taller paralelo and HRBT Raise a Glulam Greenhouse Roof over a Mexico City Community Orchard

Most garden pavilions are small structures beside the planting. Urban Garden, completed in 2018 in Mexico City by taller paralelo and HRBT, works the other way. It is a 36 by 36 metre timber roof raised high over an existing community orchard, so the fruit trees keep growing underneath it. The 1,296 m² pavilion serves a privately run urban farm and food center. It shelters two temporary exhibition rooms, an open forum, a multidisciplinary space, a library and a sculpture garden, all on a free plan with four entrances.

The architects describe it as a Victorian greenhouse rebuilt with contemporary engineered timber. That is a fair summary, but the more interesting point is the argument the building makes. The pavilion uses certified glulam, steel tension cables and a translucent polycarbonate roof to show that mass timber can span real distances in a Mexican city. It also has to stay light enough for daylight to reach growing trees. We think the project matters less as a garden folly and more as a public test of a material the country rarely uses at this scale.

A Saw-Tooth Lid for a Living Room of Trees

The roof does most of the climatic work. Its saw-tooth slopes face south-east, which leaves room for future photovoltaic panels; one is already visible on the roof edge. The vertical faces let in indirect light and the dominant northern winds. The white polycarbonate spreads the sun into a soft, even glow. That matters for the shrubs and fruit trees below, which need light without being scorched.

The roof also collects water. Because the polycarbonate surface is continuous, rain can be harvested instead of simply shed. A farm that depends on irrigation in a city with chronic water stress gets a direct benefit from this. The clear height of roughly 6 to 8.5 metres keeps the canopy well above the crowns of the trees, so it reads as sky rather than ceiling.

Columns on a Twelve-Metre Grid

The supports are laminated timber columns roughly 20 by 122 cm in section. They are set about 12 metres apart and braced with timber brackets at each bay. The long, flat proportion gives the colonnade a clear direction. From one angle the columns look like thin planes; from another they look like solid walls of wood. Walking past them, you experience the shift as a rhythm of open and closed views into the garden.

The structure differs by axis. In one direction it relies on timber space structures; in the perpendicular direction it uses hybrid trusses of timber and steel cable. Engineer Óscar Trejo's system lets each material do what it does best. Wood carries compression and gives the building its warmth. Steel takes tension in members you barely notice.

The Black Steel Joint as Ornament

Up close, the joints show how the building works. Black steel plates bolted through the glulam mark every point where forces meet. Their bolt patterns are visible and repeated from bay to bay. The design team did not hide these connectors behind cladding, and that was the right call. Against the pale timber they become the pavilion's only real ornament, and you can read the load path from below.

There is also a practical reason to keep them exposed. Bolted plate connections are simple to inspect, tighten and replace in an outdoor building that sees sun, rain and seasonal swelling. Leaving them visible makes maintenance easier, and that tends to help a structure last.

Garden First, Building Second

At ground level the architecture steps back. Planted beds, agaves, clipped hedges and a winding path take over, and the pink stamped paving runs between columns without competing with them. Gabion-edged planters and red gravel keep the palette earthy. Because the structure spans over the existing trees rather than replacing them, the site keeps its history as a working orchard.

The open plan with four entrances matters here. You can enter from any side, cross the garden under cover and end up at the library or forum without passing through a formal lobby. For a community food center, that openness is part of the program, not just an aesthetic preference.

Plans and Drawings

The drawings show how few parts the system uses. The connection sections set out the bolt patterns that tie timber to steel. The roof detail shows laminated beams, tension rods and sloped polycarbonate panels meeting at the column head. A single truss section shows the bowed lower chord and vertical struts that let the roof span lightly. The elevations show that the whole pavilion is one frame repeated down the length of the site.

Why This Project Matters

Mexico has extensive forests, yet the architects note that most are not harvested sustainably. Engineered timber has had little presence in the country's public buildings. Urban Garden counters that by putting certified glulam on display in the capital, at a scale that shows it can span, shelter and carry building services. The architects also argue that certified sourcing supports the rural communities who live from the forest. That links an urban pavilion to a supply chain far outside the city.

The broader lesson is about restraint. The building claims no ground for itself and keeps the trees that were already there. It shades, gathers water and lets light through for planting. The Victorian greenhouse was a machine for growing plants; this version also works as a public room in the city. We would like to see more urban farms, markets and plazas in Latin America take a similar approach.

Urban Garden by taller paralelo and HRBT. Location: Mexico City, Mexico. Area: 1,296 m². Year: 2018. Photography: Jaime Navarro.

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