Acuario Xochimilco
Mexico City, Mexico
Acuario Xochimilco exhibits the high ambition and conceptual complexity of contemporary landscape architecture.

Completed in collaboration with TEN Arquitectos, the 1,300-acre park master plan provides a range of program, infrastructure and supportive ecological systems to the region.  The master plan re-envisions the park, creating a healthy water, vegetation, and habitat ecology for the site along with passive and active recreation, gardens, performance venues, farmers market, aquarium and aquatic center.  The master plan integrates historic elements of the site such as the Chinampas – part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that preserves a Pre-Columbian agricultural system that is still in use today – as well as the 1968 Olympic Rowing Center which serves as an organizational spine through the master plan for circulation and various program elements.  Careful integration of ecological systems and program allows the site to be a flexible amenity, enriching the site at many scales.  As a UNESCO site, the park will draw many international tourists and will be a national resource for the country to celebrate Mexican ecologies.