluding that only a TRAM system would serve as a feasible strategy for the government. The exhibit, divided in sections, covers historical themes as well as contemporary issues. Means of representation range from traditional exhibition panels, to interactive touch screens, sculptures, 3-D Glasses, environmental interventions, interactive walls, and even an HO Scale train model with a futuristic look at what our city would be like if the TRAM were to be installed. Exhibit opened on April 12 2007 on the Mezzanine level of the Banco Popular Building in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Registration area and waiting lobby are transformed to set the environmental tone as visitors make the transition from the public elevators to the private exhibit space. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Registration serves as rite of passage as the visitors enter the space and join others who are also concerned with the issued at hand. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Visitors are teased by a hint og what awaits, but an architectural intervention makes the space feel odd, subliminally forcing a need to go right. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Design is used to shape the perception of space, motivation visitors to move in this direction. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Transportation-related news graphics, over-hanging from the exhibit space, are visible to exhibit visitors and to the customers of the bank branch located in the space below. They illustrate the current state of transportation problems in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

A graphic sculpture introduces the content of the exhibit through a reference to the Gordian Knot, hinting at how the transportation problem in Puerto Rico requires a solution of Alexandrian magnitude. Commercial hoses make up the floating knot sculpture. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

The exhibit's narrative is threaded through language, typography, images, illustration, environmental interventions, industrial exhibit pieces and interactive elements. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

A sculptural map illustrates world cities, named in the acrylic scroll, that have Tram systems implemented as part of their transportation strategies. Videos are showcased through video ipods embedded in the map. The interactive screen area of the exhibit can be see on the far left of the image. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Detail of map and typographic scroll of world cities with a Tram system. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Located on the eastern wing of the exhibit, this model allows children, and adults alike as the experience of the open exhibit has shown, to conceptually imagine themselves in a Tram. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

The environmental design strategy for the exhibit involved the use of aluminum, dispersed throughout the space to bring out the industrial quality of the subject matter, while providing negative spaces within the graphical landscape of the exhibit. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Interactive projection area ran various short stories of a city of San Juan where the Tram system has already been established. The projection reacts with ChromaDepth glasses for a 3-D experience, assimilating well with the future-cast nature of the section. Acrylic made books rest on the table, showcasing comparisons between Tram system and a traditional Train framework, highlighting the benefits and weaknesses of both. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Artwork for 3-D glasses to be used with the interactive screen.

The panel on the left showcases a transportation systems alphabet. The center panel narrates the story of HO Scale train model's design and production. The enlarged photo is of the Portland streetcar system. These panels serve as the entranceto the community activism section of the exhibit, located through the visible entrance. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

HO Scale train model designed by Estudio Interlínea and built by Scale Models, Arts, & Technologies, Inc. (SMARTT). The illustration of the simulated water pattern located on the skirt of the model was painted by Susana Espinosa. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Detail of the HO Scale train model. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

These panels provide a window into the future development projects scheduled for the City of San Juan, coloring the narrative with the inclusion of the Tram as a spine that would connect them all. On the right, one can see one of the interactive touch-screen puzzle game screens. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

These panels speak of the better quality of life that will be brought by the implementation of a tram. On the right, one can see one of the interactive touch-screen puzzle game screens. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

These panels speak of the benefits of a Tram while highlighting the necessary steps that would be needed to implement such a system. On the right side one can see one of the interactive touch-screen puzzle game screens. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

etail of the HO Scale train model. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

etail of the HO Scale train model. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics. Photo by Eric M. Jukelevics.

Environmental intervention strategically placed to gain the attention of a pedestrian passerby. It promotes the On Tracks exhibit located in the third floor of the building, and encourages people to visit it. Photo by Alberto Rigau.

Logo for the exhibit.

An assortment of graphics which shows the visual variety used in the presentation of the ideas.

Exhibit catalogue.

EXHIBITION CREDITS _ Coordination Carmen Lidin and Carlos Bruno, Corporate Communications, Popular, Inc. Exhibit Curation Estudio Interlínea Exhibit Content Arq. Jorge Rigau, FAIA and Alberto Rigau, AIGA Creative Directors Arq. Jorge Rigau, FAIA and Alberto Rigau, AIGA Designers Alberto Rigau, AIGA, and Alfonso Gómez Arzola Urban Design Consultant Arq. Thomas S. Marvel, FAIA Education Consultants Socorrito Díaz and Carmen Haddys Torres HO Scale Model Construction Scale Models, Arts and Technologies, Inc. (SMARTT) Webpage Design Amilcar Colón, Webxacto Detailed Woodwork Roberto Pérez Dendariarena General Woodwork Joel Ramos Steel Work Joel Ramos and Braulio Santos Vera Technology Consultant José Irizarry, Protech Programmer Gabriel Santillán Lighting Eric M. Jukelevics, EMJ Photography Electrical Consultant Joseph Hernández, JH Technical Service Photography Aerofoto Internacional, Marie Carmen Ubiles, Alberto Rigau, Alfonso Gómez Arzola, Seth Siditsky, Alexandros Koromilas Digital Printing Global Graphics Offset Printing Model Offset Printing and Ímpress Quality Printing Installation Assistants Bryan Torres, José Medina, Francisco González, Daniel Robles, Lemuel Beauchamp, Eduardo Miranda, Miguel Ortiz, Celina Bocanegra, Johann Sasso, Mario Sorani, Victor Blay, Mabel Plascencia, Claudia Rosa, Alex Martínez, Omar Torresola, Luis A. Cerda Collaborators Portland Streetcar Inc., Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas, Oficina de Urbanismo, Infraestructura y Ambiente, Oficina del Gobernador, La Fortaleza, Municipio de San Juan, José Lorenzo Torres, Susana Espinosa, Bernardo Hogan, Jaime Suárez, Maribel T. Suárez, Gilda Navarra, José Rigau, Arq. Oscar Oliver, Arq. Roberto Alsina, Arq. Liz Meléndez, Ing. Raúl Gayá, Arq. Carlos Camacho, Arq. Juan Penabad, Carlos Aponte, Edna Acosta, Ing. David Rosa, Wilmarie Laboy, Juan Ruiz, Suzette Jiménez, Ana Carbonell, Lourdes Folch

Music played an important role in Ms. Navarra’s signature pieces, usually developed for silent characters. The book was thus conceived as a musical piece itself. Its design is based on an ever­present pentagram, often evident, at times suggested or just implied. Because music provides graphic representations of silence—lacking in conventional language—these symbols become metaphors for different “times” in the artist’s ever­changing, transcendental oeuvre.

AIGA 50 BOOKS / 50 COVERS 2007 SELECTION

The challenge: How to portray the idea of silence through mediums and techniques that rely on additive processes and techniques? The cover was made with white touché paper, embossed and foil stamped.

On the cover, a fermata, the notation for a note that is sustained for longer than its note value, hints that Gilda (hence the capital G illustrated in her embroidery style) manipulated music, theater and time in an idiosyncratic way. The white­on­white­on­white further explores the expression of silence, but on purely graphic terms.

Structural design system following a pentagram rubric.

Sample spreads.

This collaboration with Jorge Rigau, FAIA Arquitectos required to find a solution to the client’s problem: he only received the newspaper at his home and he did not want it to get wet. The initial to the client’s last name served as inspiration for the design and specification of this newsbox made out of steel with a concrete base.

A new dean takes over the younger of two architecture schools in Puerto Rico. First order of business: host an opening lecture to communicate initial ideas, intentions and plans. The public lecture, thus, had to be publicly advertised. Radiographic language was chosen to allow for the most direct message with the least amount on insult.

Printed on transparency material to get closer to the radiography effect.

Envelope designed to hint at radiographic envelopes.

See through window in enveloped allowed for message to be complete with the contents inside.

This collaboration with Jorge Rigau, FAIA Arquitectos aimed at providing a signature door to an already signature home. The Spivak family inquired for a graphic gesture to welcome their guests at the entrance of the home. Typography was used as inspiration for the design and specification of the finished solution. Wood, steel and cortén steel became the tools of process and exploration.

Process from sketching to fabrication.

Details of construction and fabrication. Steel, wook and aluminum are stitched together in this piece.

Having closed the temple to the public about ten years ago in response to the collapse of one of its main nave lamps, the building deteriorated due to various problems, such as unchecked rainwater and trapped humidity. Trying to rescue this patient, the structure was surveyed between 2004-2007 to determine its actual conditions. The diagnosis, together with a historical and architectural analysis, has led to new insights about the evolution of the church. Its multiple expansions and repairs have resulted in a complex historical record. The conservation of the structure will not be easy.

This exhibit was curated, planned and designed to share and explain the renovation process with the community, along with many of the archaeological, architectural and cultural discoveries that have been made.

As a historical building, particular codes did not allow for any of the materials to be adhered to the Church’s surfaces. A series of self-standing modules were designed for some of the panels, and others were creatively installed onto the structural crutches of the renovation. The panels were distributed through the space to allow visitors to enjoy a complete walk-around, while simultaneously providing exposure to all of the contents.

The exhibit was designed to integrate with the architectural space and the current renovation strategies.

Spaces for reflection and meditation were opened through the experience of the exhibit.

Historical Renovation guidelines did not allow for any of the exhibit materials to be fixed to any of the surfaces of the Church. A self-standing system was generated, which allows for customization of the panels and renovation work moves to a different area of the space.

Panels were then embedded in the structures used for renovation.

The panels, designed as self-contained pieces of information, provided a piece to the larger history of the place visitors now inhabit.

The history of the space if enriched, through imagery and typography, to allow the visitor to fantasize, imagine, and understand.

The exhibit exists in constant negotiation with the historical richness of the space and the cold industrial quality of the renovation structures.

We all await the time when the renovation work is done and the industrial crutches removed so that the Church can begin to tell new stories and share lessons of its long lived life.

Visitors experiencing the space.

EXHIBITION CREDITS _ Curatorial Effort Beatriz del Cueto, FAIA, Marel Del Toro, AIT, Agamemnon Pantel, PhD, Alberto Rigau, AIGA Design & Strategy Estudio Interlínea Designers Alberto Rigau, AIGA (creative director and designer), Alfonso Gómez Arzola, assistant Text Editing Armando Rigau Historical and Iconographic Consultant Dr. Arturo Dávila Rodríguez Religious Consultant Mons. Fernando B. Felices Sánchez Technical Consultant Agamemnon Pantel, PhD Education Prof. Socorrito Díaz Digital Printing Global Graphics Offset Printing Model Offset Printing Other colaborations Luis A. Cerda, Susana Rigau Photography Agamemnon Pantel, PhD; Antonio Daubón; Joseph Elliott; Beatriz del Cueto, FAIA; Alberto Rigau, AIGA; Alfonso Gómez Arzola; Marie C. Ubiles; Edmund Meade, PE; Dan Cuoco, PE; Lyles McBratney; Cynthia Silva; John Hinchman y Mons. Fernando B. Felices Sánchez.