A rewind to the Oberlander Prize winner in 2025: Mario Schjetnan

On 14 October last year, Mexico-based landscape architect Mario Schjetnan and the firm he founded in 1977, Grupo de Diseño Urbano (GDU), were selected by an international seven-person jury from more than 300 nominations received from around the world to be awarded the biennial Oberlander Prize .

The Oberlander Prize Jury Citation notes: “In a time of rapidly developing megacities and cultural homogenization, GDU is a strong voice for social engagement and environmental justice in tandem with the art of landscape architecture. Their work bridges the ethical and the aesthetic, advocating for access to nature in the city as a fundamental human right.”

It also states: “GDU’s portfolio of built work delivers tangible impact and a model for delivering public landscapes as essential infrastructure in a rapidly urbanizing world—home to more than half of the world’s population.”  

The Oberlander Prize website includes a written biography of the laureate, a twelve-minute long introductory video about Schjetnan and GDU (viewable above), and a trio of four-minute long videos about significant projects: Xochimilco Ecological Park, Chapultepec Forest and Park, and La Mexicana Park.

In his introductory video Mario describes the trajectory of his life and career, “influenced by his adventurous father and worldly mother, his years at the University of California at Berkeley and the influence of Luis Barragán and Lawrence Halprin, and his creation of Grupo de Diseño Urbano, one of the most influential landscape architectural practices in the Americas”.

“Culture, history, the environment, and his deep love for Mexico, are evident as he describes some signature projects. And, all of this is driven by the belief that there is a human right to open space”.

As part of The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s (TCLF) Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, TCLF curates both in-person and virtual Oberlander Prize Forums to raise the visibility of the honoree’s work and of landscape architecture more broadly. The current curator is Professor Elizabeth Mossop, Dean of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) School of Design, Architecture and Building.

COVERAGE FROM 2025

  • Architect - Mario Schjetnan’s Human Right to Open Space

  • Landscape Architecture Magazine - For All of Latin America”: A Global Honor for Mexican Firm

  • Landuum.com - Mario Schjetnan and Grupo de Diseño Urbano

  • Wallpaper - Mexican landscape architect Mario Schjetnan's Grupo de Diseño wins 2025 Oberlander Prize

Past Oberlander Prize LAUREATES

Awards, #Around-the-worldStephen Olsen