Agua Viva Village

Agua Viva Village is a new urbanist, eco-conscious community now under construction along the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Mexico. The goal of the planned community of 6,000 homes is to be a restorative development, where it improves the environment, rather than destroys it, and enhances the lives of the people who live there. SSA was enlisted to design a large community plaza surrounded by a group of homes. Using drought-tolerant plants and native hardscape materials, SSA was able to design a usable, creative space that can be enjoyed by the new community. To combat the often harsh heat of Baja, a dense shade canopy of trees was proposed over the plaza to provide a natural cooling effect. To conserve water, a water system was also developed to irrigate plant material from the neighboring estuary.