Matamoros Public Market

The Mexican practice upholds local tradition through a selection of materials that make for versatile spaces and foster community life

Located in an old residential area on the outskirts of the city of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, the Public Market is conceived as a reinterpretation of vernacular constructions in the northern part of the country. Colectivo C733 came up with a flexible structure for the community, reviving the red brick of the old rampart by using it as the project’s main material.

There are forty permanent stalls and the building acquires its form from using the divisions as buttresses. The roof’s prefabricated metal structure gives rise to an umbrella system optimally designed for the region’s climate conditions. Wrapping up the project is a low-maintenance garden-marsh that pierces through the building and grows with the passage of time.