The proposal by DEB Architecture + El Equipo Mazzanti engages with one of the region’s most biodiverse lagoon systems, a complex network of mangroves that provides habitat for more than 200 bird species.
The intervention seeks to establish a transitional space that encourages dialogue between natural and urban dynamics. Through a system of pathways and public spaces, it creates an active boundary between the wetland ecosystem and Barranquilla's urban expansion.
Ciénaga de Mallorquín Ecopark by DEB Architecture + El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
Given the ecopark’s sensitive natural environment, the intervention minimises its impact on the site through elevated walkways, observation platforms and rest areas that allow for controlled access while accommodating recreational and educational activities alongside existing practices, such as artisanal fishing, without disrupting natural processes.
The project acts as a transitional layer between the city and the wetland. This active edge rests lightly on the landscape and weaves through it, forming a barrier that prevents further urban encroachment into the mangrove ecosystem while supporting the regeneration of one of the area’s most important natural environments: the Ciénaga de Mallorquín.
Ciénaga de Mallorquín Ecopark by DEB Architecture + El Equipo Mazzanti. Photograph by Alejandro Arango.
Project description by DEB Architecture + El Equipo Mazzanti
The Ecoparque Ciénaga de Mallorquín is part of contemporary processes of environmental regeneration and urban edge reconfiguration in coastal contexts. Located in Barranquilla, Colombia, the project addresses the historical relationship between the city and one of its most significant ecosystems: the Ciénaga de Mallorquín, a lagoon system located at the meeting point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Magdalena River. This geographical condition has defined not only the ecological richness of the site but also the urban and cultural development of the city.
Over the past century, large-scale interventions such as the construction of Bocas de Ceniza significantly transformed the territory’s morphology, altering hydrological flows and affecting the ecological balance of the wetland. As a result, the lagoon experienced processes of degradation, pollution, and progressive isolation from urban life. However, the ecosystem has demonstrated remarkable resilience, evidenced by the persistence of its biodiversity, including more than 200 resident and migratory bird species, as well as extensive mangrove areas.
In this context, the ecopark is conceived as a territorial infrastructure that does not seek to impose a new form on the landscape, but rather to establish a system of mediation between urban and natural dynamics. The project is materialized through a network of pathways, platforms, and open spaces that configure a “living edge”: an active strip that regulates the relationship between urban expansion and the ecosystem, acting simultaneously as a protective barrier and an access threshold.
Far from being a rigid boundary, this interface adapts to the changing conditions of the territory, acknowledging the dynamic nature of the wetland. Elevated walkways allow movement through the landscape without interfering with hydrological and biological cycles, while observation platforms enable contemplation and learning. In this way, the ecopark transforms the mangrove into a space of knowledge, where scientific, educational, and cultural practices converge.
The program is structured through districts that organize different forms of use and appropriation. The current development focuses on two main built areas: the Contemplation District, oriented toward ecosystem observation and environmental education, and the Family District, conceived as a space for gathering and recreation. Both districts activate the park and generate a direct relationship between the community and the landscape without compromising the ecological integrity of the site.
The ecopark also recognizes and integrates existing practices such as artisanal fishing, embedding them within its spatial and programmatic logic. Transitions between city and nature are resolved through the continuity of public space and vegetation strategies, gradually extending urban systems into the landscape.
More than an architectural object, the Ecoparque Ciénaga de Mallorquín is an open, flexible system in constant transformation. Its goal is not only to restore a degraded ecosystem, but also to propose a new way of relating the city to its natural environment, based on balance, respect, and coexistence.
By understanding landscape as living infrastructure and public space as an active mediator between urban and ecological systems, the project establishes a replicable intervention model for vulnerable coastal territories. Its approach demonstrates how architecture, urbanism, and ecology can work together to regenerate strategic ecosystems while creating new opportunities for encounter, education, and civic appropriation.
