While T was trying to find locations suitable for the recreation parks she planned to design in the vicinity of Oaxaca, it was suddenly made known that the Governor had officially appointed T the architect to make a new design to enlarge the market of Puerto Escondido. T was surprised. She did know that she was known for her market designs, but she had made it perfectly clear she now wanted to think about recreation parks. The Governor apparently thought that T, quite a practical architect, would be able to solve his problem in Puerto Escondido.

Very soon after T heard of this new commission, she went to the coast. It is a hazardous trip, whichever route is chosen. Travelling via Tehuantepec, one can take a rest at Huatulco. One may also travel to Puerto Angel via a narrow road high in the mountains, along steep cliffs. Then you can take a break at the small restaurant Rayito de Sol (Little Ray of Sun). Another possibility is the new road through Zimatlán and via Juchaten¬go. This used to be the route to Juquila, a place of pilgrimage. This time they chose the most convenient road, via Huatulco.

In Puerto Escondido they discovered that there was a problem: an architect had been working on a design for three years. There were three hundred demanding market traders whose wooden stalls were outside the existing market hall and there were one hundred more who had had a stall inside from the beginning, so they were the ones with the oldest rights. This market-hall was a closed building, partly dug into a sloping field at some distance from the beach. At first this hall was not used at all for a couple of years, because the stallholders preferred their old familiar park near the beach. Years later they started using the still empty hall, as the population was increasing and people wanted to have a market in their own neighbourhood.

The market was close to the new road to Oaxaca. At first T thought the location was not too bad: there was a pleasant sea breeze and the site seemed large enough to give everybody a place. The problem was how? The draft of the existing design consisted of a series of small market halls, but without enough space for visitors to walk round. A very great shortcoming of this design was that it did not take into account the huge difference between the level of the upper street and that of the car park in the lower street.

However, lack of money made realising the project impossible anyway. The Governor was an economist and had promised to pay the last third of the necessary amount, if the market traders and the Fund for Social Projects each paid one third as well. The committee of stallholders had not been able to scrape together the first third of the total amount of money over the past three years. Mistrust and envy among themselves had made saving impossible.

On her way back T felt depressed by this accumulation of problems. José Miguel, her driver, also fell silent. She now understood why the Governor had pushed her forward at the meeting: he had to take a decision without knowing the solution. He was also in doubt about the quality of the existing design and he did not want to take any risks.

Then something happened they had often been afraid of: a natural disaster. The new road that had been strong enough to withstand the first rain showers, had given way as a result of the persistent downpours. Part of the land came crashing down and blocked the road back to Oaxaca. In the middle of the night they waited for hours until a tractor driver, at the risk of his own life, started pushing down the earth by driving to and fro.

What were they to do? They could not sleep in the small car. José Miguel got out to stretch his legs and struck up a conversation with the road workers. They exchanged gloomy predictions about the future of this road. In the dark T visualized the market of Puerto Escondido as if on a computer screen. The existing slope would have to be terraced at various levels. She tried to imagine how many platforms would be necessary. Finally, after hours, the road was unblocked and at dead of night they advanced slowly on the slippery clay soil, until they reached a safer part of the road ahead.

Back home T enthusiastically started making drawings and designs, and after having tried all sorts of possibilities for the various platforms, she hit upon the easiest solution: an outdoor market on three levels. As the making of these giant steps would take some doing, she had a clever idea: she proposed that the Governor should offer to pay for the first stage of the construction process, i.e. the levelling of the three terraces. She explained that when this had been done, the market area would look a lot better and that this would mean immediate political success for him. The Governor understood her suggestion and agreed to it, provided that the market traders also agreed.

T presented her idea to the market committee and the fact that the Governor would pay for the first stage made it an attractive plan for them. They felt that this might be a successful start and the next day they submit a petition to him signed by all the market people. After three years of difficult negotiations they were looking forward to positive action towards the creation of their market.

Álvaro Guzmán, an architect with a good reputation in the area, was asked to supervise the making of the terraces. He had the brilliant idea of taking the earth needed for the terraces from a nearby barrio where they were going to build streets and wanted to get rid of earth. As a result of this idea the Governor was helping out on two locations at the same time; so double political gain for him. The newly filled-in terraces withstood the heavy rainfall of hurricane Paulina without any damage; even the recently planted palm trees were not blown down.

In fact the task had been completed, as an outdoor market could now be organized on the levelled terraces. T, however, cherished the idea of covering the three huge market terraces to provide some shade.

She tried to imagine how a common roof could be built to protect the market from the sun. She got in touch with a factory in Mexico City, which produces beautiful, light roof structures. Together with the engineers of Trimetica, she designed a fitting structural plan for the three terraces. The structures were made in Mexico City, but the large roof plates had to be transported from as far as Monterrey, an industrial city in the very north of Mexico. A young architect from SEDETUR, Orlando Díaz, patiently worked out a precise scale model of the market structure to convince the traders and the Governor.

It was a long time before they received the money from the Fund for Social Projects and were allowed to buy the structures in Mexico City and the roof plates in Monterrey.

The next problem was that they now had to make the foundation for these structures, which had to be accurate to a millimetre. Water pipes had to be laid and wiring installed at the same time. Fortunately they got help from an engineering company from Mexico City to construct the required foundation and installations.

The new roof offered a cool place in the shade for buyers and stall-holders, while at the same time the market remained an open-air site through which the sea breeze can blow freely. T suggested the stall-holders try and come to an agreement among themselves as to the redistribution of points of sale, so that meat and fish could be sold inside (where refrigerators could be placed) and bread, vegetables and fruit, clothing and souvenirs underneath the new roof outside. To achieve this arrangement no doubt quite a few meetings would have to be held.

(The new female elements: the three terraces separated by gardens and the three awnings to protect stallholders and visitors).

Designing partly covered open-air markets for the many street vendors is considered a -new- concept in Mexico. It has been forgotten that some five hundred years ago, when Cortés and Bernal Díaz entered México-Tenochtitlán, they were pleasantly surprised to see the beauty of the open-air market in Tlatelolco.

Giving attention to the empty field, the -female- element in architecture, and making it a lively part of the surroundings has been Tonny’s way of designing. She is sure that Aldo van Eyck, who as a young architect was commissioned to design a series of playgrounds in post-war Amsterdam, would have loved her answer.