Mario Schjetnan
Mario Schjetnan is a Mexican architect and landscape architect that manages to "unite social concerns, aesthetics and, increasingly, ecology- all by way of interpreting and celebrating Mexico's rich and diverse culture." He is co-founder of the interdisciplinary firm Grupo de Diseño Urbano in Mexico City known for designs in which the building is subordinate to the landscape. Among his numerous awards are the Prince of Wales/Green Prize in Urban Design for Xochimilco Ecological Park and the ASLA President's Award for Excellence for Parque El Cedazo.
Also recorded as Mario Schjetnan Garduño · Mario Schjetnam Garduño
Mario Schjetnan
- Born
- 1945
- Nationality
- Mexico
- Occupation
- architect
- Education
- National Autonomous University of Mexico
- Languages
- Spanish
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Mario Schjetnan is a Mexican architect and landscape architect that manages to "unite social concerns, aesthetics and, increasingly, ecology- all by way of interpreting and celebrating Mexico's rich and diverse culture." He is co-founder of the interdisciplinary firm Grupo de Diseño Urbano in Mexico City known for designs in which the building is subordinate to the landscape. Among his numerous awards are the Prince of Wales/Green Prize in Urban Design for Xochimilco Ecological Park and the ASLA President's Award for Excellence for Parque El Cedazo.
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Mario Schjetnan (born 1945) is an architect, of Mexican nationality. The architect was educated at National Autonomous University of Mexico. Languages used include Spanish.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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In this article
Background
Background
Schjetnan was born in 1945 in Mexico City, a climate that gave him an immense appreciation for water that would appear in his later works. His paternal grandfather was a railroad builder and Norwegian immigrant. His father was an architect, professor and golf course designer while his mother had a degree in history and was interested in literature and theater. His parents' professions helped to inspire his own interests in 20th century modern architecture, pre-Columbian myth, and colonial history.
Schooling
Schooling
Schjetnan attended National University of Mexico (UNAM), where he received an undergraduate degree in architecture in 1968. There, he studied under such names as Ricardo Flores and Álvaro Sánchez and was taught the international designs of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Mario went on to get a master's degree in landscape architecture with an emphasis in urban design from the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design in 1970. At Berkeley, he was taught systems theory, ecological planning, and social inquiry techniques by Garrett Eckbo, Robert Royston, Donald Appleyard, and Ian McHarg. In 1985 Schjetnan was appointed a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at the Harvard Design School and received an honorary PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in 1995.
Major works
Major works
1. Tezozomoc Park 2. Malinalco House 3. Mexican Cultural Center 4. Culhuacan Historical Park 5. Xochimilco Ecological Park 6. Parque Bicentenario 7. Malinalco Golf Club 8. Archaeological Museum 9. Parque El Cedazo 10. Chapultepec Park 11. Paquine Pueblo Museum 12. Cornerstone Garden 13. TecnoParque
Style & philosophy
Mario Schjetnan views public parks as an expression for environmental justice- an extension of the public housing work he did at INFONAVIT. He works with low budgets, basic materials and modest details while gaining financial and political support by linking public spaces with infrastructure improvement. He acknowledges the importance of landscape to both individual memory and public history by utilizing "critical regionalism": "self-reflective adaptation or transformation of both modernist and traditional design languages." The result is a "metropolitan ecology" in which architecture, urbanism, and nature coexist in a dynamic mosaic.
Influences
In contrast to his father's inspirations, young Mario was influenced by Mexican Modern Architects such as Luis Barragán, Max Cetto, and Mario Pani. In terms of landscape design, Schjetnan was drawn towards the works of Luis Barragán, Roberto Burle Marx and Lawrence Halprin. He was also interested in the revolution and work of leftist artists such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Juan O'Gorman. Shortly after his graduation from UNAM, the events surrounding May 1968 in Paris and the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City inspired Shjetnan to design for social needs at the INFONAVIT (Mexico's federal institute for workers' housing). Now with over 40 years of experience in his firm, "ecology is increasingly becoming the organizing principle of his work." He is now inspired by architects such as Renzo Piano, Tadao Ando and Norman Foster in addition to environmental artists such as Doug Hollis, Richard Long, and James Turrel.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Mario Schjetnan”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2880371: Mario Schjetnan
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Thompson, William. "Landscape as Myth and Culture." Landscape Architecture, January 1994, 72-75.
- 2.McDonald, Sally. "Interview- Mario Schjetnan: With Mexico in Mind." Landscape Design, September 2002, 12-14.
- 3.Beardsley, John. Ten Landscapes Mario Schjetnan. Edited by James Grayson Trulove. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers, Inc., 2002.
References
Citations
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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