Puerto de Santiago, Tenerife

These images were taken during my Christmas break to sunny Puerto de Santiago, West Tenerife. I have found that looking at the architecture that exists around this area and the neighbouring town of Los Gigantes, which has urban development built onto the slopes of the volcanic mountains, it shows how diverse architecture can get since the locale is more tropical than that of the UK and soil conditions and landscape contrast greatly. Los Gigantes coast (pics 1 - 14), was a real breath of fresh air in terms of the architecture since the private estates really take advantage and comprehend the sunlight and the sea. Since the sun sets in the West, the gardens perfectly look out onto the sea where the sun sets over the neighbouring La Gomera Island allowing for beautiful evening skies (pics 15 and 16)... Pic 10 shows incomplete development in Los Gigantes. Due to the sudden loss of money in the EU, the development of these proposed residential homes was stopped. A sign of the times...

Pics 17 to 24 were from a boat ride I took from Los Gigantes Marina, where it headed up the west coast past the cliffs and mountains that are named Los Gigantes (eng. 'The Giants'), which the town is named after. These cliffs are one of Tenerife's major tourist attractions. Pics 25 to 28 were taken from Jungle Park, Adeje, which boasts a lot of flora and fauna, which separates itself from the coastal towns to the south. Pic 29 onwards were taken around Puerto de Santiago. It is, like Los Gigantes, a resort town and therefore attracts a lot of worldwide tourism, even at Christmas. Though Spanish is the primary language of natives here, I was surprised by how many also spoke English rather fluently!

Pics 46 to 52 were views from around the apartment building I stayed at: Sunset Apartments. Lovely! Note on Pic 50, all the lobby areas incorporate plant life. This for me is an essential touch to the building. Outside elements seen indoors in my eyes breaks the boundary that separates the inside realm from the outside realm. Plus, plant life purifies the air, which is vital in climates found in places such as Tenerife. Tenerife is a Spanish island, therefore Spanish/Catalan style architecture. These images would prove useful in the further development of my Lavapies Urban Environments Project needed for my portfolio unit of Final Year of Ravensbourne College.