"Everything begins at home, never tire from improvement"
"When I am working a on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, when the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. Buckminster Fuller"
"The real voyage of discovery and change does not consist in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.- Marcel Proust"
"What is the city but the people. William Shakespeare"
terms of use
contact us
Santa Bárbara
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Project Type: Master Plan & Form Based Code
Project Status: Under Review
Completion Date: February 2015
Site Area: 315 acres
Team: PlusUrbia + Castillo Arquitectos + GSH studio
Client: Archidiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango Totonicapan


Santa Bárbara is a site that belongs to the Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city. The Archdiocese needed to develop a land management plan that would allow for the property to be developed in a comprehensive way, while allowing for the land itself to continue serving the church.

This is the first time that the Catholic church sponsors a comprehensive, vision oriented plan for urbanization in the recent history of Latin America. The church will serve as a steward of the land and the plan,  where the institution itself does not become the developer but chooses one to join the vision in order to build together a prosperous, integrated community that will provide much needed housing opportunities, jobs and educational spaces for a rapidly growing population.

Led by Castillo Arquitectos in collaboration with GSH studio.

*Rendered perspective views by Castillo Arquitectos.



Santa Bárbara
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
more info
Santa Bárbara
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Project Type: Master Plan & Form Based Code
Project Status: Under Review
Completion Date: February 2015
Site Area: 315 acres
Team: PlusUrbia + Castillo Arquitectos + GSH studio
Client: Archidiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango Totonicapan


Santa Bárbara is a site that belongs to the Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city. The Archdiocese needed to develop a land management plan that would allow for the property to be developed in a comprehensive way, while allowing for the land itself to continue serving the church.

This is the first time that the Catholic church sponsors a comprehensive, vision oriented plan for urbanization in the recent history of Latin America. The church will serve as a steward of the land and the plan,  where the institution itself does not become the developer but chooses one to join the vision in order to build together a prosperous, integrated community that will provide much needed housing opportunities, jobs and educational spaces for a rapidly growing population.

Led by Castillo Arquitectos in collaboration with GSH studio.

*Rendered perspective views by Castillo Arquitectos.