Metropole Parasol

Brief information

On Seville’s old market square stands a structure that looks like six enormous mushrooms, but functions at once as a canopy, a market, an observation deck, and a cover over archaeology. Metropol Parasol is built of concrete and wood on Plaza de la Encarnación; at 28 meters high, it covers an area of 150 by 75 meters and claims the title of the largest wooden structure in the world.

The history of the site can be read vertically. In the 19th century there was a market here; later its building was demolished, and an attempt to build an underground parking garage was halted because Roman and Moorish remains were found. So beneath the modern “mushrooms” the Antiquarium appeared, the market returned above it, and the roof of the first level became an open public space under wooden shade.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare two clues to the form: the architect connected the silhouette with the vaults of Seville Cathedral and with ficus trees. So the “mushrooms” here are not just a decorative gesture: their caps work as a large urban canopy, while the open space beneath them takes over the role of a boundary from walls.

The main visible detail is the lattice of shaped wooden LVL panels. They stand orthogonally, meaning they intersect at right angles, and form cells roughly one and a half by one and a half meters. This grid is held by thousands of load-bearing joints, and the wood is protected with waterproof polyurethane varnish. In this way, the scale of the structure becomes easier to grasp through small repetition: the enormous form is assembled from many visible wooden ribs.