A 2011 addition to Mexico’s architectural and cultural scene named after the late wife of the world’s richest man, this art museum is understandably flashy. Billionaire Carlos Slim’s paean to his wife, Soumaya, has been called a “rockabilly coif” by architecture critics for its profile and magnitude. Designed by Slim’s son-in-law Fernando Romero, with engineering help from Arup and Frank Gehry, the museum is both a testament to Slim’s fortune, showcasing his collection of 65,000 works of art, as well as his business sense. The facade of 16,000 reflective aluminum tiles was manufactured by a company he owns, and the steel columns supporting those tiles were designed by his own oil rigging company.

Both a son of Mexico City and one of the country’s most respected architects, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez designed this landmark 1964 museum so his countrymen would “feel proud of being Mexican” after leaving. Elevating classic Aztec motifs with a world-renowned design, this museum at the base of Chapultepec Park seems to have accomplished his goal. Centered around an umbrella-like mushroom fountain, the marble-clad structure boasts 26 exhibition rooms. Scores of patterns and flourishes — a concrete imprint of an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent, an aluminum grill that recalls slithering snakes, a hammered bronze column recalling a mythological tree — tell the design history of early Mexican civilization.

A sprawling campus that functions as a survey course of modern Mexican architecture, UNAM, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, became cutting-edge for an age-old reason. Politicians in the middle of the 20th century decided that having liberal students prone to protest conveniently massed in the city center campus wasn’t a great idea, so they asked architects to start from scratch and build new facilities on an old lava field. The results are nothing short of stunning, featuring a huge central quad, Juan O' Gorman’s incredible library mural and Felix Candela's Cosmic Ray pavilion, showcasing his mastery of the curved form.

Composed of two sets of twin towers that play out like some architectural version of a Wrigley’s Doublemint commercial, this shopping and retail complex boasts some of the city’s most playful structures. Teodoro González’s 1996 Arcos Bosques Torre I, a pair of 36-story tall towers joined by a lintel, is commonly known as El Pantalón ("The Trousers"). The newer Arcos Bosques Torre II doesn’t have the same name recognition, but boasts a similarly unique profile, linked in the middle with a series of connecting floors.

Designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca, this is holy ground for Mexican soccer fans and one of the world’s most iconic stadiums. Located on ground carved from volcanic rock and perched high above the city, the three-tierred stadium provides an advantage to the home team due to both the high altitude as well as the design, which funnels the sound of 100,000 cheering fans towards center field. Vázquez spent years touring Europe and studying the best stadiums of the day before sketching this icon.

Known as a proponent of what he called "emotional" architecture, Agustín Hernández Navarro appeared to be feeling all the feelings when he designed his own residence, the otherworldly Praxis Home, in 1970. The theory behind this suspended, angular home and studio was to showcase custom furniture and an airy interior while proving diagonal walls weren’t a waste of space.

Felix Candela’s technical and artistic mastery of concrete gave the world the stunning glass-lined ceiling of Havana’s Tropicana and an incredible aquarium in Valencia, but this restaurant in the Xochimilco area of Mexico City found him beginning to establish his vision. A replacement for a proposed wooden restaurant, the soaring vaults and thin roof, bent like paper around the dining room, earned the nickname “La Flor” (the flower) from locals.

This wedge-shaped building on the north side of Mexico City, once the corporate headquarters of Banobras, is an emblem of the city and a survivor of multiple earthquakes. One of the first high-rises in the capital when it was finished in 1962, this prism is currently set to be renovated after years of disuse.