Torres de Satélite, Casa Gilardi, Barragán House, Jardines de Pedregal Subdivision
Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín[ˈlu.is raˈmi.ɾo βa.raˈɣan moɾˈfin] (March 9, 1902 – November 22, 1988) was a Mexican architect and engineer. His work has influenced contemporary architects visually and conceptually.[1] Barragán's buildings are frequently visited by international students and professors of architecture. He studied as an engineer in his home town, while undertaking the entirety of additional coursework to obtain the title of architect.[2]
Barragán was born in Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico. Educated as an engineer, he graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros in Guadalajara in 1923. After graduation, he traveled through Spain and France. While in France he became aware of the writings of Ferdinand Bac, a German-French writer, designer and artist whom Barragán cited throughout his life.[3] In 1931, he again traveled to France with a long stop-over in New York. In this trip he met Mexican mural painter José Clemente Orozco, architectural magazine editors, and Frederick Kiesler. In France he briefly met Le Corbusier and finally visited the gardens realized by Ferdinand Bac. He practiced architecture in Guadalajara from 1927–1936, and in Mexico City thereafter.
His Guadalajara work includes over a dozen private homes in the Colonia Americana area of what is today near downtown Guadalajara. These homes, within walking distance of each other, include Barragán's earliest residential projects. One of his first buildings, Casa Cristo, was restored and houses the state's Architects' Guild. The first four houses[4] that Barragan were already contemporary architecture.
Torres de Satélite (in collaboration with sculptor Mathias Goeritz)
Barragán and the Modernist movement
Faro de Comercio
Barragán visited Le Corbusier and became influenced by European modernism. The buildings he produced in the years after his return to Mexico show the typical clean lines of the Modernist movement. Nonetheless, according to Andrés Casillas (who worked with Barragán), he eventually became entirely convinced that the house should not be "a machine for living." Opposed to functionalism, Barragán strove for an "emotional architecture" claiming that "any work of architecture which does not express serenity is a mistake." Barragán used raw materials such as stone or wood. He combined them with an original and dramatic use of light, both natural and artificial; his preference for hidden light sources gives his interiors a particularly subtle and lyrical atmosphere.
Torres de Satélite, Mexico City (1957–58), in collaboration with Mathias Goeritz
The work of Luis Barragán is often (and misleadingly) quoted in reference to minimalist architecture. John Pawson, in his book Minimum, includes images from some of Barragán's projects. Most architects who do minimalistic architecture do not use color, but the ideas of forms and spaces which Barragán pioneered are still there.[citation needed] There have been several essays written by the Pritzker Prize recipient Alvaro Siza in prefaces to books that make reference to the ideas of Barragán.[citation needed]
Louis Kahn informally consulted Barragán on the space between the buildings of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.[5] According to the documents, Kahn's original idea was to place a garden between the buildings; however, Barragán suggested that an open plaza, with only a water feature in between, would better reflect the spirit of the location. This area, possibly designed with Barragán's advice in mind, is arguably the most impressive aspect of the building complex. He was a highly recognized consultor by many Mexican and International architects on landscape design, as he had a particular ability to envision the outdoor spaces and their relation to their interior paradigms and the natural context characteristics.
Barragán's influence can be seen in the work of many of Mexico's contemporary architects, especially in Ricardo Legorreta's projects. One of the projects, where Barragán's concepts and colors inspired Legorreta, is the Hotel Camino Real in Polanco, Mexico City. This project reflects the importance of the native culture and its intersection with an elegant modern design.
Legacy
Barragán died at the age of eighty-six in Mexico City. In his will, he designated three people to manage his legacy: Ignacio Díaz Morales, Óscar Ignacio González, and Raúl Ferrera.[6]Ignacio Díaz Morales, a friend and fellow architect, was bequeathed Barragán's library. He was tasked with choosing an institution suitable for receiving the book collection. Óscar Ignacio González, a childhood friend, received Barragán's personal objects. Raúl Ferrera, his business partner, received the archives and the copyright to the work. Díaz Morales established the Fundación de Arquitectura Tapatía, a private foundation managed by the Casa Barragán, in co-ownership with the Government of the State of Jalisco. The house is now a museum which celebrates Barragán and serves as a conduit between scholars and architects interested in visiting other Barragán buildings in Mexico.[7]UNESCO added the Casa Luis Barragán to its World Heritage List in 2004.[8]
Following Raúl Ferrera's passing away in 1993, the archives and related copyright became the property of Mr. Ferrera's widow who, after having unsuccessfully tried to find a collector or institution willing to keep these in Mexico, decided to sell them to the Max Protetch Gallery in New York. The documents were offered to a number of prospective clients, among them the Vitra Design Museum,[9] which in 1994 was planning an exhibition dedicated to Luis Barragán. Following the Vitra[10] company's policy of collecting objects and archives of design and architecture, the archives were finally acquired in their entirety and transferred to the Barragán Foundation in Switzerland.
The Barragan Foundation[11] is a not-for-profit institution based in Birsfelden, Switzerland. Since 1996, it manages the archives of Luis Barragán, and in 1997 acquired the negatives of the photographer Armando Salas Portugal documenting Barragán's work. The Foundation's mission is to spread the knowledge on Luis Barragán's cultural legacy by means of preserving and studying his archives and related historical sources, producing publications and exhibitions, providing expertise and assistance to further institutions and scholarly researches. The Barragán Foundation owns complete rights to the work of Luis Barragán and to the related photos by Armando Salas Portugal.
Important works
House for the architect / Barragán House
All finished projects by Barragán are located in Mexico.
Luis Barragán set up his studio in Mexico City, the building is currently a museum, but with tours available only by appointment. The building is from 1948 reflecting Barragán's preferred style, where he lived his whole life. Today is owned by Jalisco and the Arquitectura Tapatía Luis Barragán Foundation. The site became World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004.[12]
Ambasz, Emilio, The Architecture of Luis Barragán. 1976.
Garbutt, Lindsay. September 19, 2018. Casa Luis Barragán, Sacred Space of Mexican Modernism. JSTOR DailyWeb access
Jackson, Estelle, et al. Luis Barragán: The Architecture of Light, Color, and Form. Exhibition catalogue for Montage Journal traveling exhibition 1995.
"Luis Barragán, arquitecto," in Arquitectura 70 (March 1989), 51-85.
Underwood, Max. "Architect of the Intangible," in Americas 43, no. 4 (1991): 6-15.
Peñaflor, Osvaldo "Fundación Barragán lanza sitio web que recopila 5 décadas de la obra del arquitecto mexicano" https://www.archdaily.mx/mx/tag/barragan-foundation about Barragan Foundation new site (in Spanish)
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