Urban plan: Shete Boka

We developed a new masterplan for Shete Boka National Park on Curaçao, commissioned by CARMABI. The design focuses on improving the visitor experience while strengthening and restoring the park’s natural landscape.

Shete Boka, meaning ‘Seven Inlets’in Papiamentu, is one of Curaçao’s most visited natural landscapes, attracting between 90,000 and 100,000 visitors annually. Although its name refers to seven inlets, the 200-hectare national park contains ten spectacular coastal inlets. Following extensive historical and spatial analyses, we developed a new masterplan. By concentrating new facilities and infrastructure within the entrance area, more space is created for ecological restoration and native vegetation throughout the park. The proposal aims to create a better balance between tourism, accessibility, and nature conservation.

Historical and spatial analysis

Shete Boka National Park was officially established in 1994 and is managed by CARMABI. The park protects important nesting grounds for several species of sea turtles and is known for its dramatic geological formations, rugged coastline, and extensive hiking trails.

To understand the landscape and its development over time, we conducted a historical landscape analysis using maps dating from 1836 to the present day. By layering these maps, we gained insight into how the area evolved and how accessibility gradually increased. Early maps show a remote and largely inaccessible landscape, with almost no infrastructure present. The first basic pathways appeared in the early twentieth century, but direct access to what is now the park entrance only emerged during the late 1970s. Today, most visitors arrive by car or tour bus and visit key attractions such as Boka Tabla, Boka Pistol, and Boka Wandomi. Parking areas are located close to these destinations, allowing visitors to reach the main viewpoints within a short walk. Our accessibility study also revealed the importance of the existing network of hiking trails that connects scenic viewpoints, geological landmarks, and ecologically sensitive areas throughout the park.

For us, understanding how the landscape functions over time was essential. Historical maps, topography, vegetation patterns, and accessibility all informed the design process. Rather than shaping the landscape for visitors alone, the landscape itself became the starting point for the masterplan.

Designing access and visitor facilities

Our design expands the entrance area from 2,395 m² to 3,952 m², allowing visitor facilities to be centralized while returning more space elsewhere in the park to nature. This principle formed the foundation of the design, as Shete Boka is designated as a conservation area within the Island Development Plan (EOP).

The analysis of circulation patterns identified four main user groups within the park: security staff, independent tourists, tour bus groups, and park employees. Each group follows different routes and requires different facilities. Understanding these movement patterns allowed us to create a more intuitive and efficient entrance area.

The new entrance area has been designed as a compact and clearly organized spatial structure that integrates carefully into the surrounding landscape. Visitor facilities, circulation routes, and landscape elements are brought together within one coherent plan. The layout concentrates the main visitor functions. The ticket office is positioned centrally along the main route, creating a clear point of arrival. Adjacent facilities include a new toilet building, food truck area, seating spaces, and a reorganized parking area accommodating cars, tour buses, and a kiss-and-ride zone. Charging stations for electric vehicles will be powered by energy generated through the park’s solar infrastructure.

Several shaded gathering spaces have been introduced to accommodate visitors, school groups, and guided tours. Special attention has been given to comfort within the park’s hot and exposed climate. Additional trees, shaded waiting areas, and green resting spaces create cooler places for visitors to gather before exploring the park.

Improving routing and restoring nature

Centralizing facilities within the entrance area requires an expansion of approximately 1,500 m². By concentrating visitor functions at the entrance, pressure on other parts of the park is significantly reduced. As part of the proposal, approximately 1,082 m² of land will be restored through native planting, new shaded green areas, and ecological restoration projects. In total, the masterplan returns more space to nature than it occupies.

The redesign also improves navigation throughout the park. Existing signage lacks consistency and visibility, making orientation difficult for visitors. We therefore developed a new wayfinding strategy with recognizable routes, clear destination markers, and a coherent visual identity that blends naturally into the landscape. Key attractions such as Boka Tabla become easier to find, while the overall visitor experience becomes more intuitive and enjoyable.

The masterplan demonstrates how visitor facilities and nature conservation can strengthen one another. By doing so, Shete Boka National Park can continue to welcome visitors while preserving the unique landscape that makes it so special.