The project transforms a deserted city block into a hub for regional food, consolidating warehousing, co-cooking spaces, food service, and performance programs to support an emerging Chihuahuan Desert culinary culture.
A folded metal roof reinterprets the market shed typology, covering an airy ‘mercado’ with shaded overhangs and high planted walls. The shell folds to delimit an occupied roofscape, suspending a ramped viewing deck between the sweeping forms. The flat site is transformed with a sloped lawn and a sunken grove, channeling and storing scarce water resources to support native desert plants and pollinators on site.
A custom folded metal barrier provides an acoustic barrier while providing glimpses into the events and desert ecologies on site.
