Over the next 30 years, Mexico will add 30 million people to its population, with a need for 600 new homes per day. Globally, 40% of carbon dioxide emissions currently result from the construction and the use of our built environment. Set on a seismic territory with a lot of self-construction, our culture glorifies strong concrete and its omnipresent little brother, the cinder block—both highly carbon intensive. Wood can provide a material alternative with its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. Can we step off the straight line and circle back into the future toward a material culture derived from care? This research seeks to frame a portrait from a body of multidisciplinary knowledge of the current lumber production and consumption in Mexico and examine the interrelations between the coexistence of the forest’s multispecies, its communities, the transformation at the sawmill, the distribution, and the role of the housing industry including its planners, builders, and users. In the face of a rising taste for wood construction in Mexico, A Forest, a Tree, a Log, a Building traces a path to transition away from a culture of depletion towards regeneration.

La Liga de la Madera is formed by a group of architects driven by the urgency to address the consequences of current construction practices on the planet. Founded by Karina Flores, Maximilian Reuss, Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo, and Jachen Schleich, the group aims to promote wood construction in Mexico, each through their own practice. Together, they have been leading seminars, visiting forests, and gathering knowledge from various professions, while creating spaces for dialogue among the many actors involved in the wood production chain. The purpose of the group is to deepen the knowledge of this renewable resource and to organize a multidisciplinary field of research covering the entire value chain related to wood construction, thereby revealing the potential and obstacles that the wood construction industry faces.

Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo studied architecture and urbanism at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and earned a master’s degree in architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. She then collaborated with the renowned sculptor Jorge Pardo, contributing to various exhibitions and the architectural design “Tecoh,” a hacienda in Mérida, Yucatán. Next, she moved to Mexico City and founded Pedro&Juana with Mecky Reuss. Together, they have developed a range of international projects, including Horama Rama, the final winner of the Young Architects Program (YAP) program at MoMA PS1, New York. They also designed a holiday home on Lago Maggiore in Italy and a wooden annex promoting sustainable construction as part of their efforts with La Liga de la Madera. Their project Cascabela is their last exhibition at the Museo del Chopo, which explores the collective memory of bells in Mexico City. She has been a visiting professor at The Cooper Union; Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; and Cornell University; and has lectured internationally.

Mecky Reuss holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from TU Delft and spent an exchange semester at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). After nearly a decade producing art, first at Atelier Van Lieshout in Rotterdam, then with Jorge Pardo in Los Angeles and Mérida, Reuss moved to Mexico City and cofounded the design and architecture studio Pedro&Juana with Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo. Pedro&Juana has produced an ample variety of work, from large scale museum installations, smaller gallery exhibitions, a housing development, a gallery pavilion, some houses, research projects, among others. He is a founding member of the Liga de la Madera, an interdisciplinary research practice and is currently teaching at Centro on wood construction technologies. Reuss has taught and lectured at several universities across the United States and Mexico. He is part of the collective that represented the Mexican Pavilion Chinampa Veneta at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2025.

Karina Flores studied architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Technical University of Berlin. She earned a master’s degree in architecture with a focus on monument restoration from UNAM, followed by a one-year specialization in the Wood Program at Aalto University in Finland. She is currently pursuing a PhD at UNAM, working on a dissertation titled “Construction of Structures with Wood and Derivatives: Toward Sustainable Architecture in Mexico.” Flores is a full-time professor at the Faculty of Architecture at UNAM. Her commitment to addressing environmental impact and climate change has led her to specialize in the ecological footprint of buildings, particularly through wood design and construction. She has collaborated with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) on the Climate Change in Protected Natural Areas program in Mexico. She is a founding member of La Liga de la Madera, an interdisciplinary research practice. She also leads Huapango MX Architecture and Construction Studio, one of the few firms in the country specializing in the installation of prefabricated mass timber projects, including the first high-rise wooden buildings in Mexico and long-span timber structures.