A magical place in Oaxaca is the botanical garden. In the former monastery garden, plants from all over the state of Oaxaca were planted in the 1990s. Besides the impressive monastery building made of greenish sandstone, which now houses the city’s cultural museum, another building made a big impression.

An elegant glass pavilion by Mexican architect Francisco Gonzalez-Pulido (FGP Atelier, Chicago) integrates amazingly well into the historical complex despite its reflective surface. The interplay between glass, metal, the red ground, the green of the plants and the historic sandstone wall is exceptionally harmonious and exciting at the same time. Depending on the light, the pavilion unites with its surroundings or, again, it looks like a shiny cube in the midst of history and nature.

Domus magazine shows a series of photos and some plans for the project by FGP Atelier.