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The prestigious French forestry and landscaping engineer Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier was assigned to transform the original María Luisa Public Park, the lands donated by the Infanta in 1893, and incorporating it into the Exhibition location, then called the Hispanic site. In 1914, after three significant alterations to the grounds had been completed, the Park reopened to the public. The Exhibition had been postponed to 1917. 

 

In 1915, it was decided to expand the Park to the south and east. To the south Forestier designed the conjunction with the Mariana Garden, drawing paths converging to the rear façade of the Mudejar Pavilion; to the east, it lead up to the Plaza de España located in the Prado de San Sebastián through a tree-lined avenue and a circle.