La Cacaotera Regional Museum is located in Villahermosa, in the state of Tabasco, Mexico’s leading producer of cocoa. Its purpose is to promote learning about cocoa and to disseminate cocoa culture, highlighting its historical, productive, and cultural importance.

This project of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Land, and Urban Development (SEDATU) was drawn up in the wake of the demolition of the building that had housed the National Union of Cocoa Producers, which had suffered serious structural damage.

The new architecture drew on the memory of the form of its predecessor, giving it a new take through a focus on the process of transforming cocoa into chocolate.

An exhibition space tells the story of cocoa and its cultural impact, and in a workshop area, through machinery like mills, roasters, and shelling equipment, visitors get insight into the processes of producing it.

In terms of materials, the project – which covers a total area of 1,150 m² – is characterized by the predominant use of red-pigmented concrete, visible in its structure, combined with latticework, clay, glass, and ironwork elements. This palette is enriched with vegetation endemic to the banks of the Grijalva River, allowing the building to blend into its urban and natural surroundings.

The building's construction system consists of slabs with wooden beams and planks, supported by a structure of painted steel, reinforcing the contemporary character of the complex without sacrificing its link to its historical and regional context.