The new visitor center on San Lucas Island, formerly a maximum-security prison, welcomes visitors through a radial bamboo entryway that leads into an enveloping structure centered around an interior courtyard. From this space, visitors are offered a framed view of the dispensary, one of the island’s most iconic and historically significant buildings.

The journey continues along an elevated walkway, revealing views of the sea and forest. Along the way, guests pass by a shop and café, with the path culminating at a scenic overlook facing the stone corral, a remnant of the former prison’s original construction.

The new building stands as a benchmark for low-impact construction, incorporating efficient and eco-friendly systems such as rainwater harvesting, solar energy, bio-gardens, and dry toilets for managing bathroom waste and greywater.

The structural system is made of bamboo—a material gaining importance in this historical moment marked by disruptions in the supply of steel and potential wood shortages. Additionally, the earth walls, built using ancestral techniques such as rammed earth and bahareque, offer excellent thermal, acoustic, and aesthetic qualities, making use of the island’s own soil as a resource.