Casa Luis Barragan

After two unsuccessful attempts to see the Casa Luis Barragan I finally got to see the house on my last day in Mexico. I had high expectations of what the house would be like. Expectations that were not only satisfied but the atmosphere of the house was more moving than I could have anticipated.

Luis Barragan built the house and studio for himself in 1948. The house is considered one of Barragan's masterpieces and one of the truest manifestations of his architectural ideas. The three storey house and large internal garden covers a total of 1,161m2. Despite the scale of the property the internal spaces have an intense personal and monastic feel and has a serenity and silence which is moving. The internal spaces are built as rooms within rooms, divided by a series of walls and screens which do not reach the ceiling. The movement through the spaces is controlled by changes in direction and open staircases which are highlighted by small moments of intense beauty as one is invited to pause and contemplate the beauty of coloured light falling onto a piece of art, a surprising change in the texture or colour of a wall or a mysterious glow from an unseen source, or an unknown and captivating view into the garden.

The robust timber ceiling, rendered walls and relationship between the building and garden are typical of traditional Mexican architecture and have a hand made textured quality which appeals to the senses. The building combines both traditional and modern architectural elements. It is simultaneously simple and complex and at all times surprising without being challenging. The influence of the International Style and Espirit Nouveau on Barragan had evolved into a deeply personal and contextual architecture which was to be greatly influential on future generations of architects, both local and international.

When accepting the Priztker Prize for architecture Barragan stated, "In alarming proportions the following words have disappeared from architectural publications: beauty, inspiration, magic, sorcery, enchantment, and also serenity, mystery, silence, privacy, astonishment. All of these have found a loving home in my soul." (CASA MEXICANA" ©1989 Tim Street-Porter)

Photography was not allowed in the house, however, it is the intangible qualities that Barragan describes above which make his architecture so special, qualities which cannot be fully described through photography or words but rather by experiencing the atmosphere of the house in reality.

www.casaluisbarragan.org
whc.unesco.org/en/list/1136
www.barragan-foundation.org/

Luis Barragan's Masterpieces

As it was the school holidays in Mexico it was not possible to visit the interiors of Luis Barragan's masterpieces. My visit to three of his later works in Mexico City made it very clear that his interiors are protected from the street by large rendered walls with very few windows that do not offer views into or out of the building.

The quality of peace and silence that this creates in the interior is one of the most intriguing qualities of Barragan's work, a quality that I would not be able to experience at this time.

Barragan's later work is completely different from his earlier apartment buildings. The bold use of colour, sequences of rooms within rooms, and use of traditional materials inspired by traditional Mexican architecture that is infused with the functionalism and restraint of Modernism. His later works are clearly modern buildings yet have a rich and poetic quality that is often lacking in the work of lesser modernist architects.

Capilla de las Capuchinas Sacresteria (Tlalpan Chapel)

This small chapel built for the Capuchinas Sacramentarias del Purismo Corazon de Maria is one of Barragan's most famous works. The project took seven years and was partially funded by Barragan himself. In this small Chapel Barragan's masterful control of light and colour, his deeply religious and personal life, the influence of Mexican artistic traditions and almost minimalist restraint reached maturity.

Barragan admired the simplicity and appreciation of nature of the cult of St. Francis and the influence of these ideals is evident in his later work.

The convent spaces, sacristy, transept and chapel are arranged around a long and narrow central cloister. Like Barragan's own house and studio the building appears as an anonymous rendered wall from the street giving nothing away as to what lies within.

The interior makes reference to medieval monasteries and consists of a series of quiet and deeply personal spaces of varying textures that are bathed in divine natural light.
The space evokes a mystical inner beauty of light which imbues the space with a religious quality through the use of abstraction rather than figurative sculpture or iconography.

Prieto Lopez House

The Prieto Lopez House is located in the Luis Barragan designed El Pedegral district. The house is designed on a number of levels which follow the terrain and define the different spaces of the house. The house is designed around a large walled garden of lava stone, swimming pool and indigenous vegetation. The internal spaces have the same monastic quality as Barragan's other buildings of the period.

Gilardi House

The bright pink exterior wall of the Gilardi House is unmistakably the work of Luis Barragan. The bright yellow of the entrance flooded in natural light through yellow glass leads to the bright blue area of the indoor swimming pool which contains a bright red column which gives all the colours, through their contrast, an intense vibrance.

The Gilardi House was one of Luis Barragan's last works and the confidence and command of the bold colours, reflections and light which retains the sense of intimacy and spirituality in the house is a master work of the Pritzker Prize winning architect.

http://www.barragan-foundation.org/

Luis Barragan Apartments

Luis Barragan (1902-1988) is most well known for a number of projects which feature bold colours, strong geometry and a masterful control of light and space which was to define and influence contemporary Mexican Architecture. It was a surprise then to discover the strong European modernism and extent of the influence of Le Corbusier on a number of apartment buildings Barragan designed in the 1930's which show little of the architectural ideas, which were inspired by traditional Mexican architecture, in his later work that were to become so influential yet reveal much about his development as an architect.

During Barragan’s second trip he met Le Corbusier and attended some of his lectures. On his return to Mexico he would incorporate the ideas of Le Corbusier, the Espirit Nouveau, and the Bauhaus into his architecture. The extent to which his architecture was influenced by Le Corbusier during his rationalist period is evident in the apartment buildings he designed during the 30’s.

These buildings could be seen as an important part of Barragan’s development as an architect that evolved to his more well known later work. Barragan explored the use of modern materials (glass, concrete and steel), rather than local materials, careful proportions, clean lines and blank walls with carefully placed openings, strip windows and roof terraces and his designs were dictated by concerns with economy and functionalism.

At what point Barragan returned back to traditional materials and Mexican architecture I do not know but it is clear that the influence of European Modernism was essential to the manipulation of space, light and materiality that makes his later work so remarkable.

Barragan Foundation

Luis Barragan and the Blue House

The site I was most excited about seeing in Mexico City was Casa Luis Barragan. Luis Barragan (1902-1988) is the most important Mexican Architect of the 20th century whose own house and studio I had seen many photographs of and was keen to see in reality.

Walking through the suburb of Tacubaya past the simple rendered exterior walls with rectangular windows located on the facade according to internal functions of many buildings and arriving at the Barragan house it was clear that the Barragan house when viewed from the street appears to be yet another typical building, or collection of buildings, of the area. The bold and high grey wall with windows which are located not according to an idea of composition but the requirements of the interior give little away and apart from a few clues that allude to what lies beyond fits seemlessly and inconspicuously into its surroundings and it was not possible at any point to see into the interior of the house.

On the front door a notice informed us that the house was closed until the 5th of January, the day I was to fly back to New York. It was very disappointing to be so close to seeing a house I have wanted to see for many years and yet could not enter.



After lunch Dave and I headed to Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera's 'Blue House' a beautiful house around a large and peaceful internal garden where Kahlo and Riviera lived out their fascinating and tumultuous lives from Kahlo's birth to her death. It is a place where art, life, death, architecture and nature are fused together. The Kahlo family lived in the house since 1904 and was originally painted white. Kahlo and Riviera painted the house a vibrant iridescent blue which was inspired by the bold use of colour in Mexican art and architecture.

The house is filled with objects and art which give the house a strong atmosphere of passionate lives and a more personal atmosphere than that of a museum. As well as creating a fascinating interior world that is seperated from the world outside by tall and think blue walls.

The spatial arrangement of the house reflected the lives of it's inhabitants and guests. The house is a series of interconnected volumes constructed of stone around a large internal courtyard. The main building was extended in 1937, where Trotsky and his wife lived, and then in 1947 became Kahlo's studio. After Riviera and Kahlo's divorce the couple lived in separate bedrooms until Frida's death in 1954.

The house has been open to the public since 1958 and is considered a monument to many 20th century artists.