Matamoro Market, Mexico

Architects: Colectivo 733
Text: György Szegő
Photos: Rafael Gamo

Mexico-based Colectivo C733 has completed a public market that features prefabricated triangular-trapezoidal umbrellas on the roof to gain daylight and facilitate warm air escape through these giant roof modules in Mexico City. The 2,868-square metre market is located at a residual plot of a residential area in the outskirts of Matamoros city in Tamaulipas. Vernacular construction techniques hugely take place in Northeastern Mexico, the area has a naturally defensive character and resource economy based on these local techniques. Giant trapezoidal roof system makes this market distinguished as the building also offers its own climatic conditions for thermal insulation and air circulation – which was solved with a strong architectural language. The need of protection against hot climate and the lack of humidity derived in solid archetypes of massive proportions. The use of inner patios, local materials, crossed ventilation, orientation and façade density to protect from direct sunlight are some of its principal characteristics.

Client: Secretaría de Desarrollo Agrario, Territorial y Urbano
General architecture: Colectivo 733
Architects: Gabriela Carrillo, Carlos Facio, Eric Valdez, Israel Espin, José Amozurrutia – UNAM Építészkar, Mexikó
Collaborators: Misael Romero, Rosendo Casarrubias, Pedro Domingues
Structure: Gabinete de Ingeniería de Estructuras Especiales S.C.
HVAC: Enrique Zenón
Landscape architecture: Hugo Sánchez Paisaje