This research studio, Fortified Seas, is sited in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and interrogates the city’s enduring relationship to its 16th-century Spanish fortifications—the walls that long differentiated between “inside” and “outside.” My research focused on the island’s influential mural culture, particularly in the Santurce neighborhood, where abandoned facades have become canvases for artists engaging with political, environmental, and cultural issues. Since 2010, the annual festival Santurce Es Ley has brought international artists to the area, transforming its streets each May into a vibrant stage of urban expression.

The proposal introduces a scaffolding-based infrastructure to support the festival, foregrounding the performative nature of street art while housing essential programs. Parasitic in nature, the structure operates as semi-permanent “urban acupuncture,” attaching to non-vernacular supporting buildings to extend and honor the mural tradition. The choice of scaffolding as a primary material emphasizes economy, adaptability, and community agency, enabling collective place making and temporal transformation.

Formally, the building responds to Puerto Rico’s tropical marine climate: its angular section filters natural light, provides shade, and channels rain runoff into interior courtyards. By embedding flexibility and responsiveness into its design, the project aims to foster pride of place while amplifying the storied Puerto Rican practice of mural-ism.