Huerto Urbano

Architecture
This pavilion for the Community Urban Farm and Food Center, a reinterpretation of the Victorian greenhouse, with a modern construction techniques, seeks to create a space for the coexistence of visitors, with a protection from the sun and the rain. Besides that, despite the advances and innovations in the use of laminated wood are breaking paradigms across the world, in Mexico, this resource is not generally used in a sustainable way; in view of that, Huerto Urbano is presented as an alternative sustainable construction, contributing to reduce emissions of Greenhouse Gases.

Structure
The basic layout is a 118-foot square saw-tooth layout, with an array of large wood columns 8 x 48 inch each in cross-section, creating 40ft spans in between columns, with wooden space structures in one axis, and hybrid wood and steel cable trusses in the perpendicular one. A 20 to 28-foot clearance made this structure capable of harboring the larger shrubs and fruit trees within.

Eco technologies
Faced South-East, white polycarbonate surface of the roof made rainwater harvesting possible to incorporate PV Cells. The indirect light and dominant winds became beneficial for both the users and plants.
For the future, the space is ready to incorporate a harvesting and purification of rainwater in clean roofs, retention and infiltration of rainwater from storms in French pavements and drains, as well as the incorporation of a wetland for tertiary treatment of treated water, from a secondary treatment plant, of USBF type.

Certified wood
We were particularly keen on using certified mass timber for this structure, as innovation on engineered laminated wood for structural applications is breaking new ground across the world. In Mexico, the reality is a bit different, most forests are not being sustainably harvested even when local communities are eager to incorporate responsible and sustainable practices, thousands of hectares are still lost to agriculture or urban development every year.
Sustainable forest management has the potential to encourage the reforestation of areas previously deforested for agriculture and livestock, as is already the case in many regions of the country, with different plant fibers, such as conifers, tropical timber in the southeast and bamboos in the southeast.
The wood as building material is the future of skyscrapers and multi-level buildings, large clearings and public buildings, the only limitation is the basements and underground levels, for the rest, wood is the only construction system with a negative balance of carbon emissions, besides being a renewable material.