Galpão Tropical is a landscape project for the headquarters of Muiraquitã Arqueologia, located in the historic center of Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazon. Developed in close collaboration with Laurent Troost Architectures, the project reinterprets the industrial typology of the surrounding neighborhood to create a green landmark in a part of the city where vegetation is scarce.

The landscape design was conceived alongside the architecture, not after it. Steel portals with three-dimensional trellis structures were designed specifically as support for climbing plants, which grow independently along the frames and form vertical green planes across the façade. This creates a living screen that provides shade, privacy, and thermal comfort while reshaping the building’s relationship with the street.

The planting palette was chosen for its adaptation to Manaus’s equatorial climate and for the volumetric qualities each species brings to the space. Thunbergia grandiflora and Passiflora sp. cover the upper structure; at ground level, Calathea lutea, Etlingera elatior, Heliconia species, and Curculigo capitulata compose a dense, stratified base that bridges the scale between the tall portals and the architecture. Several species also serve as food plants, making the garden as productive as it is beautiful.

One of the most meaningful decisions in the project was to preserve an existing Petrea subserrata, a native tree planted decades earlier by the client’s grandmother. This tree directly influenced the garden’s layout and became the project’s most personal element, connecting the design to the memory of the place.

Inside the building, the landscape continues through a narrow corridor, where a vertical and layered composition amplifies the perception of space and creates a continuous microclimate throughout the path. The green flows between workspaces, circulation areas, and a small pool from the original structure, showing how landscaping can transform even the most compact urban spaces.

Maintenance is kept intentionally low, with bimonthly pruning and fertilization sufficient to sustain the vegetation’s healthy development.

CREDITS
Landscape design: Hana Eto Gall Landscape
Architecture: Laurent Troost Architectures (Laurent Troost, Ingrid M. Tiago, Raquel Brasil)
Structural design: Daniel Adolfs
Technical engineering: Rafaela Lima
Construction: Helena Rabello Herszon, Daniel Herszon
Photography: Joana França
Client: Muiraquitã Arqueologia
Location: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Year: 2021
Area Site: 157 m², Built: 100 m², Landscape: 57 m²

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