ASLA Award Winner Malinalco Private Residence by Mario Schjetnan, FASLA / Grupo De Diseño Urbano, S. C., Mexico City
Malinalco Residence is located in the southern portion of the Malinalco Valley, in a setting of old coffee and fruit orchards, where a system of ancient “apantles” or open-air irrigation channels persists. The Aztecs chose this high valley area to erect a citadel; its strategic position made the Spanish conquest of the area particularly difficult.
Left: An “apantle” channel, which runs briskly aside the pedestrian walkways, empties into a rock basin surrounded by Philodendron sagittifolium, Sedum praealtum and banana trees.
