Scenic Garden offers architectural pavilions and a new green lung for Mexico City
Scenic Garden, designed by Michan Architecture and a team of collaborators, adds green infrastructure to Mexico City's bustling urban experience

Scenic Garden's hint is in its name. The new, verdant section in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park has been designed by Michan Architecture, Parabase, and landscape architects Entorno Taller de Paisaje to offer respite from the bustling capital through greenery and architectural delights, making for a picturesque backdrop to everyday life. The Mexico City-based firm, headed by founder Isaac Michan Daniel, just completed this fresh urban green space, which has just been inaugurated as Mexico City's newest architectural garden.
Tour Scenic Garden by Michan Architecture
The architecture practice talks about the project as 'part architecture, part landscape, and part infrastructure', and it feels like an apt description. The scheme not only consisted of crafting the flora and landscaping in the appointed section of the park, but also the construction of three pavilions to cater to various needs of visitors.
The aim was to make the project sustainable as well as open to as many people as possible. The architects explain: ‘Located on Avenue Reforma, next to the Auditorio Nacional in the first section of the park, the largest pavilion is dedicated to performance [and is] a large flexible auditorium with doors that open to the surrounding park and neighbouring pavilions, for rehearsal and a cafeteria. Collectively, the pavilions will host guests to see theatre, music, performing arts, and other events.'
Michan Architecture collaborated on the project with the two loal firms, Switzerland-based Parabase and locals Taller de Paisaje Entorno, and managed a team of 11 consulting firms in this complex scheme. Michan Daniel describes the resulting design as 'an exercise in embedding contemporary architecture, landscape and culture as one'.
Boasting organic curves, low concrete forms and swathes of glazing to make sure the interiors always feel connected to the outdoors, the architectural pavilions within the Scenic Garden were conceived to blend seamlessly with the park’s network of winding paths and promenades.
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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
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