Malecón as Puerto Vallarta’s attraction during Mexico Tourism Tianguis

Puerto Vallarta, the backdrop of a great twentieth-century romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is transformed. The picturesque town’s waterfront, the Malecón, has been redesigned by West 8 to enhance the cultural and economical position of the town. The town will be the setting of the Mexico Tourism Tianguis between the 25th and 28th of March. During this fair, several events will highlight the splendour of Malecón.

The Malecón project is one of the redevelopments following the strategic plan of the Municipality of Puerto Vallarta. West 8, in collaboration with Trama Architectos and Estudio 3.14, set out to transform the social heart of the city; a social heart which combines the local identity and its promise for the tourism industry, but which also became a place for tourists and locals to mingle. ‘The Moonlight effect’ is a very important factor in this transition. The new lightning strategy creates a friendly and romantic atmosphere inviting people to stroll leisurely over the boulevard both during the day and at night. Another important element of the Malecón is the ‘Mosaico Vallarta’. This mosaic includes two local traditions: the river stone pavement technique and a design inspired by a masterpiece of the prominent Huichol artist, Fidenzio Benitez. The design narrates the origin of Puerto Vallarta, thus bringing a local character to a contemporary boulevard.

The 37th edition of the Mexico Tourism Tianguis will be held in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, thus announced Secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo of the Federal Ministry of Tourism last February. The Tianguis is an annual event, held at different locations every year. It is a very important attribution to Municipality of Puerto Vallarta’s strategy that the government has selected the Tianguis to take place at Puerto Vallarta. The Tianguis is to showcase the renovation of the picturesque sea-side town, thus reinforcing their aim to create a prime attraction for tourism. While the main event will take place at the Puerto Vallarta Convention Centre, separate events are set to occur before and during the fair, including a Wine Fest and Restaurant Week. Malecón is to take the centrepiece on Monday eve March 26, where there will be a fireworks display over the Banderas Bay between 8 and 11pm, the renowned Mariachi Vargas will hold a concert at the boulevard, and a cocktail party open to the public will take place.

The uniqueness of Malecón’s location on the boundary between the mountain range and the sea, its story on how mountain meets sea, and its position as the social heart of Puerto Vallarta, have inspired the booklet “El Malecon de Puerto Vallarta: Murmulla de Sierra y Mar”; a booklet which was commissioned by the municipality. The booklet stresses the importance of Malecón and shows its promise for the future. It will be distributed amongst institutions of tourism for promotion, and will be sent to governmental institutes, such as municipalities and ministries. The new waterfront design is a showcase example highlighting the potential of public design in Latin America’s emerging countries by showing a discourse embracing the past, present and future identity of a place.

 

Notes to the editor:

  • For further information on the Malecón project, please contact West 8.
  • For further information on the Tianguis and its programme, please see http://en.tianguisturistico.org/ or contact the Media office of the Ministry of Tourism.
  • Project data:
  • Site area: 19,000 m2 / 1km
  • Client: Municipality of Puerto Vallarta
  • Budget: €4.7 mio, or 80 mio MXN Pesos
  • Realisation: 2011 (in just 8 months!)
  • Partner: Trama Arquitectos (project architect), Estudio 3.14 (public realm and landscape architecture)
  • Team: Adriaan Geuze, Daniel Vasini, Freek Boerwinkel, Fernando Diez, Joost Koningen, Juan Figueroa Calero, Maria Castrillo, Perry Maas, Tanyi Huang, Xiaoxuan Lu.

West 8 is an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture founded in 1987. Over the last 20 years West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. West 8 developed projects all over the world in places such as Copenhagen, London, Moscow, New York, Madrid, Toronto and Amsterdam. The office gained international recognition with projects such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam (NL), Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam (NL), Chiswick Park in London (UK) and Expo ’02 in Yverdon-les-Bains (CH). Many of the projects are the result of groundbreaking entries in important international competitions. Recently won competitions include Toronto Waterfront in Toronto (CA), Governors Island in New York (USA) and Playa de Palma in Mallorca (ES).

Amongst the numerous awards received by West 8 are the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), the Prix de Rome, the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Bijhouwer Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, the Green Pin and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design.

For more information: Public Relations, Winnie Poon or Tamara Kool, +31 (0)10 – 485 58 01, pr@west8.com, www.west8.com