Download Transformations of Modernity: The Mexican Case

Raquel Franklin, D.Sc.
Fuente de la Juventud # 53,
Lomas de Tecamachalco,
School of Architecture, Universidad Anáhuac,
Av. Lomas Anáhuac s/n, Lomas Anáhuac
Huixquilucan, 52786, Estado de México
Naucalpan de Juárez, 53950,
Estado de México, México.
México
Tel: (5255) 56270210 ext. 8379, 8255
Tel: (5255)55 89 56 78
fax: (5255)85 95 90 07
e-mail: [email protected]
TRANSFORMATIONS OF MODERNITY: THE MEXICAN CASE
The inauguration of the University City (CU) in 1954 in the southern
neighborhood of El Pedregal, in Mexico City, marked not only the consolidation
of the International Style in the country, but the integration of the different ways
Mexicans conceived architecture.
The changes in the architectural agenda were the product of the political
environment after the Second World War. The establishment of the “Good
Neighbor Policy” with the United States favored economic growth during the
presidency of Manuel Avila Camacho (1940-46). This motivated the adoption of
an international architectural language that could properly dialogue with its
northern neighbor’s interests. On the other hand, the first regionalist expressions
were also the product of this epoch. In 1944, the national program on school
construction (CAPFCE) was establishedi. The different proposals responded to
specific conditions in each state, from environmental to cultural. The objectives of
the CAPFCE as explained by José Villagrán García summarized this new
orientation in architecture:
The architecture of our schools is characterized by its belonging to our time
and the geographic region in which it is created (…) Regionalism cannot
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ignore modernity; nor can it abdicate regionalism; both categories, modernity
and regionalism, come together, par excellence, in every authentic work of
architectureii
As part of the program, in the southern state of Tabasco, Pedro Ramírez
Vázquez proposed an elevated space, functionally organized according to a
modern scheme, but executed with local materials and traditional construction
methods. Enrique del Moral also experimented with local influences in the state
of Michoacán. In his school at Casacuarán the pitched roof of the portico against
the stone wall revealed an understanding of specific needs of shade and
enclosure, though, there was a modern conception of space.
At the same time, the newly established Mexican Institute for Social Security
(IMSS) developed a national program for the construction of health facilities.
Opposed to the regionalist approach of the CAPFCE, the hospital program
stressed the functionalist character of such buildings.
The International style became the image of progress. Corporate buildings
arouse in the main avenues of Mexico City until the economic crisis of 1946,
under Miguel Alemán’s presidency (1946-52), ended with many initiatives,
among them, Hannes Meyer’s project for a bank skyscraper in the Corpus Christi
block.
Industrial growth provoked immigration from rural to urban settlements; therefore
President Miguel Alemán promoted the urban development of several cities
around the country, including Acapulco, Mazatlán, Culiacán and Mexico City.
Modern urbanism predominated departing from complete schemes, as in the
Regional Plan for Yucatán, to partial interventions in housing units or suburban
areas such as the Satellite City in Mexico City.
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In 1949, the “Multifamiliar Miguel Alemán”, the first housing unit built in Mexico
City by architect Mario Pani, introduced the multi-family high-rise building system,
standing in a super-block in an arrangement containing housing, commercial,
sporting and recreational facilities. The buildings, as in Moisei Ginzburg’s
Narkomfin, or Le Corbusier’s Marseilles “Unité de Habitation”, were organized in
a two-in-three scheme, where each two apartments occupied three floors. The
zigzag organization of four of the six main buildings was inspired by Le
Corbusier’s project for the “Ville Contemporaine”, as explained by Louise Noelle:
Effectively, during his professional training, Pani attended the revolutionary
lectures of the Swiss master and got to know from first hand the fundaments
of the “Ville Contemporaine” and the “Ville Radieuse” (…). Specially are to be
remembered the Corbusian proposal of the buildings “a radent” (zigzag) that
come from the visionary plan of the “Ville Contemporaine” done in 1922 where
a formal and conceptual similarity can be appreciatediii.
The housing complex that best represents modern urbanism is the Unidad
Habitacional Nonoalco-Tlaltelolco, also designed by Mario Pani in 1965.
Freestanding buildings are arranged in an orthogonal grid, combining public
plazas, gardens and commercial and educational facilities.
The planning of CU also derived from a functional alienation of activities. After an
internal competition, the final project was developed by Mario Pani and Enrique
del Moral. To the north, arranged around a pre-Hispanic proportioned courtyard,
were the faculties headed by the rectory and the main library. To the south were
the sporting facilities. The soccer stadium was placed across the main avenue to
the west and the housing units were planned at the southeastern part of the
complex. Vehicular circulation was planned in three different circuits, leaving the
center of the composition for pedestrian transit only.
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The buildings at the University City combined an international style approach and
a local will for ornamentation in what was called the Plastic Integration
Movement. Pre-Hispanic motives were included in harmony with the natural
landscape of volcanic lava, as well as colorful mural paintings on Mexican history
themes. The most impressive were the murals on the central library façades,
done by Juan O’Gormaniv.
O’Gorman’s own house is an example of the evolution of ideas related to
architecture. After being a devoted modernist in the early thirties, where he
developed the official school building prototype after the neue sachlichkeit
principles, during the fifties he turned to an expressionist approach towards
architecture in consonance with the natural environment.
The ballgame field and the soccer stadium at CU were also interesting
adaptations to cultural and environmental conditions. In the former, Alberto T.
Arai resembled a pyramid by using volcanic stone walls as enclosure to the field.
In the latter, Augusto Pérez Palacios carved the field as the crater of a volcano,
surrounding it with a stone façade that was intended to be completely covered
with Diego Rivera’s mural. Only a small part of it was developed.
Luis Barragán adequately exploited the volcanic landscape surrounding CU. He
designed the El Pedregal Neighborhood respectfully of the natural environment.
Huge parcels were destined to include modern mansions of which many were
inspired by Richard Neutra’s approach towards nature. Among them were the
houses designed by the German architect Max Cetto who worked for both,
Neutra and Barragán, and those designed by Francisco Artigas, who achieved a
great integration of glass volumes to an aggressive stone landscape.
Luis Barragán’s approach towards canonical modern architecture changed
around 1948 with the construction of its own house. The open free plan of the
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modern movement was replaced by confined spaces; the thick wall, inherited
from local culture, became the most significant element in the achievement of the
fluidity of one space into the other, influenced by neo-plasticism. Color was
introduced and light enhanced the quality of space.
Abstract sequences of rooms, intimacy and spirituality gave another meaning to
Mexican architecture through the work of Barragán. His legacy was understood
only after 1968 when Ricardo Legorreta transformed the small scale of
Barragán’s work into large scale projects, beginning with Mexico City’s Camino
Real Hotel. In Ixtapa’s Camino Real, Legorreta adapted the building to the sloped
terrain, creating terraces in each of the rooms. A similar solution was employed
at the Cancún Camino Real, where the terraces faced an interior pool creating a
staggered building. Barragán’s architecture has been widely misunderstood.
Most recognize in Mexican architecture the use of color and rusticated walls as
the only important features of it, forgetting the real meaning of space generation.
While Barragán’s influence was not felt immediately, the evolution of the glass
box did. In 1956, the first skyscraper located in the historic center of Mexico City
appeared. The Torre Latinoamericana, designed by Augusto H. Alvarez, became
a landmark contrasting with the horizontal proportion of the city. He also
introduced the first curtain wall in Mexico in the design of the Jaysour building,
considered one of the best examples of the international style in the country.
Another important landmark in modern Mexican architecture is José Luis
Benlliure’s Conjunto Aristos, designed in 1960 according to a free plan structural
system of beams and columns. The three apartment buildings arouse from a
platform containing the commercial facilities, surrounding a private courtyard.
Very much influenced by Mies van der Rohe’s American architecture, in 1963,
Reinaldo Pérez Rayón designed the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, where steel
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and glass buildings symbolized the achievements in technological development.
The same can be said about José Villagrán García’s María Isabel Sheraton hotel
located in one of the most important corners in Mexico City, and Enrique de la
Mora’s building for Seguros Monterrey where the structure stands on two pillars,
leaving the rest of the volume suspended in a canopy. On one support stands
also in cantilever Ricardo Legorreta’s Celanese Building, emphasizing the
sculptural form of the volume.
Enrique de la Mora worked emphatically in structural advancement to be
employed in architecture. He collaborated with the Spaniard Félix Candela, well
known for the introduction of concrete shells in Mexican architecture,
experimenting with hyperbolic-paraboloid roofs. Together with Candela, de la
Mora designed the Chapel of El Altillo in Mexico City, following the same
structural principles, in Monterrey he built the Chapel of La Purísima as a
parabolic structure.
The sixties were years of urban growth. President Adolfo López Mateos (195864) promoted the construction of cultural facilities throughout the city. In the
Chapultepec forest, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez designed the Museum of Modern
Art and the Museum of Anthropology. While in the former he adopted the curtain
wall for an ameba-like building, in the latter he employed a sophisticated roof
system, based in an umbrella supported by a single pillar at the core of the
courtyard. Pre-Hispanic features were reinterpreted in an abstract form. The
ballgame fields of pre-Hispanic sites inspired the main façade and Mayan
ornaments were emulated in the interior brise-soleilles.
Light roofing systems were common in public architecture, especially in the
sporting facilities designed for the 1968 Olympic games. The Tokyo games in
1964 established an important precedent. Tensile hanging roofs were employed
to cover the Olympic pool and the adjacent gymnasium. In the Palace of Sport
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Félix Candela designed a mixed structure of steel and concrete, creating a
cooper covered cupola.
Pre-Hispanic motives were widely introduced in the work of Agustín Hernández.
Following his 1968 Folkloric Dance School, the synthesis between past and
present was achieved through the reinterpretation of traditional elements of preHispanic cultures in an abstract modern form. A good example of it is his
gynecology-obstetric hospital that resembles the escapulariosv of Mitla’s pyramid
or the head of Tlaloc the Aztec god of rain, in the main building at the Military
School.
Another kind of reinterpretation of the historic heritage in modern architecture
was that of Teodoro González de León and Abraham Zabludovsky. For them, the
colonial scheme of cloistered convents served as an organizational model in the
Colegio de México (1972), being this the first of the buildings that characterized
their future work. The bold hammered concrete walls related to Le Corbusier’s
late work increased the sense of monumentality present in pre-Columbian
architecture. The brise-soleil gave profundity to the wall playing with light and
shadow. In the Rufino Tamayo Museum, the integration to the natural
environment of the Chapultepec forest was achieved through the inclusion of a
grass covered slope surrounding the building. The concrete volumes were
staggered in a pyramidal form allowing light to penetrate the main core of the
building.
Mexico has continuously struggled for a place among the developed countries.
Its architecture has been the product of a strong will for international recognition,
preserving its most valuable asset, its rich culture. The quest for identity has
been accomplished through the smooth integration of local tradition into modern
architecture, a concern that has been present since the Mexican revolution in
1910, until today. Thus, Mexican architecture during the second half of the
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Twentieth century, can be classified into two mainstreams; on the one hand the
continuity of the Modern Movement through the International Style and, on the
other, the interpretation and inclusion of traditional features into modern
schemes.
i
The program was called CAPFCE – Comité Administrador del Programa Federal de Construcción
de Escuelas (Administrator Committee of the Federal Program of School Construction)
ii
José Villagrán García, El Comité Administrador del Programa Federal de Construcción de
Escuelas y su Obra, in Memoria CAPFCE 1944-1946, p.11
iii
Louise Noelle, Mario Pani: Una visión moderna de la ciudad, CNCA, 2000, p.15
iv
The general plan of the CU was done by Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, but the different
buildings included in the complex were projected by teams headed by the professors of the faculty
of architecture. Renowned architects were included, among them, José Villagrán (architecture),
Raúl Cacho (science), Enrique de la Mora (Philosophy and Literature), Vladimir Kaspé (economy),
Enrique Yáñez (Chemistry), Francisco Serrano (Engineering), Roberto Álvarez Espinosa
(Medicine), etc.
v
The escapulario is an ornamental frame contained in the boards of a Toltec pyramid, especially
found in Mitla and Monte Albán.