Our thesis has been approved a few weeks ago and we will turn in the final two printed copies of the document on Friday 14th, along with all the digital documentation. The final theme was:

“Propuesta de Anteproyecto de Diseño para el Mejoramiento de la Imagen Urbano-Cultural de la 2ª Calle Poniente en el Centro Histórico de Santa Ana, Departamento de Santa Ana.”

“Preliminary Design Proposal for the Improvement of the Urban-Cultural Image of the 2nd West Street in Historical Center of Santa Ana, Department of Santa Ana.”

“Avant-projet de Conception pour l’Amélioration de l’Image Urbaine et Culturelle de la 2ème Rue Ouest dans le Centre Historique de Santa Ana, Département de Santa Ana.”

Once the document is finished, I shall upload it.

We have now turned in the thesis for the final corrections to be made. Next step is the defense and presentation, followed by the submission of the corrected document in mif September. It’s great to be in the final stage now.

As usual, you can’t expect to have your university work to go as smoothly as you had planned and my thesis project has not been the exception.

My thesis project has now been changed.

THE REASON

The reason why the project changed is the miscommunication between the different branches at Secretaría de Cultura de la Presidencia (SECULTURA). Basically, the person who solicited the original project in the university proposed one that was not in the immediate priorities of the institution. They didn’t consider it a feasible project in a short term.

THE NEW THEME

The thesis exact theme is still undefined but the project will involve the improvement of the urban image of the 2ª Calle Poniente, from the Santa Ana Cathedral to the El Calvario Church, still in downtown (historic center of) Santa Ana, El Salvador. We still haven’t met with the client, which still is SECULTURA, but a different person (an architect, at least) will handle the meetings with the institution, Arch. Gustavo Milán, Coordinator of Inspections and Work Licenses.

Their top priority for Santa Ana is a sort of urban recuperation and image improvement, which involves restoring some of the buildings with relevant architectural style in the axis of intervention, proposing a development plan for said street and, based on our investigation, coming up with a solution to the requirements and problems we identify for the area.

THE TWO POSSIBLE STREETS TO INTERVENE

We were given the option of working with one of two streets, or both, should we want to. One of them was the 2ª Calle Poniente (from the Santa Ana Cathedral to the El Calvario Church) and the other one was the 1ª Avenida Sur (from the Santa Ana Cathedral to the El Carmen Church).

View Thesis: Urban Recuperation in a larger map

In my opinion, this is a more interesting project in comparison to the original one. At least, it will be more of a challenge and I love those. I’m also glad this involves urban planning more than architectural design, as I want to get a master’s degree in that field in the future.

This is also a project that is more likely to be developed by SECULTURA, contrary to the original one, which was most likely going to be sent to their archive.

The only downside is the fact that this puts us behind a few weeks in our already planned schedule, having to start over again.

TESIS: Primera Visita on Prezi

An interactive map for the first meeting with the thesis director made on Prezi.com. It includes the photos of the first visit to the site (exterior shots only).

Please be patient. It takes a little bit to download all the images.

According to the university’s calendar, today (10th March) is the day we are supposed to start our thesis project.

THEME: “Architectural Design for the Reuse of the Cine Principal in Santa Ana, El Salvador” (translated literally)

In Spanish: “Diseño Arquitectónico para la Reutilización del Cine Principal en Santa Ana, El Salvador”

The name for the thesis is a bit confusing, I must say. The Cine Principal is an old movie theatre in downtown Santa Ana, El Salvador. It is no longer used as a cinema, but it is certainly still used as a theatre, as many in El Salvador. However, my thesis partner and I are assuming, as we haven’t met with the thesis director of yet, the purpose of it is the rehabilitation of the theatre as a cinema again.

The project was assigned by the university, as it’s usually done, as per request by the Secretaría de Cultura (in Spanish) in El Salvador, an entity in charge of the conservation, development and diffusion of art and culture in El Salvador, established by the Government.

Our thesis director is Arch. Claudia Romero, a current teacher at the university for Communication (technical drawing and presentation) and Space Workshop (design workshop).

AGENDA

As we still haven’t received the contact information from the coordinator of the career in my university, even after it was agreed he would email it, we decided to do a little exploration ourselves so we don’t go empty handed once we actually meet with the architect.

• Saturday, 12th March: First approximation to the site and its context.

What we are looking for with this first visit:

Visual information of the physical aspects of the building and its surroundings.

Understanding, at first glance, how people move around it, what conditions it is in and how it is perceived by people.

Identifying and mapping the immediate environment.

Analysing, not thoroughly yet, how the public and private transport works in the area.

• Sunday, 13th March: Meeting with my thesis partner.

The purpose of the meeting is to organise the gathered information during the visit to present to the director and do the first draft of the work plan for the duration of the thesis.

• Week of 14th March - 18th March: Tentative meeting with the thesis director.

This will depend on getting the contact information and the director’s availability.

SITE

The Cine Principal is located at the North-West corner of Calle Libertad Oriente and 3ª Avenida Sur, opposite to the South facade of the Santa Ana Cathedral.

Featured sites:

1. Cine Principal
2. Catedral de Santa Ana
3. Centro Judicial Dr. Ángel Góchez Castro
4. Teatro Nacional de Santa Ana
5. Alcaldía Municipal de Santa Ana
6. Parque Libertad
7. Centro de Arte de Occidente
8. Cine Novedades

(Source: Santa Ana 2.0)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on here. Long story short, I have completed all the coursework of my curriculum. This means, I no longer have any classes to take and will start the last phase of my career: the Thesis.

In the following weeks, I’ll be assigned a thesis theme to work on for 6 months. In my university, they tell us what we have to work on for our thesis, instead of us deciding what we would like to investigate and/or propose. This should be interesting.

Hopefully, my thesis will have to do with architectural or urban environmental design, as that’s what I’m mainly interested in pursuing after I graduate.

Just yesterday, my classmates and I turned in the last part of our community service work. In El Salvador, you are required to do a certain amount of community service hours in order to graduate from high school and from university. My uni requires 600 hours, which in my career means you have to do a lot of work for NGOs and other type of organisations that have come to the institution requesting for help. This, obviously, counts as experience for the student.