Mario Schjetnan
Inspired by the pre-Columbian myth
and colonial history of his
native Mexico, as well as twentieth century art at home and abroad, Mario Schjetnan has emerged as “one of the contemporary world’s most versatile and accomplished landscape architects,” according to critic John Beardsley.
His work ranges from development of housing and parks for the urban poor to the design and environmental restoration of Mexico City's Xochimilco Ecological Park, a park nestled within a 3000-hectare landscape of canals and artificial garden islands that date to the 10th century.
Mario Schjetnan started his own firm Grupo de Diseno Urbano (GDU) in 1977. Schjetnan is winner of numerous awards, including the 2008 ASLA General Design Honor Award and the Green Prize in Urban Design from Harvard University. Schjetnan has lectured at U.C. Berkeley, Harvard University, and was director of the School of Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona, Tucson from 1999 to 2001. A few recent books on the work of Mario Schjetnan and GDU include: Mario Schjetnan: Landscape, Architecture, and Urbanism, and Ten Landscapes: Mario Schjetnan