The EcoLoop challenges the relationship between human and non-human:
what it is and what it can be. It seeks to enhance an existing ecosystem,
bringing to light the forgotten presence of water surrounding and within the
city and integrating different groups of people. Through the curation of multiple
environments, the Loop utilizes things that by their nature separate space,
such as the Old Wall and the Lagoon, in order to merge, blurring the division
between parts of the city, between urban and natural, between human and
non-human.

Cartagena is a unique city with a beautiful natural environment and an
historic wall surrounding the oldest part. This city is a wonderful place where
visitors and locals walk along the wall and see the city, experience local food
and activity, boat on the river, and see beautiful native birds.
However, this city has many social and environmental problems. There is a
disconnection between both sides of the city caused by the existing wall, the
highway and the lagoon itself. Furthermore, the local people are suffering
from a great deficiency of infrastructure and environmental issues, which are
causing more and more risks to health and safety.
This project is called Eco Loop - a circular ribbon space along the edge of the
lagoon in Cartagena. The project explores the relationship between human
and non-human, in order to trigger improvement of the lagoon environment
and, moreover, to connect La Matuna and the eastern side of the city. The loop
completes the broken circuit of the Old Wall, plugging into pocket plazas in the
Old City and creates a new circuit of its own around the lagoon.

The project consists of five parts, which are organized by a linear walking
space, each of which respond to its surrounding environment either
ecologically or with urban relevancy.
1. The loop starts from the south corner, a space consisting of water purification
installations, near the entrance of the river. Each installation sinks and
emerges, as water rains down from each “leaf” - a process for water
purification and transportation.
2. The next environment is a high-density residential area for wild birds. Since
more and more local and migrant birds lose their habitats because of the
deforestation and destruction of mangroves, the Loop offers large frame
structures to support vegetation within providing space for local and migrant
birds to live.
3. The third part of this circuit is the area with least intervention: a mangrove sanctuary. The lagoon floods part of the existing land and creates a shallow area for the mangroves to grow, in order to trigger restoration of the mangroves that once grew there.
4. The fourth part is a market. The weather in Cartagena is hot and
humid, the people next to the highway have no shelter from the
sunlight. Our idea is to provide shading for the public, under which people can
sell their products. Also, this space offers additional access to the
urban pocket plazas.
5. The last part is an extension of the market, an area that crosses over the
highway and protrudes into the peninsula. This space inserts an urban
program into a dense natural environment, bridging the market, the Old Wall
circuit, and the "new wall" to complete the entire circle, while also providing
space for selling products.

The Eco Loop triggers interaction between human and non-human, ultimately
reactivating the waterfront and fostering connection between both sides of the
city.