Project Name: El Arca Residential Pavilion

Location: Nueva Suiza, Panama

Design Team: Mallol

Floor Area: 220 m²

Completion: 2024

Image Copyright: Alfredo Maiquez, Pepe Calavera

Design Features: Panamanian firm Mallol has completed El Arca, a single-storey residential pavilion built almost entirely from cedar harvested on its own site, on the slopes of Volcán Barú.

The project sits in the highlands of Nueva Suiza, over 2,000 metres above sea level, in a region renowned for producing Geisha coffee, one of the world's most exclusive specialty coffee varieties. The 220-square-metre house shelters beneath a single continuous curved roof, its profile drawn from the shape of a dry leaf fallen to the ground, a reference that gives the project its name, The Ark. The form provides constant cover from the highlands' frequent rain and shifting weather while establishing a clear architectural presence within the surrounding cloud forest.

Living, dining and resting areas occupy a single level beneath the roof, oriented toward the gardens, a river and the forest beyond. Overhead, an exposed timber structure runs the full length of the interior, reading as both the building's frame and its principal visible surface.

All primary materials were drawn from the site and its immediate surroundings: the structural frame, wall cladding, floors and ceiling are built in cedar grown on the property, a decision that removed the need for external supply chains. All joinery was carried out by hand by craftsmen Amílcar Rodríguez and Abdiel Rodríguez, builders from the Chiriquí highlands whose experience with cedar shaped every connection. Wood shingle covers the exterior, continuing the timber palette outside while standing up to the highlands' rain, mist and daily temperature swings; paths, terraces and ground surfaces are finished in locally quarried stone.

A large boulder discovered during construction was left in place rather than cleared, and the pavilion was configured around it. The rock now anchors an interior garden at the centre of the building, enclosed in floor-to-ceiling cedar and glass, surrounded by endemic planting and lit from below, remaining visible from the riverside through full-height glazing. The surrounding landscape follows the same logic: gardens are planted with endemic species to create a sequence of arrival beginning before the building is reached, while an unaltered mountain river running along the property edge stays audible throughout the interior, forming a continuous acoustic link between the architecture and its setting.

By drawing cedar from the property, quarrying stone locally, and employing only craftsmen from the Chiriquí highlands, the project kept its entire supply and labour chain within the region, ensuring that the economic activity it generated, and the technical knowledge embedded in the building, remained with the community that built it.

Design Team: Mallol is an architecture, urban planning and interior design practice based in Panama City, founded 45 years ago by Ignacio Mallol Tamayo. He holds a postgraduate degree in Planning and Urban Economics from the University of Colorado, a Master's in Architecture and Urban Design from the Catholic University of America, and completed further postgraduate studies at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design; he has long served as a CEMEX Awards juror and sits on the editorial board of Architectural Digest Latin America.

The firm is now co-led by CEO Ignacio Mallol Azcárraga, who joined the practice in 2008 after completing a master's degree at Columbia University and became chief executive in 2015. Mallol has grown into one of the largest architecture firms in the region, employing around 250 professionals across studios dedicated to residential, commercial, institutional and mixed-use work. Design principals Marietta and Ximena Mallol Azcárraga lead the firm's Lifestyle and Community studios respectively, focusing on high-end residential and contemporary living projects.

Mallol's portfolio spans skyscrapers and large-scale urban and tourism developments that have helped shape Panama City's contemporary skyline, alongside smaller residential commissions such as El Arca. Beyond Panama, the practice maintains offices in Barcelona and Santiago de Chile, and partners with fellow Barcelona Global Design members Pinearq and Bbats on large hospital, research and education projects across Latin America and Europe.