Project Description
“Too late for gods and too early for Being” -Heidegger

Our proposal for Pachacamac Park is a soft one that connects the flows of two planes. On the surface, a promenade mediates between the pressures of the city and the sanctity of site. A variable gesture, the promenade thickens at different intervals allowing it to connect to the surrounding city. Populated with architectural elements—a bench, a bus stop, a community centre—this surface stretches to form a pedestrian connections across a busy highway or spirals upwards to create a observation tower. At each of these moments, these elements blends the qualities of the contemporary urban fabric with the historical brick structures of the Ychmas. Overall, the ensemble articulates a latent atmosphere already present on the surface of the site.

Operating on another plane entirely, the puquios—a series of subterranean aqueducts—connect key ecological points across the site to ensure the vibrancy of the park and revive the ancient wetland. This timeless ecological imperative is necessary for promoting the protection of this important landscape which, throughout its history, has blurred the distinction between natural and cultural processes.

With seasonal variation, the planting and vegetation resonates between the distinct temporalities that make up these flows connecting the daily life happening on the surface of the promenade to the long term and deep ecological diversification promoted by the puquios. By using this intrinsic natural element to prompt the overlap and intersection between these two planes we can anticipate interesting programmatic hybrids which evolve over time and connect the pragmatism of the present to the sacred and mythical past. In this way, the site becomes a layered ground for the past and future of being where everything—the flora, fauna and the dormant gods—is connected through concentric flows.

Water has historically played an important role in the daily life and cosmogony of Pachacamac inhabitants, as evidenced in Julio C. Tello’s discovery of an ancient hydraulic system of cisterns, aqueducts, and sunken gardens on the site in the 1940’s. More recent archaeological studies have speculated about the system’s connection to Urpi Wachaq and the wetland’s importance to previous civilizations: the ancient wetland was once a habitat for fish, migratory birds, and plant life, and played a significant spiritual and practical role in daily life. The proposal aims to engage with the deep ecological forces that gave rise to the site’s rich history by connecting the aquifer in the North-Eastern quadrant of the site to the Urpi Wachaq wetland in the South-West through a series of subterranean aqueducts, or Puquios. This age-old passive technology taps into this source at 8–10 meters below grade. Water is then diverted through a series of gently sloping tunnels one to two meters in diameter. At 20–30 meter intervals, a one-meter vertical shaft—used for construction, maintenance, ventilation and to access water—connects the tunnel to the surface. The water system running below the surface along the perimeter of the North Sector is registered on the surface by a series of vertical ventilation shafts. Each of these points on the surface are connected with a pedestrian and bike path that wraps around the site. With verdant vegetation on one side and the arid landscape on the other, this formal promenade breaks the curvature of the site’s terrain, creating a series of scenographic vistas. One of the strengths of this proposal is its adaptability over time. From the below grade water system, to the paths, towers, plazas, and planting, the placement of each element is based on known locations of archaeological remains and anticipates both short and long term changes to the site whether its new archaeological finds or changes in the environment.