Last night I received news that a friend in Mexico died in a car crash over the weekend. I immediately checked his facebook page and saw the great outpouring of photos, love and wishes. Luis Alberto Matanzo touched the lives of so very many. He was a proud Poblano and a talented architect and landscape architect with great passion for his career and his culture. The world has indeed felt a great loss that reaches far and wide.

I had the great opportunity to meet Luis in 2007 when I was living in Mexico City and working at Grupo de Diseño Urbano. He even invited me on a personal tour of his hometown of Puebla which I will always remember. As a native of the only Spanish-designed city in Mexico, he taught me about the city’s history, design and the reason why Puebla was so famous for it’s tasty candy. I saw some of the most amazing churches, squares and hidden courtyards along with pedestrian streets and a converted art district followed by peculiar cocktail shots with bizarre (and tasty!) ingrediants and authentic molé under the arches of a sidewalk cafe just off the main plaza. We toured the ancient church built atop a pyramid of Cholula where we enjoyed the sun setting over the city followed by micheladas in the city square. Luis was so proud of his city and it’s culture and it showed. In a future post, I will share my trip and images from this beautiful city in honor of Luis.

But most importantly, Luis taught me the real story behind a famous Mexican holiday. As it turns out, back in the early 1900′s Hellmann’s mayonnaise was actually manufactured in England so when the Titanic set voyage it carried on board thousands of jars which were scheduled to be delivered in Vera Cruz on the Yucatan Peninsula after it left port in New York. The Mexican people, who were crazy about mayonnaise, were very excited and eagerly awaited the delivery which would have been the largest to the country. But as history had it, the ship sank upon hitting an ice berg and took the precious cargo down with it. The loss was so great for the Mexican people that they declared the day a national day of morning. To this day, the people continue to observe the day every year on May 5th and is known as the Sinko de Mayo.

Luis had a silly sense of humor. I remember walking along while he was telling this story in such a serious manner that I was actually totally surprised that it turned out to be a joke.

Luis had a kind personality and a warmth that was infectious. His charm and humor drew people to him like a magnet and kept people laughing and smiling. He was an inspiration and a friend. I feel lucky to have known him. Luis will be remembered and forever live on in the hearts of many.

Luis, te vamos a extañar. Te mando un abrazo super fuerte.

images via Lisa Town

Tucked away in an alley near Avenida Cinco de Mayo and Calle Palma within the historic district of Mexico City, a large and abundantly planted living wall is thriving. And even more than a lush vertical greening system, this wall seems to be a piece of art as well. Woven in amongst the multi-colored vegetated stripes appears to be a dragon. This wall is downright fun.

The plants on the wall seem to be thriving in Mexico City’s climate and have been planted in some sort of unidentified container system that is attached in some way to the side of the existing building with what I can only guess are a few layers between the plants and the actual building face. Why this particular building was chosen, I don’t know but according to Erika Richmond, a designer from Vancouver, B.C. who happened upon the wall on accident while visiting the historic district, said that the shop owners told her that it was built by the municipal government. Designer and installation date unknown. Having been all over the historic district several times myself, the last time in the fall of 2007, I know I would’ve found it if it were there. That means I am going to make a guess that it was installed sometime in the last two years.

Given the information of being built by the municipal government, that leads me to think that this is part of Mexico City’s Plan Verde. Plan Verde is the municipal governments plan to green the city as a way to not only attack the serious air quality issues within the valley and the massive flooding during the rainy season but to also raise the quality of living for the people through enhanced public transportation and bike pathways. Perhaps this wall is a test wall by the government as part of Plan Verde, which might be why it’s hidden down an alley instead of out in a more open viewing area with informational signage to educate the public. I’ve been following along with Plan Verde prior to discovering this wall and will write more on that in a future post.

The wall maintains a hidden drip irrigation system that is then caught in a gutter at the bottom. This is rather important since people walk underneath the wall to enter and leave the shops that are open for business beneath the living wall. No business wants their customers to be dripped on. But it’s got to be pretty cool to step into a little place under the green wall to grab some lunch. I wonder how many other green walls are out there, hidden away where hardly anyone sees them or knows that they exist?

images via mfree, rhys, erika richmond, sas17, buildgreenman

I recently came across these photos on Flickr but can’t find any information on what this place is. The captions on the photos seem to indicate that this is a courtyard for a place called Café Nike in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. From what I can tell from the photographs, it looks like it may be a cloth pocket style wall as opposed to units. It looks pretty lush and not brand new.

images via OmarOmar