An initiative of Mexico’s Secretariat for Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development (SEDATU), the market in Nicolás Bravo is part of a government-funded program for urban improvement, aimed at addressing scarcities in the country’s less developed municipalities.

With the objective of linking a growing tourism industry to the needs of communities on the Yucatán Peninsula, this project provides a space where visitors can get acquainted with an acquire local products: crafts, foods cultivated in the region, and prepared meals. Apart from its commercial function, the market of Nicolás Bravo – a small locality with a population of 5,500, in the state of Quintana Roo – also serves as a community center, hosting cultural workshops and activities.

Designed by Aidia Studio – led by Rolando Rodríguez-Leal and Natalia Wrzask, working from offices in Mexico and the United Kingdom – the building was raised with techniques and low-maintenance materials. The construction presents a steel structure; slabs and parapets of pigmented concrete; colored concrete blocks; and clay bricks for cladding trhe roof and floor.

Accommodating fifty stalls, the market is laid out on an 8x8-meter structural grid, on a built area of 7,700 square meters. The roof, formed by a succession of inverted umbrellas, incorportates hyperbolic paraboloids that, besides meetig functional needs, visual integrate the architecture with the surrounding natural landscape. Two green courtyards interrupt this structure, bringing natural light and ventilation indoors.