Redevelopment of Hacienda Santa Maria Acu

The Brief	Approach	Challenges Faced	Photos: Before and After	Detailed Specs

The front wall of the hacienda with recently planted henequen plants along the way

The Brief

To stablize the structure, replacing and repairing walls, ceilings, and floors, to permit the long-term preservation of the buildings, as well as seletive repair and resuscitation of key elements of the property, including walls, irrigation system, certain key decorative features, etc. To bring back to life buildings and land that had been swallowed up and decayed by 40 years of neglect and near total abandonment.

Approach

Working closely with the local community, we established a base of knowledge of "the way things were" in historic times at this majestic property. As part of this process, we also tracked down the original owning families, and through a mix of family photos, lore, and site visits, were able to re-establish the function and purpose of the rooms, and the original layout of the entire property.

We engaged a local team, including architect, structural engineer, and surveyor, who helped us to uncover and solidify what we already had. Working exclusively with traditional methods, we established a team of workers to repair first all structural elements, to stop any further degradation of the property. We simultaneously cleared the land inside the casco, discovering the irrigation system, including its many canals and water tanks, as well as extenisve Mayan stones. These have all been preserved and repaired in a manner consistent with their original construction.

Challenges

We faced several challenges along the way:

the scale of the project and the degree to which the property had been abandoned (40 years)