Earlier this year, SUNPAN's Creative Director, Dorothy Hryc, travelled to Mexico City during the city’s flagship art week. Beyond the fairgrounds, she discovered a creative capital shaped by monumental architecture, immersive cultural spaces, and a visual language unlike anywhere else.
In Mexico City, architecture, art, and public life constantly overlap. One moment, you are standing beneath a concrete canopy listening to water echo through a museum courtyard. The next, you are wandering through cobblestone streets outside a modernist home.
While the trip began around the city’s annual art fairs, it quickly became something else entirely: an exploration of the spaces and cultural landmarks that continue to shape Mexico City’s creative identity.
To See
Marked by its vivid pink facade in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighbourhood, Casa Gilardi remains one of Mexico City’s most remarkable residential spaces that embodies the unique integration of modernism and Mexican culture.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Luis Barragán in the 70s, the private home was built around a towering jacaranda tree in its central courtyard, allowing light and nature to shape the internal space of the house. Throughout the residence, saturated walls and dramatic colour blocking echo the work of Mexican artist Chucho Reyes Ferreira, whose use of vivid colours deeply influenced Barragán’s body of work. To this day, the home’s iconic hues are still periodically repainted to preserve their intensity.
The experience culminates in the famed open plan dining room and swimming pool, where coloured walls, the skylight, and still water converge in a way that feels almost dreamlike. Even decades after it was built, the space still feels very original in its use of colour, light and proportion.
Few places offer a stronger introduction to Mexico City’s visual language than the National Museum of Anthropology. Located within Chapultepec Park, the museum houses some of Mexico’s most significant pre-Hispanic artifacts.
The building itself is quite captivating as well. Designed by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez in 1964, the museum centres around its monumental paraguas canopy, where water pours dramatically from a single concrete column into the courtyard below. The soft echo of water through the courtyard softens the surrounding bustle of the city and gives the space an unexpectedly meditative atmosphere.
Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros
Designed by muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros alongside architect Guillermo Rossell de la Lama, the building itself functions as a massive mural, wrapped in bold imagery that stretches across nearly every surface. Inside, visitors are immersed within La Marcha de la Humanidad, Siqueiros’ sprawling mural exploring human conflict, progress, and collective experiences. Covering approximately 8,700 square-metres, it is considered to be one of the largest murals in the world.
Decades after its completion, the Polyforum still feels radical in its ambition, blurring the boundaries between architecture, public art, and political expression.
One of the highlights of the trip was an evening at the Museum of Modern Art, where we encountered the work of Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Known for immersive installations that merge light, sound and public participation, Lozano-Hemmer’s exhibition "Jardín Inconcluso" transformed the museum’s sculpture garden into something playful and slightly surreal.
During the evening, Lozano-Hemmer also shared details about his upcoming site-specific installation Unfinished Arch, set to open at Sherbourne Common in summer 2026. Encountering the artist's work in Mexico City while being able to hear about a project soon to be close to home at Toronto’s waterfront made the experience feel especially memorable.
The sprawling campus of National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is one of Mexico City’s most significant examples of mid-century modernist architecture. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the campus brings together architecture, landscape design and public art on an extraordinary scale.
Its most iconic landmark is the Central Library, wrapped in Mexican painter and architect Juan O’Gorman’s monumental mosaic mural composed from naturally coloured stones sourced from across Mexico.
During our visit, a wedding unfolded nearby while students crossed the courtyards between classes, making the campus feel less like an institution and more like a living part of the city.
Constructed from black volcanic stone, the Anahuacalli Museum was designed by celebrated Mexican artist Diego Rivera alongside Juan O’Gorman. When it was built in the 1930s, it was intended as both a cultural monument and a joint retreat for Riveria and Frida Kahlo. The museum also houses Rivera’s vast collection of more than 2,000 pre-Hispanic objects. Modelled after a teocalli (a Mesoamerican terraced pyramid), the structure draws from Toltec, Maya and Aztec architectural influences that are blended with Rivera’s own personal vision.
Inside, dark corridors, carved stone surfaces, and dramatic shafts of natural light create an atmosphere that feels immersive and almost ceremonial. Among the many discoveries are Rivera’s sketches for the Rockefeller Center murals in the 30s, offering a glimpse into one of the most pivotal episodes of his career.
To Discover
Some of Mexico City’s most memorable moments happen away from its major cultural landmarks.
In Santa María la Ribera, we spent the afternoon wandering past the ornate Moorish ironwork of the Kiosco Morisco before stopping by the Museo Universitario del Chopo, a striking iron-and-glass structure dating back to 1902.
Further south, Coyoacán offered an entirely different rhythm. Cobblestone streets opened into shaded plazas filled with musicians, market vendors and families gathering into the evening. Nearby, Mercado de Coyoacán overflowed with colour, street food, and local crafts, offering a more everyday perspective of the city.
Spaces like Casa Wabi Sabino Foundation and La Textilera further revealed how naturally contemporary art, craft, and architecture coexist throughout Mexico City.
The Mexico City outpost of Casa Wabi Foundation occupies a brick-and-concrete space designed by architect Alberto Kalach, where natural light, raw materials and open courtyards shape the experience as much as the exhibitions it houses. Originally founded by artist Bosco Sodi, the foundation has become known for supporting cross-disciplinary dialogue between artists, artisans and local communities.
Meanwhile, La Textilera offered a completely different atmosphere. Housed within a former textile factory, the industrial space now hosts exhibitions and programming centred around textile art, material experimentation, and craft traditions.
Spaces like Casa Wabi Sabino Foundation and La Textilera further revealed how naturally contemporary art, craft, and architecture coexist throughout Mexico City.
The Fairs
Every February, Mexico City takes on another dimension to an already layered city. What began in 2002 as a modest gathering of 25 galleries has grown into Zona Maco — now Latin America's largest art fair — drawing over 200 galleries from nearly 30 countries to Centro Citibanamex each year. Running alongside it is the Feria Material, a former auto repair shop-turned-art-fair that takes on a more focused approach, spotlighting emerging galleries and independent voices with a strong Latin American presence. Salón ACME is not too be missed as well. Now heading into its 14th edition, it is a platform that is run entirely by artists and remains one of the most direct windows into emerging creators in the Mexican and international art scene. If you have any flexibility on timing, February is when to go.
To Eat
Like the city itself, many of Mexico City’s restaurants balance history, design and atmosphere effortlessly.
Hugo in Roma Norte became one of the trip’s standout discoveries. Part natural wine bar, part contemporary bistro, the Michelin-recognized restaurant pairs relaxed neighbourhood vibes with seasonal menus rooted in traditional flavours.
María Ciento38 in Santa María la Ribera offered a completely different atmosphere. Just steps from the Kiosco Morisco, the 19th century mansion turned restaurant brings Sicilian cuisine into one of the city’s oldest residential neighbourhoods.
Meanwhile, San Ángel Inn captured a more traditional side of the city. Set within a former 17th-century monastery, the famed restaurant pairs classic Mexican cuisine with lush courtyards, colonial architecture and an old-world atmosphere that feels almost untouched by time.
Housed inside a restored Porfirian-era mansion, Blanco Colima layers contemporary dining, cocktails and nightlife against an elegant historic architecture in a promising haute cuisine experience.
Epilogue
We left Mexico City feeling inspired by the creativity that is woven so naturally into everyday life. Public art spills into parks and universities. Historic architecture continues evolving alongside contemporary cultural spaces. Even colour feels intentional rather than purely decorative. The most memorable spaces were the ones that engaged emotion as much as aesthetics. It's a lesson that resonates deeply with our work at SUNPAN, where creating meaningful experiences is just as important as creating beautiful furniture and spaces.