Arco Properties Guide to Casco Antiguo

Client

Arco Properties is a real estate brokerage firm that focuses exclusively on commercial and residential property in Casco Viejo, the historic district of Panama City, Panama. The firm is the only real estate company in Panama that donates 10% of its proceeds and 5% of its staff time to non profit organizations that work to revitalize Casco Viejo`s Human Patrimony and the neighborhood’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Arco publishes a yearly guide to living and investing in Casco Antiguo.

Project

The Handbook to Living, Working, and Investing in Casco Antiguo is part guidebook and part investment guide to one of the most exciting neighborhoods in Central America. Through this ambitious publication ARCO Properties provides invaluable insight into the local real estate market for investors who understand that ROI in the Casco is intrinsically tied to investment in the social, cultural, and environmental impact of the neighborhood.

Previous issues of the guide focused on the history and architectural beauty of the district, which portrayed a sanitized, sterile misrepresentation of life in the district.

When I redesigned the book in 2009, I opted for a combination of professionally-commissioned, found, and point-and-shoot photography that showcased the warmth, color, and vitality of life in the Casco. In order to continue to allude to the history of the neighborhood and to achieve a visual language that was authentically Panamanian, I supplemented contemporary imagery with scanned vintage travel journal pages from the History Museum of Panama.