mercado el alto

time : 2018

place : puebla, mx

process : the cloud; the volcano; the agricultural fields; the urban plaza; endemic ecology

completed for : private client

collaborators : RIOS

Mercado El Alto is a traditional Mexican market hall located within the original pre-colonial city limits of Puebla, Mexico. The district is home to centuries old structures that have fallen into disrepair. In the last several years the district has seen a resurgence to protect this historic city and revitalize it into a vacation destination. Mercado El Alto is to be transformed into a world class eating destination- with gourmet local and regional market vendors at the ground level and fine dining restaurant on the mezzanine. The Landscape drove the overall concept for the project and is expressed as a vertical stratification of the Pueblan vernacular landscape- cloud, volcano, terraced agricultural fields, and the urban plaza. A flex plaza draws visitors inside where the Market Hall is anchored by a central bar. The mezzanine borrows from the volcanic highlands, beyond. The sculpted forms of the mezzanine planters are extracted from the arched forms of the “cloud” canopy, resulting in an expression of place well anchored in it’s surroundings. Project developed while employed at RIOS.