PPAA "celebrates the qualities of wood" with rotating CLT pavilion in Mexico City
As part of the architecture and urban design fair Mextrópoli 2025 held in Mexico City, local studio PPAA created a pavilion made of a 23-metre-long cross-laminated timber beam suspended above rotating wood panels.
The temporary pavilion was installed in the Historic Center of Mexico City for the Mextrópolis 2025 fair, which included other installations by studios and teams of designers and lectures by Bjarke Ingels, Steven Holl and Iwan Baan.
PPAA created its Resonancia Suspendida pavilion in collaboration with Reed Wood and Arboreal, using a minimal number of elements to showcase the qualities of laminated wood.
"Conceived as an ephemeral and performative installation, the pavilion celebrates the intrinsic qualities of wood: its lightness, structural strength, and natural tactile and visual appeal," said the studio.
The structure is made of one, 24-metre-long beam placed on top of 10 rotating panels made of the same CLT material.
Additionally, nine panels were slotted on top of the beam, indicating the width of each rotating panel below.
Each panel can be rotated 360 degrees individually to sit perpendicularly to the beam on top, or aligned to create a solid wall.
The studio said the panel's rotation creates a structure that "disappears".
"When these panels are aligned, they act as direct structural support," said the studio.
"However, with a simple rotation, they transform from solid support to transparency: they allow for both visual and physical passage, while reinforcing the impression that the beam is hovering in space."
Other recent PPAA projects include a rammed-earth guesthouse and an office building, which the studio claims was the "first all-wood" mass-timber structure in Mexico.
The photography is by Luis Garban and Estudio Cobalto
Resonancia Suspendida was on view from 18 to 21 September during Mextrópoli 2025 in Mexico City. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Project credits:
Team: Equipo Pablo Pérez Palacios, Miguel Vargas, Eduardo Colín
Collaboration: Reed Wood an Arboreal
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