MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE AND

THE CULTURE WITHIN

by

MICHAEL DOUGLAS STAPLETON, B.Arch.

A THESIS

IN

ARCHITECTURE

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE

Approved

May, 1999

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to many people without whom this master's

thesis would not have been possible. However, such a list of names could easily fill

several pages.

First, I would like to thank my committee members; Dr. Michael Jones, Dean Jim

White and Professor Robert Coombs for their efforts during the preparation and writing

of this document. I would also like to thank Ben Shacklett for filling in for Mr.

Coombs during my thesis defense, as Mr. Coombs was out of the country at the time.

Dean White urged me to consider a few key points in the thesis and I believe it is a

better thesis for it. Dr. Jones expended an incredible amount of effort in helping me

through the writing process. I would very much like to thank him for his patience,

guidance and inspiration. He has been my mentor during these last years at Texas Tech.

Under his guidance, architecture became a tme passion for me, and only during these

last years have I begun to really grasp what architecture is. This thesis would not have

been possible without such a passion and understanding.

The participation of Rodriguez Arquitectos in Leon, Gto. Mexico, and especially

my friends Arq. Arturo Rodriguez Lopez and Arq. Eduardo Falcon Moran. The time

and effort they expended helping me to understand Mexican architecture is greatly

recognized and appreciated, not only for writing of this thesis but also for the profound

impact it has had on my architecture.

II

I would also like to thank my family for their support and encouragment,

particularly my grandfather, Chester Zisk. In addition to his emotional and financial

support, he has and continues to serve as a role model for me.

I would like to recognize the people of Mexico. They are a very special and warm

people with a rich and colorful history, as well as unlimited potential. From the

Mexican people, I have learned a great deal about life which I would not likely have

learned in my own country. I have been very fortunate to have lived among the

Mexican people and hope to do so again.

I dedicate this thesis to my wife Ma. Esther Stapleton, whom I love and admire

very much, and would like to thank her more than is possible. She not only endured my

never ending questions about her culture, but she served as sounding board, editor and

Spanish teacher. More importantly, she encouraged me and she tolerated my being very

grumpy when things were difficult or deadlines were looming. Most important of all,

she sacrificed the time which should have been spent with her on countless evenings

and weekends while 1 researched and wrote this thesis. I owe her a great deal. Gracias

chiquita\

III

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT vi

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF TRANSLATIONS xiii

CHAPTER

I. CULTURAL CONTEXT 1

The Mexican Psyche 1

Meican Roots 6

The Land and People 12

Politics 17

II. ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY 21

Pre-Columbian Architecure 21

Spanish Colonial Architecture 26

Modem Mexican Architecture 28

Luis Barragan 33

Contemporary Mexican Architecture 35

III. THE MEXICAN HOUSE: A SPECIHC EXAMPLE 68

Introduction 68

The Public Zone 68

The Private Zone 73

iv

The Service Zone 76

IV. CONCLUSION 104

BIBLIOGRAPHY 114

ABSTRACT

Efforts by the Mexican government to improve the economic condition of Mexico,

plus the desire to expand architectural markets is leading foreign architects to seek

work in Mexico. Traditionally, Mexico has been a two-class society, the tiny rich

mling class and the large poor lower class. However, this situation is changing with

Mexico's current burgeoning middle-class. This is resulting in a growing market for

new single-family housing. The purpose of this thesis is to identify a program to meet

the Mexican single-family housing demand. The criteria must include social, cultural

and historical content, as well as spatial organization and use.

Architecture is often required to satisfy a diverse set of objectives, but it is the

author's sincere conviction that successful architecture must meet two primary

objectives. It must be meaningful as well as functional. The creation of meaningful

architecture requires the designer to understand the context in which they are working,

through searching for the essence of a place. It requires that the accidental or

superficial qualities of a place not be allowed to obscure the immaterial or spiritual

quality of a place. This requires the designer to seek out the culture of a people and to

grasp how a culture imbeds itself within its architecture. Thus, within this thesis the

author describes the culture of the Mexican people and how their culture is imbedded

within their architecture. Furthermore, the author poses the idea that this imbedded

culture has survived and adapted to the changes in Mexican society over thousands of

VI

years, including Spanish colonization, and that it still survives within Mexican

architecture being produced now.

The research data will be collected by the author through a literature search,

discussions with architects in Mexico as well as other Mexican people, plus direct

experience through living in Mexico, working in a Mexican architectural office, and

designing single-family Mexican housing. The research data will be synthesized and

presented in a format that first provides architects with a broad overview of Mexican

culture, followed by a summary of Mexican architecture, and finally an in depth

understanding of a specific building type, the Mexican house. Thus, the thesis is

divided into three chapters. Cultural Context, Architectural History and the Mexican

house, in that order.

VII

LIST OF FIGURES

2.1 Monte Alban Site 41

2.2 Teotihuacan Site 41

2.3 Tikal Site 42

2.4 Palenque Pyramid 42

2.5 Chichen Itza Pyramid 43

2.6 Chichen Itza Detail 43

2.7 Uxmal Site 44

2.8 Uxmal Detail 44

2.9 Templo Mayor (Great Temple) Site Model 45

2.10 Templo Mayor (Great Temple) Remains 45

2.11 Typical Early Spanish Colonial Facade 46

2.12 Iglesia de San Juan de Dios (Church of San Juan de Dios) Entry 46

2.13 Casa del Gigante (Giant's House) Detail 47

2.14 Baroque Facade Detail 48

2.15 Franz Mayer Museum Courtyard 48

2.16 President Aleman Urban Center Building 49

2.17 National Teacher's College Building 49

2.18 Mexico City Apartment Building 50

2.19 Casa y EstudioRivera (Rivera House & Studio) Drawing 50

2.20 Casa O'Gorman (O'Gorman House) Detail 51

viii

2.21 Libreria de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico - UNAM (Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico) Building 51

2.22 Capilla y Convento del Purisimo Corazon de Maria (Chapel and Convent of the Very Pure Heart of Mary) Courtyard 52

2.23 Capilla y Convento del Purisimo Corazon de Maria (Chapel and Convent

of the Very Pure Heart of Mary) Interior 52

2.24 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Horse Fond 53

2.25 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Planter 53

2.26 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Horse Stable 54

2.27 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Water Spout 54

2.28 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Exterior 55

2.29 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Interior 55

2.30 Torre Banobras (Banobras Tower) 56

2.31 Museo Nacional Antropologico (National Anthropology Museum)

Courtyard 56

2.32 Auditorio Nacional (National Autitorium) Entry 57

2.33 Rectoria de la Universidad del Mayab (Rectory for the University of Mayab) Entry 57

2.34 Rectoria de la Universidad del Mayab (Rectory for the University of

Mayab) Wall Detail 58

2.35 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Mexico) Detail 5 8

2.36 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Mexico) Facade 59

2.37 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Mexico) Exterior Passage 59

2.38 Biblioteca de Monterrey (Monterrey Library) Exterior Forms 60

2.39 Biblioteca de Monterrey (Monterrey Library) Facade Articulation 60

ix

2.40 Westin Hotel - Cabo San Lucas Exterior Form 61

2.41 Westin Hotel - Cabo San Lucas Exterior Drive 61

2.42 Casa Casillas (Casillas House) Bedroom 62

2.43 Casa Casillas (Casillas House) Family Room 62

2.44 Escuela Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre School) Exterior Form 63

2.45 Escuela Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre School) Covered Courtyard 63

2.46 Biblioteca Nacional de Educacion (National Education Library) View One 64

2.47 Biblioteca Nacional de Educacion (National Education Library) View Two 64

2.48 Centre de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Courtyard Fountain 65

2.49 Centre de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Interior Foot Bridge 65

2.50 Centro de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Interior Space 66

2.51 Centro Cultural X'Teresa (X'Teresa Cultural Center) Exterior 66

2.52 Centro Cultural X'Teresa (X'Teresa Cultural Center) Stair Detail 67

3.1 Casa Iturbide (Iturbide House) Plan 82

3.2 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Flan 82

3.3 Casa Frieto (Frieto House) Entry Courtyard 83

3.4 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Entry Courtyard 83

3.5 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Entry Courtyard 84

3.6 Casa Rodriguez (Rodriguez House) Entry 84

3.7 Conjunto Habitacional (Combined Habitations) Entry 85

3.8 Typical Street Facade One 85

3.9 Casa Gilardi (Gilardi House) Street Facade 86

3.10 Typical Street Facade Two 86

3.11 Typical Street Facade Three 87

3.12 Condominios Jacarandas (Jacarandas Condominiums) Passage 87

3.13 Casa Cardenas (Cardenas House) Entry 88

3.14 Casa Tetelpan (Tetelpan House) Entry 88

3.15 Casa Bosques de las Lomas (Forest of the Low Hills House) Detail 89

3.16 Casa Valdez (Valdez House) Vestibule 89

3.17 Mexico City Residence Vesitbule 90

3.18 Casa Gutierrez (Gutierrez House) Living Room 90

3.19 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Living Room 91

3.20 La Casa del Albaricoque (The Apricot House) Dining and Living Rooms 91

3.21 Casa Rivadeneyra (Rivadeneyra House) Dining and Living Rooms 92

3.22 Mexico City Residence Dining Room 92

3.23 Private Patio and Garden 93

3.24 Casa de Descanso Yturbe (Yturbe Weekend House) Patio and Garden 93

3.25 Casa Gilardi (Gilardi House) Detail 94

3.26 Casa en el Pedregal de San Angel (House in the Pedregal de San Angel) Courtyard 94

3.27 Interior Court 95

3.28 Casa Malinalco (Malinalco House) Courtyard 96

3.29 Casa Barragan (Barragan House) Window Detail 96

3.30 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Exterior Window Detail 97

3.31 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Interior Window Detail 97

xi

3.32 Casa en el Pedregal de San Angel (House in the Pedregal de San Angel)

Flan 98

3.33 Casa Laureles (Laureles House) Hall View One 98

3.34 Casa Laureles (Laureles House) Hall View Two 99

3.35 Condominio La Lomita Dos (Little Hill Two Condominium) Stair Detail 99

3.36 Casa Ortiz (Ortiz House) Stair Detail 100

3.37 Casa Gutierrez (Gutierrez House) Stair Detail 100

3.38 Casa Castillo (Castillo House) Master Bedroom 101

3.39 Casa Valdez (Valdez House) Bathroom 101

3.40 Casa Magres (Magres House) Flan 102

3.41 Typical House Kitchen 102

3.42 Typical House Roof Tanks 103

3.43 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Garage 103

Xll

TRANSLATIONS

Area Fublica - (public area)

Area social - (social area)

Arquitecto - (architect)

Arquitectura - (architecture)

Balcon - (balcony)

Bafio - (bathroom)

Baiio visitas - (visitor's bathroom)

Biblioteca - (library)

Bomba - (pump)

Boveda - (vault)

Burros - (donkeys)

Caciquismo - (regional bossism)

Caudillo - (regional boss)

Calentador - (water heater)

Cistema - (water tank)

Cochera - (garage)

Cocina - (kitchen)

Comedor - (dining room)

Cuarto servicio - (service apartment)

Cuarto television - (tv room)

XIII

Desayunador - (breakfast nook, or informal dining room)

Entrada - (entry)

Escaleras - (stairs or steps)

Fachada Principal - (principal facade)

Fuente - (fountain)

Hacendado - (property owner, as in the Hacienda)

Hacienda - (landed estate)

Jardin - (garden)

Lavadero - (washboard, sink combination)

Lavadora - (washing machine)

Lavanderia - (laundry room)

Mestizaje - (fiision of Indian and Spanish heritage)

Mestizo - (half-breed)

Mexicanidad - (Mexicaness)

Nueva - (new)

Padre - (father)

Fasillo - (hall)

Patio - (patio)

Patio servicio - (service patio)

Peso - (Mexican monetary unit)

Planta Baja - (low ground)

Flatero - (silver smith, jewler)

xiv

Forton - (entry gate or door)

FRJ - (Institutional Revolucionary Party)

Puerta principal - (main entrance)

Pueblo - (town)

Recamara - (bedroom)

Recamara principal - (master bedroom)

Sala - (living room)

Sala familiar - (family room)

Secadora - (dryer)

Sistema hidroneumatico - (high pressure, electric water pump)

Templo Mayor - (great temple)

Tierra Caliente - (hot land)

Tierra Templada - (warm land)

Tierra Fria - (cold land)

Tinaco - (water tank)

Vestibule - (vestibule)

Vestidor - (closet)

Virgen de la luz - (virgin of the light)

Vista - (view)

Zona privada - (private zone)

Zona publica - (public zone)

Zona servicio - (service zone)

XV

CHAPTER I

CULTURAL CONTEXT

The Mexican Fsvche

In Mexico City, among the plazas, monuments, museums, buildings, murals, and

ancient mins, there is a small plaza that the author visited on his second trip to Mexico.

While there he found a certain mystifying quality about this plaza though he absorbed

only a superficial glimpse of Mexico that day. At the time, it appeared to him little

more than another of many architectural sites to be visited. That small plaza is named

Plaza de Las Tres Culturas, Plaza of the Three Cultures. In this small square stands the

Foreign Ministry building and a sixteenth-century Spanish Colonial church which

overlook the remains of the pre-Hispanic pyramids of Tlatelolco. In the Plaza of Three

Cultures, in front of the church, is a small plaque which carries the following words:

translated by Alan Riding in his book Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans:

"On August 13, 1521, heroically defended by Cuauhtemoc, Tlatelolco fell into the

hands of Heman Cortez. It was neither a triumph nor a defeat: it was the painful birth

of the mestizo (half-breed) nation that is Mexico today" (p.4)

The birth of this mestizo nation is not yet complete even though it has been in

existence for nearly 500 years since the conquest of Mexico. It is not yet complete

because these people have not reconciled their mestizaje (fusion of Indian and Spanish

heritage) though ninety percent of the Mexican population is mestizo. As the

descendants of both Cortez and Cuauhtemoc they are neither Spanish nor Indian, and

thus live in a contradiction of their own heritage. Through discussions with Mexican

friends this contradiction has been quite apparent to the author. They often speak of

relating primarily to one heritage or the other. It is within this contradiction and fiision

of roots that the complexity of Mexico can be found (Riding 1989). As a people they

search for what it means to be Mexican, and it has not been easy for them to explain to

themselves what that is (Riding 1989). Since the 1910 revolution there has been a great

effort by many Mexicans, including artists, architects, poets, and philosophers, to define

what it is to be Mexican or to define Mexicanidad or Mexicanness. They are no longer

Indian, but cannot describe themselves as European either; they are searching for their

identity as a new people. Mexicans attempt to reconcile being both the conquered and

the conqueror; they retain many of the racial and personal traits of the Indian and

glorify their Indian past, but for the most part they speak Spanish, practice Catholicism

and think of Spain as their mother country (Riding 1989). One of the author's friends,

an owner of a small men's tailoring shop in Mexico City, speaks of relating to and

respecting his Spanish heritage. He credits the Spanish conquerors with bringing

civilized life to Mexico, while in the same breath making positive references to the

greatness of Indians such as Moctezuma.

Mexican people are full of contrasts. It would seem as though the Spanish took

control of the mestizo body and the Indian retained control of the mestizo mind and

feelings. Mexicans are meditative, philosophical, warm, humorous and sentimental, yet

they are discreet, retisant and sometimes cmel and violent. They work hard while

dreaming of a life of leisure; they are extremely creative yet impossible to organize;

they are internally set in their ways but externally anarchic. Perhaps one of the

strangest and most evident contrasts of the Mexican people is the sense of ritual and

disorder that coexist, exposing the predominance of spiritual priorities over the material

of the Mexican people. They are very religious, adhere to tradition, ceremony and

formality of language, which all show a great care for the spiritual side of life, while the

mechanical efficiency, punctuality and organization of the material aspect of existence

seems meaningless and without purpose (Riding 1989). As one travels through Mexico,

it becomes very apparent that Mexicans remain extraordinary craftsmen who still regard

a sense of detail and craftsmanship as being more important than mass production.

The beliefs, customs and passions that the Mexican people have accumulated and

carried with them for centuries not only provide them with great inner strength,

expressed in their sense of solitude, but are also revealed in their uncontrolled

creativity. Mexican architecture, painting and sculpture attest to a long tradition of

artistic expression (Riding 1989). The pottery, weaving, metalwork, woodwork and

jewelry, as well as many other handicrafts continue to carry the personal imprint of the

artisan, and the region in which it is produced. When one journeys deep into Mexico

one finds the broad range of artisanry. Sometimes one encounters a place like the Casa

de Los Once Patios (The House of Eleven Patios) in Patzcuaro where many of the finest

examples of craftsmenship are on display. On the other hand, one can encounter an

entire town specializing in one or two types of craft. Santa Clara del Cobre, for

example, produces nothing but copperware, while Tzintzuntzan is known for its delicate

multi-colored ceramics. There are many others; Quiroga is famous for wooden toys.

'> J

Tocuaro for intricately carved wood masks, Paracho for hand-crafted guitars, Puebla for

fine talavera, and Taxco so well known for its dizzying array of silver crafts. One can

also find entire regions known for a certain craft, such as the black pottery of Oaxaca,

or the talavera in the area that surrounds Dolores Hildalgo.

The sense of spirituality versus materiality is exhibited in other ways. The

Mexican concept of time, for example, is something that Mexicans do not generally

share with the westem worid. To them, neither life nor death seem tembly important,

nor able to dismpt the flow of life (Riding 1989). Mexicans seem to mock death.

During the Day of the Dead celebrations in November, the streets are filled with candy

skulls that children gobble up, and people crowd into the cemeteries bringing flowers,

food and drink to their ancestors in a type of joyous communion. This communing with

the dead is not so much a spiritual practice or a function of their Christian faith, but

more of an acknowledgment that the past is not dead (Riding 1989).

While the past is not viewed as over, the future is viewed with a certain fatalism

and therefore planning for it seems useless and unnatural (Riding 1989). When one

spends any length of time in Mexico, it becomes apparent that punctuality is not

considered a priority. The enjoyment of the moment is not something to sacrifice for a

future appointment (Riding 1989). The author quickly discovered that when an

appointment is made there is little expectation that it will be kept, or if it is kept it

likely will not be on time. Furthermore, as was explained to the author by his

coworkers in Mexico, the practice of being absent following certain holidays is

expected; it is a Mexican institution. The author also discovered that when a Mexican

says ^'hasta manana " or "until tomorrow," do not count on it being the very next day.

While the literal translation of "hasta manana " means "until tomorrow" the common

usage of the term means "until some future point in time." Thus, what is sometimes

called the manana syndrome is not symptomatic of laziness but rather evidence of an

entirely different concept of time (Riding 1989).

When a Mexican thinks of time, the past is safe, the present can be improvised, and

the future will look after itself When viewing the future with a sense of pre-destiny,

the disasters that Mexicans suffer are not seen as major disappointments because they

are unavoidable. When something goes wrong, a Mexican will say "ni modo" or "no

way," which is like saying "tough luck." It is as if there was no way to avoid the

disappointment because it was predestined. Such fatalism is derived from the Indian

(Riding 1989). Pre-Hispanic civilizations looked to the gods and nature for signs of the

future; they in no way felt that they could influence the outcome of future events. In a

sense history has prepared the Mexican to expect and accept the worst. Their heroes

from Cuauhtemoc to Zapata have all been murdered, and their values, laws and

constitutions constantly have been betrayed (Riding 1989).

While such fatalism perhaps serves as a defense mechanism against

disappointment, and demonstrates a certain caution, inside the Mexican also exist great

warmth (Riding 1989). The family is cleariy the principal safe haven where emotions

may be displayed and loyalty exists, but even within the neighborhood or through casual

acquaintenceships one can see a willingness to share and to tmst (Riding 1989). Once

a bond or relationship is created, a great generosity exists (Riding 1989). For an

example of the caution and then warmth of the Mexican people, the author delights in

his memories of many hours spent at a neighborhood taco stand. As time passed, the

ritual of visiting the taco stand became as much about friendships and social connection

as it was about dinner. When the author first visited the taco stand, the people were

circumspect. They did not talk to the author too much and when they did, the tone was

interrogative. In time the author became a part of the group, which comprised mostly

of the people that lived in the neighborhood. The same thing became the case at the

hotdog vendor a few blocks away, the local comer store, the coffee house, and so on.

Mexican Roots

Mexican roots are very deep. The Spanish conquistadors and missionaries were

told by the Aztecs that they were not the first peoples to inhabit Mexico: they had been

preceded by a great people called the Toltecs. They also spoke of a mystical time

before the Toltecs and a land known as Tomoanchan which had been a paradise

inhabited by gods and the ancestors of humans (Coe 1994). They described how the

world had been created and destroyed four times, and that they were now living in the

fifth, age or sun, which was doomed like all the others. The Aztecs knew of the great

mins of Teotihuacan which were located to the northwest of their own great city, and

related how it had served as a place for the gods to meet, and described the era in which

they lived (Coe 1994).

Early in the twentieth century, archeologists began to outline the real prehiston of

Mexico and its peoples. The first stratigraphic excavations to be executed in the Valley

of Mexico not only showed that Teotihuacan was indeed of an earlier culture than the

Aztec, but that it lay above the remains of a far simpler people. Some of these early

cultures date from the first millennium BC. Teotihuacan has proven to belong to the

early part of the classic period (AD 250-900) and had nothing to do with the Toltecs.

The latter arrived on the scene as the classic period was coming to a close (Coe 1994).

There is some agreement among scholars regarding the specific periods of

development of pre-conquest Mexico, although some details remain uncertain. The

first period is commonly referred to as the Early Hunters era, and stretches from the

time of the first migrations (a topic still very much under debate) until roughly 7000 BC

(Coe 1994). During this time, the lives of small nomadic bands of people were

centered around the hunting of game and gathering of wild plants for food. During the

following period, known as the Archaic period, people began to domesticate food plants

(Coe 1994). Perhaps the most important of these was maize, upon which all subsequent

civilizations of this hemisphere would rely (Coe 1994). With the introduction of

pottery and the beginnings of village life began the Fre-classic period in 1800 BC

approximately. This period lasted until 150 AD (Coe 1994). Archeologists have

determined that the Olmecs and other ancient civilizations flourished during this time.

The Classic period immediately followed and marked the height of pre-Columbian

Mexican civilization, and the rise of the great civilizations at Teotihuacan, Monte

Alban, El Tajin and the jimgle cities of the Maya. However, by 900 AD, each of these

great civilizations were in decline or had been extinguished. They were replaced by the

more militaristic civilizations of the Post-Classic period to which the Toltecs belonged,

and followed by the vast empire of the Aztecs (Coe 1994).

The theory that man entered the westem hemisphere from the north, perhaps

through the Bering straits from Asia, is widely accepted (Myers 1952). However, the

development of human civilization in the Americas is still a matter of much debate.

There has been much speculation about the development of pre-Columbian civilizations

since the Westem world first learned of the New World (Sabloff 1989). Some experts

point to the similarities between the pyramids of ancient Egypt and those of

Teotihuacan and the lowland Mayas, while others point to the stylistic similarities

between Mayan art and that of the orient. However, the "Negroid" appearance of the

stone heads of the Olmecs is cited as evidence of African influence (Sabloff 1989).

There has even been suggestions that ancient astronauts from other worlds may have

influenced the development of Mesoamerica, though there has been little evidence

presented to support such speculations (Sabloff 1989).

The theory of a connection between the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico finds little

support from archaeological data, as those on the Giza plateau are believed to have

been buih about 3,000 years before the great pyramids of the Sun and Moon at

Teotihuacan or any others in the Maya lowlands (Sabloff 1989). It is difficult to believe

that ancient Egyptians had arrived in Mexico and introduced monumental building

activities that had not been practiced in their own homeland for thirty centuries (Sabloff

1989). More significantly, these stmctures are different in both form and function. The

Egyptian pyramids come to a point and served as tombs, while the Mexican pyramids

8

are tmncated and served as foundations for temples, though they sometimes housed

tombs (Sabloff 1989).

Other theories identifying extemal influences may not be as easily dismissed.

Evidence has been presented to suggest that the natives of the west coast of Africa

could have been the original influence on the Olmecs (Sabloff 1989). The Negroid

appearance of Olmec stone heads and the sailing abilities of early coastal Africans fuel

such a theory. Sabloff states that stylistic similarities can be foimd elsewhere, such as

the use of certain geometric shapes like circles, squares and crosses and similiar

representations of wild animals which have been noted between Olmec and Chinese art.

Examples of dragon motifs found in artifacts from Costa Rica and China suggest

oriental influence in Mesoamerica. Such evidence only serves an impressionistic

comparison of style and does not provide sufficient factual evidence demonstrating

direct contact between the two cultures. For these stylistic similarities to be linked

requires archeological evidence such as specific trade goods or materials of definite

foreign origin demonstrating contact between the two cultures (Sabloff 1989).

A common thread runs through all of these speculations; extemal developmental

influences have occurred rather than intemal ones. In some cases the extemal influence

theories seem to come out of the premise that the indigenous cultures of Mexico were

incapable of developing certain traits on their own, while others are based on the belief

that the similarifies between Mexican civilization and those of other places are too

close to be simply coincidences. It is interesting to note that in all of these speculations

the influence is seen solely as coming to Mexico rather than from Mexico (SablolT

1989). Perhaps this reveals an underlying racist attitude towards Mesoamerica by

historians.

Most archaeologists today agree that there has been little significant outside

influence on the development of Mexican culture until the arrival of the Spaniards

(Sabloff 1989). Examples of technological knowledge which was not exploited as it

had been in other civilizations suggest independent development. For example, the

wheel existed in ancient Mexico. Archeologists have foimd wheeled toys, but the

wheel was not used for transportation because Mexico lacked beasts of burden and they

did not leam to use the wheel as a tool to lighten their burden (Sabloff 1989). The

origin of new ideas and their impact are subordinated to the questions of acceptance.

Archeologists have much evidence that complex societies developed in several

locations independently of each other, but what led to the complexity of these societies

in disparate places? Are there general principals at work in the evolution of human

culture (Sabloff 1989).

In Mexico's Modem Architecture, Myers challenges the supposition that the

Spaniards brought a higher civilization to Mexico (Myers 1952). While a small portion

of the population were able to access urban benefits following the Spanish invasion, the

majority of the indigenous peoples endured a life of oppression. Native arts were

prohibited by Spanish law, and those practicing them were severely punished unless

they were in the service of the Spanish conquerors. The traditional Indmn pueblo

(village), with its winding streets and garden areas, was comparatively clean and

10

attractive when compared to the Spanish model with its rigid grid system imported from

Spain.

However, the Spaniards made many positive contributions to the New World.

They introduced a common language, though there are still areas where Spanish is not

spoken. They also introduced domestic animals for food and transportation, new

methods of smelting and assaying, as well as printing (Myers 1952). The first

university in the westem hemisphere was also established by the Spaniards in Mexico

City (Myers 1952).

In Mexico Cortez found an advanced civilization with an active agricultural

system. Unlike the partially nomadic tribes easily displaced from their lands north of

the Rio Grande, the peoples of Mexico were settled (Myers 1952). Aztec domination

that included the taking of materials from their victims and use of slave labor, as well as

the habit of selecting victims for sacrificing to the gods, caused widespread unrest

(Myers 1952). Cortez and his band of four hundred Spaniards used such internal

dissensions to find allies, promising liberation to subject peoples in retum for their help

in fighting the Aztecs.

The conquest did not go easily for the peoples of Mexico. The Spaniards killed

millions of Indians in their subjugation of that territory (Myers 1952). Indian laws were

abolished and replaced with Spanish law, which was confusing and meaningless to the

people (Myers 1952). Centuries later, following the winning of its independence from

Spain, Mexico found much of its wealth depleted. The Indians had been robbed of

11

natural resources, and much of their brilliant culture had been erased. Nevertheless

they had never accepted the bmtal civilization of their conquerors (Myers 1952).

The Land and People

The basic necessity of life for the average Mexican is the land (Myers 1952).

Mexico is a very mountainous country; a mountain is almost always in sight. High

ranges parallel both coasts, and the land between is further divided by smaller

highlands. Only one-third of the country may be classified as reasonably level.

Volcanic activity has created mountains as high as 18,000 feet, while the central plateau

is approximately 7,000 feet above sea level.

Every type of climate exists in Mexico. In a short distance one can move from pine

covered mountains to tropical valleys and beaches. Mexico is divided primarily by

altitude into three different climatic zones. The tierra caliente or hot country stretches

from sea level to 3,000 feet above sea level along the coast, while the tierra templada

or temperate zone lies between 3,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level, and the tierra fria

or cold country includes the areas above 6,000 feet.

The boundaries of Mexico once extended from Arkansas to the Pacific ocean and

north to Canada, until it ceded large sections of land to the United States in the

nineteenth century. Even today Mexico remains a large country. The population is not

spread evenly within its borders because widespread development is prohibited by the

constraints of the mountains and jungles. The greatest density of population is located

on the central plateau with much smaller groups occuring in isolated areas. Mexico

12

consist of cities, towns and villages with very few people inhabiting the isolated spaces

between (Tannenbaum 1960). There are over 100,000 small villages, generally with no

more than a few hundred inhabitants, and ninety-nine percent of all towns have fewer

than a few thousand inhabitants (Tannenbaum 1960).

The few small towns and villages that the author had the opportunity to visit while

working in Mexico, and the description of his wife's own home town of Tepetongo in

the state of Zacatecas, are typical. They consist of a few dozen dwellings surrounding a

small square, a church, a municipal building, a school and a few small stores. The

streets immediately surrounding the square may be roughly paved with small stones, but

as one moves away from the square the streets become unpaved. The doors and what

few windows face the street are closed. The life of the family occurs inside the house.

The house closes in on itself, as does the town. The town is peaceful and the people

seem self-conscious and proud. The small town has limited contact with the outside

world for it buys and sells little because most of what is needed is locally produced.

Many towns are much smaller, with no more than a few dwellings and a small

store. Such a place knows or cares little of the nation and its politics (Tannenbaum

1960). The police and the local administrator assigned by the government, with the

occasional echo of a political campaign, will be its only contact with the nation's

capital. It is a long way off, and there is little reason for the citizens to go there

(Tannenbaum 1960). Contrasted to this is Mexico City, the capital, a bustling

metropolis of twenty five million inhabitants, with all the power, wealth, education.

13

sophistication, and problems of the modem world. The capital and the small town are

of two different, clearly distinct, worlds.

Herein lies one of the basic dilemmas for Mexico; the inhabitants of the tiny towns

and smaller villages have little with which to identify with the modem world

(Tannenbaum 1960). They have few books and newspapers as many are illiterate.

They often go barefoot, or wear flimsy sandals when possible and ragged clothing, sleep

on dirt floors, and have few modem conveniences or tools. Most have retained ancient

family customs, and work the land in common if they have it. In appearance, manner,

attitude and belief, they simply are not part of the same world as that found in the

capital (Tannenbaum 1960). There are still about ninety distinct spoken languages in

Mexico (Tannenbaum 1960). In any but a strictly legal sense, Mexico City is capital

only of itself and, perhaps, a few of the larger cities. Many times the author recalls

seeing this striking contrast. Families walk into town with their goods carried on their

backs or leading their burros packed with whatever simple things they have to sell at

market that day, while immediately alongside on the modem highway, tmcks and

automobiles speed past. Two different time periods coexist. A university graduate w ho

looks to Europe, reads foreign languages and debates epistemological theories of

knowledge, existentialism in the arts and social relativism has absolutely no language

with which to communicate with the peasant who lives in a simple mud brick hut with

his wife and six children, even if they do speak a little Spanish.

The reverse side of this isolation is localism, a pride in the locality and its wa\s

The peoples of distinct regions are equally proud of their own ways and scornful of

14

others (Tannenbaum I960). One cannot look at Mexico City as a capital surrounded by

smaller but comparable cities. There are thousands of small villages with a few

hundred inhabitants and each is a self-contained world; however they do have at least

one virtue, they are local. The people can identify with their own community, and

follow it against the central national government (Tannenbaum 1960).

To form a complete picture of this isolationism and localism, one must finally look

at the hacienda (landed estate) for it has played a very large role in Mexican life. As

late as 1923, 114 owners held 25% of the land in Mexico (Tannenbaum 1960). In the

state of Guanajuato, for example, 84 percent of all inhabited places were within the

confines of haciendas (Tannenbaum 1960). The hacienda tended to control all of the

best agricultural land while the Indian village occupied the poorest (Tannenbaum

1960). There were once haciendas of 1,000,000 or more acres in Mexico.

The hacienda may be described as self sufficient, an economic and social system

which expanded until it could obtain all that it needed within its own borders. It

functioned with as little expenditure as possible. The laborer on the hacienda usually

had a small hut which he built himself and was provided with land to work

(Tannenbaum 1960). It supplied everything he needed, including seed for crops, work

animals, tools and any other supplies (Tannenbaum 1960). The laborer turned over a

share of his crop or livestock to the hacendado {hacienda owner) as part of his payment

for the use of the land. The hacendado also received a share of the animals which

grazed on the hacienda by Indians but who did not live on the hacienda, hi addition,

each laborer owed a certain number of days labor, often based either on the number of

15

hectares (10,000 sq. meters) of land he worked or simply for living on the hacienda

(Tarmedbaum 1960). In this way the hacienda had its labor supplied to it free to farm

land, to operate the main house, and for any other endeavor (Tannenbaum 1960).

Supplies that the laborer needed were purchased from the hacienda store which kept

track of the balance owed and paid off with labor (Tannenbaum 1960). The peon's debt

to the hacienda store was rarely settled though, and thus it tied the laborers to the

hacienda for life. Any additional labor that a peon performed beyond his debt was

rewarded with token coins or script that could only be used at the company store

(Tannenbaum 1960).

The hacienda was not just an agricultural property owned by an individual, but

rather an entire society. To say that the hacienda nearly controlled Mexican culture

from independence to the revolution would not be an exaggeration. As a form of

society, it govemed the life of those living on it throughout their entire lives, including

politics, education, social services and industrial development or lack thereof

(Tannenbaum 1960). Community activities took place in front of the main house on

Sundays when the peons came to church. Other events were celebrated there, such as

burials, christenings, marriages and parties. There was often a relationship between the

peons and the hacendado that went beyond that of management of labor. Often the

hacendado was chosen as godfather to many of the children bom on the hacienda. The

hacendado's role was more than that of employer, he was the head of an extended

family to which the laborers considered themselves a part. The community of laborers

16

derived a certain integrity as a result of so many years of cooperation, interdependence

and mutual aid (Tarmenbaum 1960).

A hacendado was likely, through intermarriage, to be related to the hacendados of

the neighboring haciendas, thus creating an extended family over a larger region

(Tannenbaum 1960). In time, one regional family would rise above the others and

assume total regional leadership, the basis for caciquismo (regional bossism) and

political power (Tannenbaum 1960). Thereby, Mexican politics was controlled by

region, regional families, and caciquismo. A change of political power in the capital

often meant that the people of one region had been displaced by the people of another

(Tannenbaum 1960). Each of the regional leaders had a local following, and the

national leader depended on their support for his authority. The Mexican hacienda and

its power came to an end during the Revolution of 1910, and with the agrarian reforms

that expropriated the hacienda and retumed some of the lands to the people. However,

caciquismo did not end here, as the discussion on politics which follows will indicate.

Politics

Mexican politics have not been mled by theoretical considerations; they are

personal. The intellectual elite like to think that what had always been personal has

become a matter of ideals, with party and ideology displacing personal influence, and

principle replacing fiiendship, though this is not the case. The spread of various

doctrines such as socialism, fascism and communism have obscured the political

picture, but they have not changed it. What has not altered is the caudillo (leader), the

17

one who governs because he can (Tannenbaum 1960). The basis of the leader's

authority is customary rather than constitutional. A constitutional government remains

unrealized. The real political unit is the clique, the community, the village, and it is

from here that the leader obtains his authority and complete loyalty (Tannenbaum

1960). Because the leader has customarily obtained his empowerment from this small

unit, there is no other tool for legitimacy.

Mexico's most loved president of the twentieth century, Lazaro Cardenas, once said

that Mexico must leam that it can be govemed without violence (Tannenbaum 1960).

Americans observe Latin American governments as unstable, but generally do not

understand why. They think that these governments are unreliable because the societies

appear violent. Some claim that violence has become a tradition because there is no

other means of transferring political power from one administration to the next

(Tannenbaum 1960). Many Latin American dictators have come to power through the

use of force and staged elections resulting in their governments being unstable. Their

power is illegitimate, tyrannical and, as a result, will be opposed (Tannenbaum 1960).

When the opposition triumphs, the old problems remain.

The failure to secure political legitimacy in Mexico can be traced back to the

colonial period. During this time people may question the king's actions, but not his

legitimacy and the legitimacy of his actions. They knew and understood the mles of

succession. Regarding legitimacy, independence did not serve Latin America well for it

destroyed the legitimate political power base without providing a substitute. After the

18

wars for independence it was unclear where the legitimate political power lay

(Tannenbaum 1960).

While constitutions have been introduced, they have not served as effective tools

for legitimizing political power. There have been too many of them and too often they

have been manipulated, modified, replaced or suspended. What could have been

symbols of authority and effective substitutes for monarchial political legitimacy, have

been perverted for personal benefits (Tannenbaum 1960).

Independence may have done away with the monarchy but it retained the concepts

and practices inherent in it, centralism, authoritarianism and aristocracy (Tannenbaum

1960). The Latin American problem of the transfer of power is indicative of the

contrast between authoritarian and democratic societies. A democratic society divides

and distributes power in many places, but in an authoritarian society political power is

indivisible (Tannenbaum 1960).

During colonial times, the king was said to have la suma del poder (all of the

power), and in modem Latin America this has not changed except that it is now the

president that has la suma del poder (Tannenbaum 1960). In Mexico today, no matter

what one sees or hears on the nightly news, Mexican democracy is really only a sham

The Fartido Revolutionario Institucional (PRI) has held roughly 95 percent of all

Mexico's federal, state and local offices since its creation in 1929, and has never lost a

presidential election (Oster 1989). The concept of the president having la suma del

poder certainly applies to Mexico. One of the powers the president enjoys is the choice

of his successor (Oster 1989). As the PRI has never lost a presidential election, the

19

president's choice of candidate has always been selected, that is imtil the last

presidential election in 1994 when the country elected Ernesto Zedillo. He was not, the

previous president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari's, first choice. This had been Luis

Donaldo Colosio, but he was gimned downed during a political rally. Some believe that

the PRI did not approve of Salinas' choice, for during Colosio's campaign he spoke of

bringing a more democratic process to Mexican politics, which presents obvious

problems for any dictatorial Latin American govenmient. In any authoritarian

government power caimot be shared. Several other PRI elite have been bmtally

murdered in the streets of Mexico City, including some of those investigating the

assassination, and others have resigned their posts. President Salinas' own brother, Raul

Salinas, has been jailed in connection with the case. President Salinas himself, for

reasons surrounding the near financial collapse of the Mexican economy that lead to the

sudden devaluation of the peso (Mexican monetary unit) in 1995, is currently living in

exile in Ireland.

What recently happened may be evidence that the politics of Mexico are changing.

Indeed, during the last few years the stranglehold that the PRI has enjoyed on Mexico's

national politics has diminished. The party has been losing elections across the nation.

Perhaps with such changes Mexico will enjoy a more democratic government with less

cormption. This could lead to a more stable economy that would continue to expand,

be more inviting to foreign investment and cooperation, and ultimately lead to a more

prosperous life for all Mexicans rather than an elite few.

20

CHAPTER II

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY

Pre-Columbian Architecture

The first cities of Ancient Mexico began to emerge by 1000 BC in the valleys of

Oaxaca and Mexico. Their development can be traced over several centuries as well as

in the Gulf Coast Lowlands. The latter region was home to the Olmecs. Around 1200

BC, the Olmecs began cultural trends that contributed to the transformation of small

villages into more complex towns. The Olmecs are noted for their organization of

large labor forces to satisfy their building needs, and a regular trade to obtain exotic

building materials. The Olmec towns did not have the population, size, and productive

capacity to be considered cities, but they were clearly the precursors of the urban

centers in Mexico (Sabloff 1989). The Olmec phase was short lived, but by 500 BC the

Valley of Oaxaca had given rise to the first tme city of ancient Mexico, Monte Alban

(Sabloff 1989). The city was buih on three hilltops and shows dense occupation.

Terraced hillsides were filled with houses, and there were fifteen residential

subdivisions, each with their own plaza. The Main Plaza was situated on top of one hill

with a wonderful view of the valley, and was a large, open, paved area defined by a

series of stone buildings (Fig. 2.1). By the eighth century AD, the Zapotec state began to

crumble, and Monte Alban diminished in power and size.

While Monte Alban flourished, other urban centers began to develop to the north.

One of the most important, Teotihuaucan, was a large complex which including 600

21

pyramids, 2,000 apartment compounds of similar design, 500 workshop areas and a

large market (Fig. 2.2). The most striking features of Teotihuacan are its careful

planning and the overwhelming size of some of its stmctures (Sabloff 1989). Some of

the largest features such as the Pyramid of the Sun, the Street of the Dead or the city's

radiating grid plan were among the initial developments of the city, developed well

before the constmction of most of its great buildings (Sabloff 1989). By AD 500

Teotihuacan had seen its height of power and covered over 20 square kilometers.

Within the next two centuries however, Teotihuacan's influence began to fade and by

the eighth century AD the site had collapsed.

By 300 BC, the beginning of the Late Fre-classic Period, the Maya world had

begun to experience the type of development already seen in Oaxaca and in central

Mexico. By 300 AD, some of the early centers had fallen into decline, perhaps as a

result of changing trade patterns. Others more complex, continued to expand. Maya

civilization entered the Classic period and thrived throughout the Lowlands. While

Teotihuacan and Monte Alban were flourishing m the Mexican Highlands, Classic

Maya civilization peaked in the southern lowlands. It was once thought that during the

Classic Period (300 to 800 AD), the Maya had developed in isolation, their lives

focused on non-urban ceremonial centers. New data has come to light, scholars now

realize that these centers housed large populations, and had important contacts with

neighbors near and far (Sabloff 1989). A vast number of constmctions were undertaken

during the Classic Period, including a series of tall, steep pyramids crowned with

temples and palaces (Figs. 2.3-2.4) (Sabloff 1989). Teotihuacan influence at Tikal

22

during this time has been identified through analysis of motifs found on monuments,

and through the examination of artifacts in the tombs of Maya leaders (Sabloff 1989).

When southern Maya cities were beginning to decline, those in the Northem

Lowlands, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal (Figs. 2.5-2.8), started their rise in

importance. These Terminal Classic (900 to 1000 AD) northem cities show similarities

in architecture with their Late Classic predecessors in the south, including artifacts and

the use of space and settlement patterns (Sabloff 1989). However, non-Classic Maya

motifs co-exist with them including such striking elements as masonry veneer, mosaic

facades and stylistic themes (Sabloff 1989). The constmction of Uxmal represented the

peak of achievement in Maya site planning. Here the Maya created a tmly monumental

architecture which completely denies its dependence on nature by conforming to

abstract mles of order and form determined by man (Sabloff 1989). The transition from

the Terminal Classic to the Post-Classic Periods falls between 1000 and 1200 AD with

the collapse of the Puuc sites and Chichen Itza. The subsequent rise of the city of

Mayapan marks a new beginning of Maya development that lasted until the Spanish

Conquest early in the sixteenth century, though it showed a decline in artistic standards

compared with earlier times (Sabloff 1989). Mayapan replaced Chichen Itza as the

dominant site of the northem Maya world.

In summation, it has been increasingly clear that while some aspects of Mayan

development differ from other groups of Mesoamerica, the general trends were very

similar (Sabloff 1989). The Maya were an integral part of ancient Mexican civilization.

23

Following the decline of Teotihuacan, there followed a time of political and

economic fragmentation and competition, with various groups attempting to fill the

void (Sabloff 1989). One of the urban centers that emerged from the confusion was

Tula, the capital of the Toltecs. The prominence of the Toltecs was short lived, but

evidence suggest they had extensive contact with other groups through out

Mesoamerica (Sabloff 1989). Examples of pottery from other regions has been found at

Tula as well as other religious motifs that can also be seen at other sites either directly

or indirectly in contact with Tula such as Chichen Itza. Toltec influence can be seen

throughout West Mexico, and is believed to have been at least partially responsible for

bringing this region into the sphere of the civilizational system of ancient Mexico

(Sabloff 1989).

The last great urban center to have emerged in Mexico was Tenochtitlan, the

capital of the Aztec empire. Founded in 1325 AD on an island in a swampy lake, the

Aztecs built an urban center that included such awesome stmctures as Templo Mayor

(Fig. 2.9) with several causeways that lead to the mainland. The Aztecs utilized the

highly centralized and planned urban design of the Teotihuacanos. Bemal Diaz, a

soldier who accompanied Cortez when the Spaniards first approached Tenochtitlan,

wrote of impressions of the great city. Diaz recounted how they were amazed by the

great temples, towers and buildings rising out of the water, and of how some soldiers

asked if they were not dreaming of the things they were seeing (Coe 1994). The

Spanish conquerors called it another Venice (Coe 1994). The city was laid out in a grid

with canals running north and south, filled with canoes and of larger canals cut at

24

angles. Between the waterways were raised plots of land on which were built houses.

It is a form of site planning that is still used to this day in the Xochimilco zone to the

south of the city. On the higher ground at the center of the city was located the

administrative and spiritual center of the empire, the Sacred Frecint, which was

dominated by the great Templo Mayor and the ball court surrounded by the royal

palaces (Coe 1994). Close to the main temples was an enormous marketplace, of which

the Spaniards claimed was larger than any of those in Salamanca, Rome or

Constantinople (Coe 1994).

With the rise of the Aztec nation, archeologists and historians leave the realm of

legend and enter that of recorded history. For the first time, scholars have more

historical data than archeological data with which to work. The leveling of the Sacred

Precincts of Tenochtitlan and Tlaltelolco by the Spaniards for their own administrative

center, cathedral and churches destroyed all but the foundations of the Aztec temples

and other buildings. It was well known that the great Templo Mayor was located to the

northeast of the cathedral, but it was not until a chance discovery in 1978 which led to

the excavation of the remains of this great temple (Fig. 2.10).

By 1521, and in less than two years, Cortez defeated the Aztecs. Tenochtitlan and

the Aztec empire lay in mins. The complex, civilized world of ancient Mexico which

had produced such urban marvels as Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan over a 3,000 year

period came to an abmpt end.

25

Spanish Colonial Architecture

The Spaniards began to introduce their own architectural forms to Mexico thus

ending the ancient world of the Mexicans. Spanish Colonial architecture is classified

into roughly four periods; the Romanesque, often referred to as the Franciscan period;

the Flateresque; the Baroque; and the Churrigueresque. The Romanesque style was

introduced by the Franciscan monks who were responsible for the constmction of

military posts, missions, and churches (Myers 1952). These earliest of Hispanic

constmctions were of a plain and massive design and generally devoid of ornamentation

(Fig. 2.11), with the exception of church entries which, at the discretion of Qach padre

(father), were sometimes treated ornately (Fig. 2.12) (Myers 1952). At the beginning of

the conquest it was the clergy who directed the planning and detailing of much of the

building. These men were neither trained in architecture, nor did they come equipped

from Spain with plans in hand. They designed and built from memory more or less as

laymen. This usually left great opportunity for the native craftsman to bring to colonial

architecture that which was embedded in their collective memory from the previous

3,000 years of Indian building. The Indian craftsman would infuse Spanish architecture

with their own sense of proportion, use of material, light and textures, and the

pre-Hispanic images of gods and creatures semptitiously included in the details (Fig.

2.13).

Following the Franciscan period, the Flateresque era developed. It drew its name

from the resemblance to the ornamental work of the piatero (silversmith) (Myers 1952).

The Flateresque style can be traced back to Spain, though it was actually a blending of

26

styles, for it utilized Gothic forms with decoration of Moorish origins as well as

incorporating the Rennaissance influence from Italy (Myers 1952).

The Flateresque led to the Baroque style, which essentially consisted of the free use

of ornament (Myers 1952). Symmetrically located, twisted columns with wavy, curling

scrolls and little chembs were the fashion. It eventually evolved into the exaggerations

of the Churrigueresque or ultra baroque for which Mexico has many extraordinary

examples (Fig. 2.14). Adding to the profusion of decorative treatments, the native

craftsmen inserted pre-Hispanic gods among the chembs, scrolls and other Baroque

ornamentation's.

The Colonial architecture does not coincide directly with that which preceded it,

but it conserves a certain strength of space. Its plazas and patios are completely

different from those on which they were modeled (Fig. 2.15). The Plaza de Armas or

the patios of the Viceregal Palace in Mexico City exhibit a sense of proportion that

coincides more with the pre-cortesan spaces achieved at Teotihuacan or Uxmal than

they do with those of Plaza Mayor in Madrid or the cloistered patios in any number of

Spanish palaces. As the Mexican culture became more identified with the west, their

architecture lost a certain originality of form or figure, but the difference in size, the use

of light and proportion, the emphasis of brilliant colors, contrasting tones and tactile

surfaces remain constant (Villagran 1967).

27

Modem Mexican Architecture

The period between Mexican independence in 1821 and the Revolution of 1910

produced little work of any architectural significance. The national genius was

expressed most in the exhortations of the great revolutionary leaders (Myers 1952).

Architecture was neoclassic as the Colonial period came to a close in Mexico. The

establishment of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carios began the quest to

replace the Baroque and Churrigueresque styles with a simple Greek and Roman

treatment (Fernandez 1937). These influences lasted approximately fifty years. In

1843, the Academy was reorganized and the first School of Engineers and Architects

was placed in the charge of Don Severio Cavallari. Cavallari brought his students

under the influence of the French Ecole des Beaux Arts. By the end of the century, a

romantic attitude was rampant and projects were being built in a multitude of styles

ranging from Chinese to Art Deco (Femandez 1937). There were even attempts to

bring back the old Baroque, and Nationalism thought it befitting to paste pre-Cortesian

Indian sculpture on neoclassical building facades (Femandez 1937).

When the Revolution ended in the 1920', Mexico saw the introduction of modem

methods of constmction following technological advances in the rest of the world in

architecture utilizing steel and reinforced concrete. Paralleling these new methods was

the Revolution's call for a National expression of the arts (Myers 1952). Mexico was

neither a new European society nor a pre-Columbian civilization. It was a new place

and it wanted an artistic expression of its own which drew on Mexico's mixed culture

(Myers 1952). New methods of constmction and technologies, combined with the call

28

for national expression in the arts provided artists and architects with the impetus

needed to build a new Mexico.

The idea of functionalism was first seriously considered in Mexico by the architect

Jose Villagran Garcia (Femandez 1937). He had been invited to teach architecture at

the National Academy in 1926 by a group of students who later distinguished

themselves in architecture, and became the first proponents of his ideas. They included

such men as Juan O'Gorman, Enrique del Moral, Mauricio Campos, Francisco Arce and

Carlos Vergara. These five went on to work with Villagran in the Granja Santaria in

Tacuba, a group of buildings that first showed functional influences (Femandez 1937).

This work and others of the same time planned by Villagran represented a transition

between the old and the new. More importantly, they served as a vehicle for his

theories, and had a great influence on his followers (Femandez 1937).

In The New Architecture in Mexico, one of the first texts on modem Mexican

architecture in Mexico, Villagran's architectural doctrine is layed out (Bom 1937). It

spells out the two roles of Mexican architecture, the factors contributing to the

architectural problems of Mexico and the roles its architectural education had or had

not taken. The two roles of architecture are to make known the distinguishing qualities

and characteristics of the Mexican people, and to take a leading role in their evolution.

The factors contributing to the architectural problems of Mexico include poverty which

necessitates constmcting with utmost economy, unknown programs resulting from the

evolution of new institutions whose functions are indefinite or evolving, a lack of

culture and public understanding, and atavism which manifest in the naturally

29

rebellious temperament of the Mexican architect. Architectural education had taught

the young architects that they know as fact what architecture is and is not, and that they

must be builders and not draftsmen, and they must accept their social responsibility as

indispensable elements in the evolution of their people. It had not taught them that the

social and architectural problems of their people be known and studied, or that the

ordinary methods of constmction be perfected.

In 1967, thirty years after Bom's The New Architecture In Mexico had been

published, Villagran wrote the Forward for Clive Smith's Builders In the Sun, in which

he provides his assessment of the state of Mexican architecture. While describing

several tendencies and orientations, the primary point that he presents is that there is a

constant theme mnning throughout Mexican architecture which is the use of light, the

use of proportion and size, the emphasis on brilliant color, and the contrasting tones and

tactile surfaces, which can be traced from the ancient Indian architecture of Mexico to

the colonial and then to modem architecture. Villagran states that since the study

Invariantes castizos de la Arquitectura Espanola (Constants Peculiar to Spanish

Architecture) by the Spanish architect, Chueca Goitia, Mexicans began to identify this

constant theme within their architecture (Villagran 1967). He admits there was no

shortage of critics willing to dismiss the idea of a constant theme within Mexican

architecture as myth, especially in the face of Modernism, or individualistic impulses of

their architects at the time. However, he points to works of distinguished collegues

such as The Mava by architect Pedro Ramirez Vasquez, and Ricardo Robina's Revista

Arquitectura, to provide further evidence consolidating the belief that Mexican

30

constmctions do incorporate constant characteristics which are the use of light, the use

of proportion and size, the emphasis on brilliant color, and the contrasting tones and

tactile surfaces. These qualities can even be seen in the work of one of Mexico's most

resolute modernists, Mario Fani (Figs. 2.16-2.18). One of Villagran's early followers,

Juan O'Gorman represented funtionalism in Mexico in its purest form in his early years.

After Villagran, he was the first who fought for the realization of modemist principles,

and went farther than Villagran when he pushed for more radical change, and assumed

an uncompromising attitude towards current ideas (Femandez 1937). O'Gorman

insisted on building a new architecture, for the new life, of this new society (Smith

1967). Between 1928 and 1937, his work was heavily based on the theories advanced

by Le Corbusier. During those years he buih a dozen houses including one for the

painter Diego Rivera (Fig. 2.19), some thirty primary schools, and a technical school in

Mexico City (Femandez 1937).

Later, O'Gorman would joke that is was unfortunate that Le Corbusier had

attracted the attention of Mexican architects rather than Frank L. Wright, because he

believed that Wright would have helped them to stay closer to a tme American heritage

(Smith 1967). It was Wright who had visited the archeological sites and understood

organic architecture and its relation to the human. O'Gorman found the modem

architecure of Mexico lacking in pre-Columbian influence. He claimed that there was

no school of modem Mexican architecture, and that few examples of such existed, his

own house being one of them (Fig. 2.20) (Smith 1967). He stated that the International

style was aptly named, because its practitioners and their clients were tmly an

31

intemational set with no sense of tradition or artistic judgement, who were relegating

architecture to mere business interests (Smith 1967). O'Gorman understood that as the

result of a population explosion, Mexico needed to house enormous numbers of people

in comfortable, economical, functional and healthy environments, and that the

architect's primary social role was to satisfy this need (Smith 1967). He did not believe

functionalism to be the best solution, but that it was the most practial one for bettering

the material needs of the Mexican people. He said that the need for art in architecture

remained, but that under the conditions of the time it could not be the primary

consideration, especially in the developing countries. O'Gorman believed that

architecture must become a work of art and harmonize with its surroundings, but did

not believe it possible to solve the material needs of the Mexican people and at the

same time build in accordance with such principles, at least not at that time (Smith

1967). He simply hoped they could make a start.

In 1938, having become disillusioned with modem architecture, O'Gorman tumed

against it with the same uncompromising attitude he had earlier shown in his fight for

modemist principles (Femandez 1937). No longer believing that modernism was the

correct solution for the societal needs of the Mexican people, but realizing it was a

practical and widely accepted one, he did not know where to tum. He left architecture

and became a painter. However, in the years that followed, his painting would lead him

to creating mosaics and that would lead him back to architecture. In 1950 O'Gorman

planned and built the University City Library, and from 1951-52 he designed and

constmcted the mosaics that clad the ten story volume housing the library stacks

32

(Fig. 2.21). His Library mosaics strongly exhibit the "start" that he had eariier hoped

for. O'Gorman's University Library and his own house also clearly demonstrate the

"accent" Villagran would write about some years later.

Luis Barragan

Only in the years since his work was exhibited at the Museum of Modem Art in

New York has Luis Barragan become known to the world. With the exception of a

close circle of friends and associates, this is even so in Mexico (Riggen 1996). In the

search for the essence of place, of the Mexican culture which survived centuries of

social transition embedded within architecture, Barragan's work is perhaps the most

important example to study. Though Barragan's architecture exhibits the superficial or

physical qualities of a Mexican accent within modem architecure, it also possesses the

immaterial or spiritual qualities of Mexican culture.

Like O'Gorman's architecture, Barragan's work contains elements of the physical

or material aspect that correspond to the "accent" Villagran wrote of He appears to

work within a modemist framework, employing its principles, but his use of mass, wall,

texture, light and color are in the Mexican tradition of which Villagran wrote of In

fact, color is one of the elements of his work that authors often note, and how he

leamed to use color from the painter Chucho Reyes, and how Reyes drew his

inspiration for the use of color in the marketplace filled with the sights of all the

colorful fmits and sweets (CoUe 1989). Barragan was also influenced by the brightly

colored villages that dot the Mexican landscape (Street-Porter 1989).

33

Was Barragan a modemist questing for innovation, or was he a traditionalist

re-creating or re-presenting the past? Though some may choose to debate the issue, he

did not view himself as a modemist, but rather a traditionalist. Barragan's position was

that his architecture belonged to its time, and that each work belongs to the time that

accepts It (Riggen 1996). He believed that traditionalists are those who design for their

own time, while the enemy of tradition are those who create architecture by imitating

the past (Riggen 1996). Tradition, for Barragan, was the creating of architecture within

the character and culture of its time and place. He did not seek to copy from the past,

but rather to understand earlier forms, and through them to understand the essence of

place. In Barragan's Capilla y Convento del Purisimo Corazon de Maria (Figs.

2.22-2.23), the essence of place can be seen in the courtyard. One sees the serenity, the

very tactile walking surface, the trees and bushes and the obligatory fountain, all usually

found in the courtyards of colonial convents, as well as the inspirational use of light and

solitude of space inside the chapel. They are all re-created and re-presented here, to

produce the essence of place

One of the keys to understanding his work is contained within a familiar quote of

Barragan, "£"/ arte es recuerdo: recuerdo puesto en escena.'" (Art is memory: staged

memory.) He believed the infant eye to be the most acute, that which observes

everything for the first time with a freshness not contaminated by the ever changing

conditions of life (Riggen 1996). It is the source of memory, and stretches into infinity

undiminished by the actuality of life lived (Riggen 1996). This helps explain what

Barragan meant when speaking of "transferring the religiosity of tradition to the

34

contemporary world," which refers to his notion of time, in which eternity is the

intersection where memory and characteristics of time juxtapose (Riggen 1996). Thus,

tradition is of a dual nature, it is presence as well as distance. While the presence of

tradition is a source that nourishes the present, where nostalgia is awareness of past

elevated beyond reality, it is the distance of tradition that is the justification of

Barragan's personal refutation of contemporary culture and the vulgarities of modem

civilizafion (Riggen 1996). Thus in Casa Egerstrom (Figs. 2.24-2.27), and Casa Galvez

(Figs. 2.28-2.29), he is creating protective refuges of serenity, setting space and time

free from the assaulting novelty of modemism.

Contemporary Mexican Architecture

As previously discussed, there has been a distinct populist current in Mexican

culture during the twentieth century. It was evident in the work of the Mexican

Muralists. It was also captured in architectural terms in the transition of O'Gorman's

work, from the dogmatic use of the intemational style in his early works to the

development of neo-Aztec associations in his later works. Even one of Mexico's most

resolute modemists, Mario Fani, designed the Torre Banobras (Fig. 2.30) as a pyramidal

volume in an attempt to infuse it with a national identity. The invocation of

pre-Columbian monumentality reached its peak with the state sponsored works of Pedro

Ramirez Vasquez (Ingersoll 1996). His Museo Nacional Antropologico (National

Anthropology Museum) (Fig. 2.31) and Falacio Legislative (Legislative Palace) set the

35

standard for massive volumes axially arranged in broad sweeping terraced spaces

(Ingersoll 1996).

In addition to the search for a national expression in the arts, Mexicans have

demonstrated a great ability to interpret varrying currents of thought. Within

architecture, Luis Barragan steed as the clearest twentieth century example of the

profound capacity for interpretation. Often his work as only been analyzed in terms of

its plastic expression, with its brightly colored planes and volumes, and his

interpretation of colonial forms. In recent decades, it has been the plastic expression of

his work that has influenced an entire generation of Mexican architects and so often

been uncritically repeated. However, it is perhaps his distillation of twentieth century

life and architectural modemity that will have a mere lasting influence en Mexican

architecture.

The starting point for this direction in current Mexican architecture is the work of

Teodere Gonzalez de Leon and Abraham Zabludevsky. They are the recognized

masters of a vocabulary based en interpretation of pre-Columbian and colonial forms

accomodated within a vision of twentieth century rationalism (Ingersoll 1996). They

were once collaborating partners, but are now arch rivals. Among their many works

and often hailed as their masterpiece is the Auditorio Nacional (National Autitorium) in

Chapultepec park in Mexico City (Fig. 2.32). It takes the form of a massive unifying,

canopy which cuts across the entry plaza and is intersected by rounded sculptural

elements that create smaller pafie spaces. The effect is that of a unifying horizontal

composition, following in the pre-Columbian tradition of grand terraced spaces.

36

Aguste Quijano is another architect currently working within this same direction of

architectural thought. His Rectoria de la Universidad del Mayab (Rectory for the

University of Mayab) (Figs. 2.33-2.34) utilizes the same generous use of space, large

horizontal volumes, pure geometry and deep shaded voids.

Gonzalez de Leon's work often fellows a pre-Columbian spatial tradition and

contains anti-colonial implications. When breaking from this vocabulary as he did in

the addition to the Banamex bank building (Figs. 2.35-2.37) in Mexico City, when he

worked within the colonial context of the central part of the city, the quality of

Mexicanidad still exist. In the search for national identity, it is the brightly colored

architecture of Ricardo Legeretta that most loudly expresses Mexicanidad. Legoretta is

clearly utilizing a vocabulary based en Barragan's translation of hacienda motifs into

modem forms. Though Legeretta's early works scream Mexicanidad, they demonstrate

little mere interest in design other than that of a skilled use of color and massing

(Ricalde 1996). However, his recently completed library in Monterrey reveals a

departure. He demonstrates an interest in relationships of pure geometric forms, along

the same lines as Louis Kahn's investigations at Dacca, in as much as inserting forms

within forms (Figs. 2.38-2.39). Unfortunately, as has so often been the case with

Legeretta's work, the library suffers from the same lack of interest in constmction and

the attention to detail it requires (Ricalde 1996).

The Westin hotel in Los Cabes (Figs. 2.40-2.41), by Sordo, Madalene and de

Yturbe could easily be mistaken as the work of Legoretta. In this work they utilize the

same highly skilled contrasting color schemes, and they de so as skillfully as Legeretta.

37

However, it enjoys a decided superiority in its sophistication of constmctional detail

and stmctural daring (Ingersoll 1996).

Though Barragan's use of contrasting colored planes and masses has influenced the

work of an entire generation of Mexican architects, in the case of Legeretta and his

imitators it has often been very cliche (Ingersoll 1996). For a mere subfle and skilled

interpretation of Barragan's vocabulary, one can leek to the work of individuals such as

Adres Casillas (Ingersoll 1996). In his own house (Figs. 2.42-2.43), Casillas comes

much closer to the meditative restraint and spatial complexity of Barragan. If the

dramatic expression of Barragan's work served to influence in the short term and it is

his distillation of twentieth century life and architectural modernity that is his long term

contribution, then it is the work of architects like Casillas who are propagating

Barragan's tme and lasting contribution contribution to Mexican architectural thought.

During the presidential administration of Carles Salinas de Gertari from 1988 to

1994, Mexico was reopened to foreign investment and development. It is also helpful

to note the rapid technological advances of recent decades, which allow for the easier

dissemination of information. If cultural complexity has been a characteristic feature of

architectural thought in Mexico, then the increasing amount and speed of the

proliferation of information made possible by technological advances coupled with a

greater epeness of Mexico to the intemational community is serving to expand the

cultural complexity within contemporary Mexican architectural thought (Ricalde 1996).

Among the group of architect working within this expanded cultural complexity is

Enrique Norton of T.E.N. Arquitectos. Norton's work utilizes very expressive forms

38

and relies en foreign technology to accomplish the details. His work strives to cast off

the chains of folkloric influence and to engage Mexican architecture in the process of

globalization and embrace the liberating potentials of modemity (Ingersoll 1996).

Norton's Escuela Nacional de Teatro (National Drama School) is an example of

contemporary Mexican architecture that reaches and is being seen far beyond the

borders of Mexico. The drama school (Figs. 2.44-2.45) is an immense seven story shell

that extends ever the independent volumes comprising the classrooms, library and

theater. The outer shel, open en both ends for natual ventilation, creates a dynamic

space. The interior, organized about a series of terraces, stairways and glazed in

balconies, affords a variety of impremtu procenia and viewpoints suitable for

performances. Without relying on histrical referene, the organization of the elements

within the shell suggest the essence of theater. With the use of foreign engineering

consultants, tubular steel beams bent to shape in Houston Texas ans imported

Califemian redwood slats for shading devices, the drama school engages Mexican

architecture in an international exchange of ideas and the global marketplace (Ingersoll

1996).

While Norton's drama school concretizes an expanding cultural complexity in

Mexican architectural thought, with its blending of international technologies and

materials, the next three works also de but take three sharply contrasting approaches to

similiar architectural problems. In the Biblioteca Nacional de Educacion (National

Education Library) (Figs. 2.46-2.47), Aja, Ondarza and Santos proceeded with a very

pmdent approach to the adaption of a mined building (Adria 1996). They took care to

39

reinstate the orders and materials, and intervened only when a strict historical

recuperation offered nothing to work with. In Breid's restoration of the Centre de la

Imagen (Center for the Image) (Figs. 2.48-2.50), he chose to intervene with impunity.

Breid is uncompromising in the imposition of his own laws, criteria and needs (Adria

1996). While he ably resolves the program, he does so in an inconsistent dialog with

the historical form he is restoring. In one location he tums his back completely en the

historical form, as with the high-tech foot bridge that cuts through the spaces, while at

the same time carrying on a dialogue with the historical form in the Scarpa like fountain

in the courtyard. In the Centro Cultural X'Teresa (X'Teresa Cultural Center) (Figs.

2.51-2.52), Flores is completely coherent in his architectural response (Adria 1996). He

completely rejects any direct dialog with the historical form. The new form tums its

back to the existing and sets out to resolve the new needs. The two forms refuse to

engage one another. The new form, with its lightweight airy columns and stairs, feels

as if it is attempting to tip toe over and around the existing form without touching it.

40

:.:^-^:^.-l»iTsl5»i.V»»3^i•«a«>»!'IpiW:«Es^^•i^n.::i•:Ki:-

.jAkSklUik

Figure 2.1 Monte Alban Site

"yWfcr-

tJ2^:i*-.i*Z.J>»:; '"•.«i|i*k'?r^:'

Figure 2.2 Teotihuacan Site

41

Figure 2.3 Tikal Site

Figure 2.4 Palenque Pyramid

42

S''' ' , if, •.•SiStWifS* "<ilte« i. -,

il|fllili#-Hiife i ^ * - Jlffilmli ii!l. H ...Ufi

Figure 2.5 Chichen Itza Pyramid

• • m-J-J J , ' •,.• " -•

Figure 2.6 Chichen Itza Detail

43

Figure 2.7 Uxmal Site

Figure 2.8 Uxmal Detail

44

Figure 2.9 Temple Mayer (Great Temple) Site Model

TWrffTTft

If K*; Id J*»

I I

1 '

Figure 2.10 Temple Mayer (Great Temple) Remains

45

Figure 2.11 Typical Early Spanish Colonial Facade

Figure 2.12 Iglesia de San Juan de Dios (Church of San Juan de Dies) Entry

46

Figure 2.13 Casa del Gigante (Giant's House) Detail

47

Figure 2.14 Baroque Facade Detail

Figure 2.15 Franz Mayer Museum Courtyard

48

Figure 2.16 President Aleman Urban Center Building

Figure 2.17 National Teacher's College Building

49

Figure 2.18 Mexico City Apartment Building

Figure 2.19 Casa y EstudioRivera (Rivera House & Studio) Drawing

50

Figure 2.20 Casa O'Gorman (O'Gorman House) Detail

Figure 2.21 Libreria de la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico - UNAM (Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico) Building

51

Figure 2.22 Capilla y Convento del Purisimo Corazon de Maria (Chapel and Convent of the Very Pure Heart of Mary) Courtyard

Figure 2.23 Capilla y Convento del Purisimo Coraz6n de Maria (Chapel and Convent of the Very Pure Heart of Mary) Interior

52

Figure 2.24 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Horse Pond

KtMKU ,1' ••II

: / ! K I

C-'.JttlliliStfff.llllJiftffKt'S'Si ^.r.

• ••' y - E r . '

L'

.".T ,.««'JlS.«*iiit)iiiJ|j(»^1|M

Figure 2.25 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Planter

53

Figure 2.26 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Horse Stable

%^r^' ^r^ p. ' T - J , I, , r J .•- , , V

Figure 2.27 Casa Egerstrom (Egerstrom House) Water Spout

54

Figure 2.28 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Exterior

Figure 2.29 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Interior

55

Figure 2.30 Torre Banobras (Banobras Tower)

Figure 2.31 Museo Nacional Antropologico (National Anthropology Museum) Courtyard

56

Figure 2.32 Auditorio Nacional (National Autitorium) Entry

'?ltf5S!^sap'i; 3ys?;rsriJig''t3-5;:'K3f?^^^

J#^' . - & ! ' = • '

Figure 2.33 Rectoria de la Universidad del Mayab (Rectory for the University of Mayab) Entry

57

Figure 2.34 Rectoria de la Universidad del Mayab (Rectory for the University of Mayab) Wall Detail

Figure 2.35 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Mexico) Detail

58

Figure 2.36 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Mexico) Facade

Si««S«ll(l(l«Wl*«l0iWMIW»^

Figure 2.37 Banco Nacional de Mexico - Banamex (National Bank of Exterior Passage

59

Figure 2.38 Biblioteca de Monterrey (Monterrey Library) Exterior Forms

Figure 2.39 Biblioteca de Monterrey (Monterrey Library) Facade Articulation

60

Figure 2.40 Westin Hotel - Cabo San Lucas Exterior Form

1 . ^ I l l ' t ." 11 ll

iiiiiiMHiii'

iJiiM ^ n i i ' f «,iii

7( t ' . : : -«- '

.K ip

:-^ih ...'•ii

Figure 2.41 Westin Hotel - Cabo San Lucas Drive

61

Figure 2.42 Casa Casillas (Casillas House) Bedroom

Figure 2.43 Casa Casillas (Casillas House) Family Room

62

Figure 2.44 Escuela Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre School) Exterior Form

Figure 2.45 Escuela Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre School) Covered Courtyard

63

Figure 2.46 Biblioteca Nacional de Educacion (National Education Library) View One

Figure 2.47 Biblioteca Nacional de Educacion (National Education Library) View Two

64

[fUili ii Diii'ti WNK 'il)iiiii)'i!<mni'.

ri' f

^nl«nl.,^^lulIIT^!^!l,^';^a(l'f*

ii!iii«i!yiirtiii!i*iiffi^

^ f^ .>-^T lt^.-^l^•''l;>i•^^r^u^^^^t^ll«WlHM^l^lVo^^l.:w'»>•"'"=^"l

' "--SHUT

Figure 2.48 Centro de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Courtyard Fountain

Figure 2.49 Centre de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Interior Foot Bridge

65

Figure 2.50 Centro de la Imagen (Center for the Image) Interior Space

fj III M$

Figure 2.51 Centro Cultural X'Teresa (X'Teresa Cultural Center) Exterior

66

Figure 2.52 Centro Cultural X'Teresa (X'Teresa Cultural Center) Stair Detail

67

CHAPTER in

THE MEXICAN HOUSE: A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE

Introduction

While working for an architectural firm in Leon, Mexico, Rodriguez Arquitectos,

discussions regularly took place cenceming the spatial organization of the Mexican

house. Included were debates en the three household zones including the zona publica

(public zone), zona privada (private zone) and zona servicio (service zone). These

three terms are commonly used by Mexican architects as well as laymen and are readily

found in such publications as Mexico: nueva arquitectura by Antonio Toca and Anibal

Figueroa.

This chapter is organized into three sections following the Introduction. Each

section describes one household zone. Each section follows the same format, lists the

specific spaces that comprise the particular zone, describes the spatial uses and spatial

connections, as well as the cultural, sociological and historical aspects of the spaces.

The Public Zone

The zona publica generally consist of the entrada (entry), vestibulo (vestibule),

bafio visitas (visitor's rest roomj, sala (living room), comedor (dining room), patio

(patio) mdJardin (garden) (Figs. 3.1-3.2). While other spaces may be encountered as

part of the zona publica, most contemporary houses will include at least the spaces

68

listed above. Many spatial organizations may be found. Most often the zona publica is

located on the planta baja (groimd floor).

The house is entered through a dramatic series of spatial transitions that begin at

the street (Street-Porter 1994). The common transition space leading into the Mexican

house is known as the entrada. While the entrada is an outdoor space, it lies within the

outermost walls of the house (Figs. 3.3-3.5). Most often it is a modest open air space

containing plants or examples of typical Mexican pottery, sometimes with a gently

i\vk\m% fuente (fountain). One enters the entrada through aporton (large door or gate)

(Figs. 3.6-3.8). In instances where the house is situated near the street, one will

encounter thQporton en the fachada principal (primary facade) directly adjacent the

sidewalk (Figs. 3.9-3.11). Elsewhere where a part of or all of the house is pulled away

from the street, one will still encounter a porton, but rather than it being placed directly

en the fachada principal, it is placed en the traditional outer protective wall. In seme

cases a well designed fence will perform the function of the traditional protective wall.

Such a fence is often made of steel or wrought iron. In seme instances one may also

discover a jardin placed next to the entrada or there may be escaleras (stairs or steps)

to negotiate (Figs. 3.12-3.15). Once the entrada has been negotiated one encounters the

puerta principal (front door) and is able to enter the vestibulo.

The vestibulo is another of the transition spaces leading into the Mexican house.

The vestibulo is an indoor space that lies not only within the outermost walls of the

house, but within the house proper (Figs. 3.16-3.17). It may be a small simple space

from which one proceeds to the various zones of the house, or it may be a very

69

expressive space that serves as the show piece within the house. For example, one of

the author's recent clients in Mexico possesses a religious painting, a family heirloom,

of the Virgen de la Luz (Virgin of the Light) the virgin figure (who looks over and is

worshiped and celebrated by the people) of Leon, Mexico. This couple is very proud of

their heritage and religion, and wish to display their proud possession to visitors as they

enter their new heme. They asked the author to design a special setting for the painting

directly inside the vestibulo so that the Virgen would greet guests and family members

on entry. They also wanted the vestibulo to serve as a dominant architectural feature

and the organizing element for the house. Subsequently, the vestibulo took the form of

a six-meter tall tower topped with a brick boveda (vault) placed at the center of a

cmcifix form, which is created by the intersection of the two dominant walls within the

house (Fig. 3.1). All of the spaces within the house are organized along these walls, and

the Virgen faces each as they pass through the puerta principal at the base of the tower.

The baPio visitas is a half bathroom which has no tub or shower. It is primarily

used by guests to freshen up, and therefore placed within the area publica. Usually it is

placed near the vestibulo or in close proximity to the area social (social area).

The Mexican house is a place of privacy and individual expression, but it is also

where the Mexican relates to his family and friends (Street-Porter 1994). The Mexican

family is a vey tightly knit and closed unit; the world is carefully kept at bay and

newcomers are net easily accepted (Gonzalez 1995). Once accepted, however, the

visitor receives an extremely warm welcome, and finds that the Mexican family will

take any opportunity to socialize. Luckily, in Mexico there are many reasons to

70

socialize. With a colorfiil history and rich religious background, the Mexican calendar

is full of holidays and celebrations. When added to the celebration of many birthdays,

marriages and anniversaries, plus the strong value placed on friends, the impression is

one of no shortage of socializing in Mexican homes.

The bulk of the socializing takes place in the area social (social area). This is

comprised of the sala and the comedor (Figs. 3.18-3.22), and is at the heart of the zona

publica. The sala and the comedor ftmction in concert. The author has been fortunate

enough to spend many evenings in Mexican hemes visiting friends and clients. In each

instance, whether a birthday, a social meeting with clients, or a dinner party, activities

generally began in the sala or en the patio where the host and their guests enjoyed

appetizers and drinks along with good conversation. Following this, activities moved

into the comedor where all enjoyed a delicious meal with more conversation. After the

meal, intercourse would linger late into the evening or early morning hours. The author

found that rather than retuming to the sala or patio, Mexicans prefer to remain at the

dinner table which, because of this preference, is an important piece of fumiture in the

Mexican home. The comedor is an extremely prominent space (Falcon 1994).

The sala and the comedor often share the same volume, but when they are separate

spaces they often remain visually and physically connected (Figs. 3.20-3.21). Naturally,

the comedor must be connected to the cocina (kitchen) so that food and drink may be

conveniently served. However, this connection is usually broken or at least disguised.

It is considered undesirable to see the clutter of the cocina, hear the noise of

preparation, or even to smell the aromas of Mexican cooking (Rodriguez 1994). The

71

sala and comedor are also separated from the zona privada, especially from the

recdmaras (bedrooms) and banos (bathrooms), as it is neither desirable to hear the

noise of children playing, nor is it desirable to sacrifice the family's privacy (Rodriguez

1994). However, in some cases, the patio adjoining the area social may also serve the

zona privada. The remaining spaces of the zona servicio beyond the cocina are also

separated from the sala and comedor, so that service fimctions remain behind the

scenes.

One of the the most important spatial connections of the area social is its

connection to an outdoor space such as a patio, a court or a jardin (garden) (Figs.

3.23-3.28 ). Historically, the interface of indoor and outdoor spaces has been a

common theme of the Mexican house. Mexican architects have created an intimate

relationship between the interior and exterior spaces that maximizes outdoor living

afforded by the mild climate of Mexico during much of the year (Myers 1952). Today,

architects have emitted the idea of the formal garden in all but the most luxurious

residences. In its place, they have introduced an indoor-outdoor arrangement

considered mere satisfactory for much of the family and social interaction. They have

created patio gardens. Some houses will have several small patio gardens that serve

different spaces. Even when the physical connection between indoors and outdoors is

broken, a strong visual connection often remains. The visual connection may be

accomplished through the use of glass and interpenetrating elements that allow a visual

connection to a smaW jardin that serves only to provide a vista (view) for the space

(Figs 3.29-3.31).

72

The Private Zone

The zona privada (private zone) generally consist of the sala familiar (family

room), desayunador (breakfast nook), recamara principal (master bedroom),

recdmaras (bedrooms) and banos (bathrooms) (Fig. 3.32). While one may encounter

ether spaces as part of the zona privada, most contemporary houses include at least the

spaces listed. An almost infinite number of spatial organizations may be found. Often,

however, as in seme of the examples provided here, the zona privada is split between

levels. In such cases it is common to find the desayunador located en the ground level,

the recdmaras and banos located on the upper level, while the location of the sala

familiar may vary.

If the street is where the Mexican relates to the world at large, and the zona publica

is where the Mexican relates to friends, then the zona familiar is where the Mexican

relates to family (Street-Porter 1994). The sala familiar is a recent evolution in the

Mexican house. Where it was once common to find a biblioteca (library), new one is

more likely to find a sala familiar. The sala familiar serves as an entertainment center

complete with all the electronic entertainment equipment that Japan has to offer. In

fact, the sala familiar is sometimes refered to as the sala or cuarto de television (TV

room). However, the importance of the sala familiar is a factor of economic class. In

the lower classes, where domestic help is not as prevalent, the cocina serves as the

social nerve center of the home (Gonzalez 1995), while in the upper classes, where

demesfic help is mere prevalent the sala familiar has become the social nerve center

(Rodriguez 1994). In the latter case, the family spends much of its time together in the

73

sala familiar. It is here that they watch television, read, play games or talk about the

day's activities. Parents relax after a long day at work, and children do their homework.

Because of the tight, traditional family unit, the Mexican family enjoys spending time

together, and parents prefer to supervise their children's activities closely (Iturbide

1994).

Often the sala familiar is located near, or connected to, the recdmaras, and

together they form the bulk of the zona privada. In Casa Iturbide, the sala familiar is

located en an intermediate level adjacent the recdmaras, with the recamara principal

on the level above and the recdmaras on the level below. In a speculative house

designed and built by Rodriguez Arquitectos all of the recdmaras are located en the

upper level and open off the sala familiar located at the top of the escaleras. Many

times the recdmaras are off a pasillo (hallway) (Figs. 3.33-3.34), which is often

cermected to a set of escaleras. In the Mexican house, the escaleras often become an

aesthetic design feature as well as a functional item (Figs. 3.35-3.37). An item that is

growing in popularity is an inside security gate strategically placed so as to divide the

zona privada from the remainder of the house (Rodriguez 1994). With the security gate

remaining open during the day but closed at night, and steel grill work protecting

windows and door openings at all times, the zona privada is secure at night.

The word desayunador means breakfast room. However, the desayunador is used

as an informal dining space when it exists. The family generally take most of their

meals in the desayunador. In cases where there is no desayunador, the family take

most meals at a table in the cocina (Falcon 1994). Its existence is largely dependent

74

upon personal preferences or constmction budgets. When constmction budgets tighten,

the desayunador is one of the first spaces to be removed from the design. In some

instances, Mexicans simply prefer to have a dining table or breakfast counter in the

cocina rather than to have a desayunador. In fact, one of the author's clients requested

that the desayunador be removed from the design not only because their architectural

dreams had grown larger than their budget, but because he said he simply prefered to

eat in the cocina and visit with the domestic help. The desayunador is normally located

adjacent to the cocina.

Clearly, the recdmaras and banos require and have privacy. However, since the

sala familiar is considered part of the family's private area, the recdmaras and banos

are often located near or connected to the sala familiar. Within the bedroom block

there is often a separation of the recamara principal and the ether recdmaras to provide

seme privacy when needed.

The recamara principal is normally mere spacious than the other recdmaras (Fig.

3.38). Naturally it will have space for a bed, but it may also have sufficient space for a

television and a small sitting area. It will also have a vestidor (walk in closet). When

possible it is connected to a small patio ox jardin. If located en an upper floor it may

have a balcon (balcony). Normally, it will have a private bafio. The bafio has the

standard amenities such as a sink and toilet (Fig. 3.39). However, many times it has a

tub and a seperate shower. Often, they will be custom-designed and built, rather than

using prefabricated units. The Mexican prefers to rely on natural ventilation rather than

75

artificial means (Falcon 1994). There is often no exaust fan, only an operable window

for fresh air. Therefore it is important that bafios be located en exterior walls.

The children's recdmaras naturally have space for beds. They are often large

enough to accomodate a desk and chair for doing homework. While a vestidor is not

uncommon, they sometimes have a standard closet. Location of the children's bafio will

depend on financial and spatial considerations. Many times children will share a

common bafio located outside their recdmaras, but it is not uncommon for children to

have private bafios adjoining their recdmaras. The children's bafio often has a shower

but no tub. Often, domestic help lives with the family and has its own recamara and

baho. As these spaces are considered part of the zona servicio (Rodriguez 1994), they

are discussed with the zona servicio.

The Service Zone

The zona servicio (service zone) generally consist of the cocina (kitchen), par/o

servicio (service patio), lavanderia (laundry room), cuarto servicio (domestic help

quarters) and cochera (garage) (Fig. 3.40). While one may encounter ether spaces as

part of the zona servicio, most contemporary houses will include at least the spaces

listed here. Most the spaces of the zona servicio are located on the ground level and m

close proximity.

Because of the cocina's connections to other spaces, some of the following

material has already been presented, but will be re-introduced for clarity's sake in this

chapter.

76

In the lower economic classes where domestic help is not as prevalent the cocina

serves as the social center of the home (Gonzalez 1995) (Fig. 3.41). Much of the

socializing of these families takes place in the cocina. Even if the family has a

comedor for more formal occasions they will still have a dining table or breakfast

counter in the cocina where they take most meals. When family or friends come to the

house informally they will be invited into the cocina. The cocina must be connected to

the comedor so that food and drink may be conveniently served. However, this

connection is usually broken or disguised. When guests are invited en more formal

occasions, it is undesirable to see the clutter of the cocina, hear the noise of

preparation, or to smell the aromas from cooking activities (Rodriguez 1994).

In the upper economic classes, where domestic help is more prevalent, the cocina

is generally net considered part of the zona privada, and the sala familiar has become

the social center of the home. In these homes, the cocina serves as a ftmctional center

(Rodriguez 1994). The domestic help will pass much of its time in the cocina preparing

the family's meals. The help will also take meals there. When the daily chores are

finished, the maid(s) may pass time visiting in the cocina while remaining available

should the family need anything. Because the domestic help may also greet visiters or

others who come to the house as well as who call, there is often a telephone in the

cocina as well as an intercom. The intercom usually connects several spaces, including

the street area and the porton, vetibulo, sala familiar, cocina and cuarto servicio.

As many of the living spaces connect to Xhs patio, most of the service areas such as

the cocina, lavanderia, and cuarto servicio interface with the patio servicio, which

77

serves as a secondary patio. Usually all of the service spaces remain confined to one

zone of the house. The patio servicio will generally have either a disguised connection

to the entrada or a seperate porton connecting to the street so that domestic help may

come and go discreetly. All of the service spaces are disguised in such a way that they

not only remain out of public view but their existence is often difficult to perceive. The

patio servicio provides a place to hang laundry, temporarily stow household waste, or

even clean items. There is sometimes a place for storing garden and household tools.

Often, there will also be a semi-open space for placing mechanical equipment such as a

water heater in the patio servicio.

Very few houses have central heating or cooling. They rely on fans, natural

ventilation and portable heaters. They do have calentadores (water heaters). The

Mexican home owner prefers the calentador be placed in an outdoor space, in case of a

mechanical failure such as a gas leak. Because water pressure is very irregular in

Mexico, the house has a cistema (water storage tank) to store enough water for two or

three days. The cistema fills whenever the municipal water pressure is sufficient. If

the patio servicio is located near the street, the cistema will be placed there. If the

patio servicio is located away from the street, the cisterna may be placed in the

cochera. In either case the cisterna is located beneath the floor with only a small

access hatch visible. Once water is in the cistema, water pressure is needed to

distribute it. In a few cases, a sistema hidroneumatico (high pressure electric water

pump) placed near the cisterna supplies water pressure. In most cases a bomba (small

electric water pump) placed inside the cisterna will pump water up to the tinaco (roof

78

top water tank) The tinaco is placed on the roof sufficiently high to create gravity fed

water pressure (Fig. 3.42).

The lavanderia is usually a small service space connected to the patio servicio. In

the upper classes domestic help tends the family's laundry. In the lower classes the

family uses the lavanderia to do their own laundry. There is space for a lavadora

(washing machine), a lavadero (sink with scmb board), a secadora (dryer), a counter

large enough for folding and ironing clothes, and storage space for cleaning supplies.

There are different types of lavadoras and secadoras. Which type a family has is

largely dependent upon their economic status (Gonzalez 1995). In the lower classes,

the lavadora only washes the clothes, it does not rinse or spin them dry. They must be

removed and rinsed by hand and then clothes are placed in a secadora. This does not

dry clothes with heat but merely spins them dry. The clothes must then be hung out to

dry in the open air. The upper classes have a lavadora and secadora that de more of

the manuel work. As in the U.S., the lavadora washes, rinses, and spins the clothes dry.

Afterward, the clothes may be placed in the secadora, which uses heat to dry and fluff

them.

In all Mexican houses, whether they have a ftill lavanderia or net, a lavadero is

provided. It is an essential item in Mexican life. The lavadero has a concrete sink and

a ribbed washboard. Most families, regardless of what type of lavadora they have,

utilize both the lavadora and lavadero when washing their clothes. Some may use the

lavadero first and then the lavadora, others reverse the process (Gonzalez 1995) In

seme cases, clothes may be too dirty to place directly into the lavadora. In ethers,

79

people simply do not believe the lavadora alone can sufficiently clean their clothes

(Rodriguez 1994).

While some domestic help comes into the home only for the day, many live with

the family. Domestic help is not viewed merely as hired help but as a part of the

family. In fact, many domestics form a strong bond with the family and stay with the

family for their entire lives (Falcon 1994). Thus, it is neccesary to provide additional

living space.

Usually the cuartos servicios are located apart from the family's quarters. Because

the domestic help spends much of their time working in the spaces of the zona servicio

it is convenient to locate the cuartos servicios adjacent the zona servicio. The cuarto

servicio normally is considered a part of the zona servicio which often has a seperate

connection to the street. This allows domestics to come and go without disturbing the

family or sacrificing their own privacy. The cuarto servicio is usually a modest suite

that consist of a recamara and a bafio. Sometimes there is mere than one cuarto

servicio. The recamara contains enough space for beds and possibly a small sitting

area. Furthermore, they will have a small storage space. The bafio servicio is normally

small and rarely includes a tub, only a sink, commode, and shower, and sometimes a

small linen cabinet.

The cochera is simply a place to park the car. It often has space for two cars, and

mere in more luxurious homes. The cochera is located within the outer walls of the

house and is often only a semi-enclosed space (Fig. 3.43). It is normally covered but

80

may be open at one end or side. The cochera usually has a coimection leading to the

house through the entrada or the zona servicio.

81

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82

Figure 3.3 Casa Frieto (Prieto House) Entry Courtyard

Figure 3.4 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Entry Courtyard

83

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Figure 3.5 Casa Galvez (Galvez House ) Entry Courtyard

Figure 3 .6 Casa Rodr iguez (Rodriguez House ) Entry

84

Figure 3.7 Conj unto Habitacional (Combined Habitations) Entry

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Figure 3.8 Typical Street Facade One

85

Figure 3.9 Casa Gilardi (Gilardi House) Street Facade

Figure 3.10 Typical Street Facade Two

86

Figure 3.11 Typical Street Facade Three

Figure 3.12 Condominios Jacarandas (Jacarandas Condominiums) Passage

87

Figure 3.13 Casa Cardenas (Cardenas House) Entry

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Figure 3.14 Casa Tetelpan (Tetelpan House) Entry

88

Figure 3.15 Casa Bosques de las Lomas (Forest of the Low Hills House) Detail

Figure3.16 Casa Valdez (Valdez House) Vestibule

89

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Figure 3.17 Mexico City Residence Vesitbule

Figure 3.18 Casa Gutierrez (Gutierrez House) Living Room

90

Figure 3.19 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Living Room

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Figure 3.20 La Casa del Albaricoque (The Apricot House) Dining and Living Rooms

91

Figure 3.21 Casa Rivadeneyra (Rivadeneyra House) Dining and Living Rooms

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92

Figure 3.23 Private Patio and Garden

Figure 3.24 Casa de Descanso Yturbe (Yturbe Weekend House) Patio and Garden

93

Figure 3.25 Casa Gilardi (Gilardi House) Detail

Figure 3.26 Casa en el Pedregal de San Angel (House in the Pedregal de San Angel) Courtyard

94

Figure 3.27 Interior Court

Figure 3.28 Casa Malinalco (Malinalco House) Courtyard

95

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Figure 3.29 Casa Barragan (Barragan House) Window Detail

96

Figure 3.30 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Exterior Window Detail

Figure 3.31 Casa Galvez (Galvez House) Interior Window Detail

97

Figure 3.32 Casa en el Pedregal de San Angel (House in the Pedregal de San Angel) Plan

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Figure 3.33 Casa Laureles (Laureles House) Hall View One

98

Figure 3.34 Casa Laureles (Laureles House) Hall View Two

Figure 3.35 Condominio La Lomita Dos (Little Hill Two Condominium) Stair Detail

99

Figure 3.36 Casa Ortiz (Ortiz House) Stair Detail

Figure 3.37 Casa Gutierrez (Gutierrez House) Stair Detail

100

Figure 3.38 Casa Castillo (Castillo House) Master Bedroom

Figure 3.39 Casa Valdez (Valdez House) Bathroom

101

Figure 3.40 Casa Magres (Magres House) Plan

Figure 3.41 Typical House Kitchen

102

Figure 3.42 Typical House Roof Tanks

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Figure 3.43 Casa Saltiel (Saltiel House) Garage

103

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this thesis is to identify a program for the Mexican house which

addresses social, cultural and historical criteria besides spatial organization and use that

can be used by foreign architects. The author is convinced that successfiil architecture

is meaningful as well as ftmctional, that architecture must address the spirituality of a

people as well as meeting their physical needs. To meet these objectives one must

understand and hold accountable the context in which the architecture will be located,

to understand the essence, the genius loci of the place. It requires an understanding of

the culture of a people and how it is embedded within their architecture. The author

hypothesized that this particular essence of place, the Mexicaness of place which

indicates both pre- and post-Columbian cultural aspects, has survived in Mexico by

adapting to the changes in Mexican society over thousands of years. He has

demonstrated that it is revealed in contemporary Mexican architecture. Of necessity,

this thesis has explored different aspects of Mexican culture, history, politics,

economics and architecture, as well as the functional aspects of the house. This chapter

combines the findings of the previous work into a coherent whole.

When describing the Mexican psyche earlier, the author discussed the

contradictions and contrasts that exist within the Mexican people. It is possible to see

some of these same contradictions and contrasts in their architecture. Mexicans are

meditative, philosophical, warm, humorous and sentimental, yet they are discreet,

104

distmstful and sometimes cmel and violent. In the Mexican house for example, the

street facade is often a very simple, solid and protective form with a humble entrance

and few decorative details. In this way, it is a discreet and guarded facade which

provides few clues about the interior, and appears to keep the outside world at a safe

distance (Figs. 3.9-3.11, 3.13). In contrast, the interior is often very open, airy and

filled with light and warmth. In this way the house is extremely hospitable. (Figs. 3.2,

3.4, 3.16, 3.19-3.20, 3.34, 3.37-3.39).

They majority of Mexicans work hard and have little, yet dream of a life of leisure,

or at least believe that tomorrow may bring a better life. This attitude about the future

is evident through out Mexico, where one sees houses that have partial concrete

columns and steel reinforcement bars sticking out of the roof These elements allow for

another story to be added later when finances allow, when tomorrow brings a better life.

The other factor that contributes to this approach to constmction, is the fact that

mortgages are difficult to obtain for many Mexicans and when they are available they

are usually only for five or ten years. Thus, many Mexicans must build their homes out

of pocket.

The author has pointed out in two examples how Mexican architecture exhibits the

same contradictions and contrasts the Mexican people themselves de. However, it is

possible to identify ether examples. Besides the examples of the house and its

possibility of future additions, the reader may have noticed contradictions and contrasts

when reading about the blending of eld and new ideas in contemporary architecture, or

in the subjection of Spanish forms to aspects of Indian aesthetics in art and architecture,

105

or Barragan's evokation and re-presentation of traditional and historic images in his

fresh new architecture. In this way, the idea of contradiction and contrast itself

becomes a constant, a vibrant part of the continuity and discontinuity found in Mexican

architecture.

The author was once told by one of his Spanish teachers, a native Mexican, that his

people look backwards for their glory because it all lies in the past. What stands out

when studying Mexican roots is this sense of history. The Indian culture in

Mesoamerica has an extremely long history. For example, Houston, Texas, has no deep

seated memory like that found in Mexican cities. One may consider that even Paris,

France, was still a small village at the time some of the greatest cities of Mesoamerica

had already fallen into decline. When interpreting Barragan's concept of memory one

concludes that memory does not always come from old buildings directly. From them

one may feel a sense of history, while possessing no memory of that history. Skilled

designers such as Teodere Gonzalez de Le6n in his Banamex building (Fig. 2.35-2.37),

or Augusto Quijano in his rectory building (Figs. 2.32-2.34), thorough understanding of

the forms of the past produce a contemporary architecture which evokes latent ancient

memories in the population.

In many buildings throughout Mexico one can see a skillful blending of the old and

new. This harmonious marriage, while producing an architecture that is forward

thinking and mindful of the past, creates visual continuity.

Influence that climate and geography continue to have on architecture in Mexico is

obvious: less so is the influence that isolation and the hacienda have had on Mexican

106

life and building. The solitariness of towns and small villages that existed for so long

has led to localism. The people possess great pride in their immediate environment and

their behavior.. Thus, net only do designers need a general understanding of the

Mexican culture, but it is also imperative that they understand the peculiarities of the

local culture. The bright blue, fuchsia, or yellow colored modemist houses so popular

in Mexico City simply would not be acceptable in Santa Fe de la Laguna, a small town

a short distance to the west. There one is free to design whatever one likes so long as it

has white walls with a reddish brown base, open wood eaves and a red clay tile roof

Such adherences to local ways clearly produce continuity in building form and detail.

The influence of the hacienda, which played a huge role in the Mexican life prior

to the end or the 1910 Revolution, has also provided a certain continuity if more

difficult to identify. The first reaction to the hacienda is its exploitation of labor.

However, without diminishing that social aspect, it is possible to identify another side

of its history, and that is its attention to the self sustaining environment. The Hacienda

San Gabriel outside of Guanajuato is a well preserved example of that architecture.

The main house and grounds where all the social and religious activities took place are

extremely well designed to be beautiful and theatrical. In some ways, the Mexican

house can be seen as a microcosm of the hacienda, with its sense of community, its

micro-scale garden courts, patios, color, use of light and texture and details such as

hand painted tiles. The theatricality of the house is revealed by the way it slowly opens

up through the gradual progression through space, and by the way it presents the social

spaces as a kind of stage on which the family, guests and servants act. Thus, one

107

discovers the drama that nms through Mexican architecture, from the sacrificial

temples of the Aztecs, to the self sufficient organization of the main house, gardens, and

peon quarters of the hacienda, to the various spaces of the modem Mexican house.

When studying Mexican politics, besides the fact that Mexico historically has been

mled by authoritarian governments with political power concentrated in the hands of a

few elites, it is evident that politics has played a large role in shaping Mexican

architecture. When describing the Mexican psyche earlier, the author discussed the

general call for a national identity. Artists, poets, philosophers, architects and others

were searching for a national identity in the arts in the decades that followed the 1910

revolution. They wanted an art that could be called as well as recognized as Mexican.

The various governments of the day had significant influence upon this movement.

They created commissions to study and make recommendations in the arts and

architecture, funded academia, made academic appointments, commissioned schools,

universities, hospitals, government facilities, and monuments and chose the architects

that might build the architecture of this new nation. Contemporary artists, such as

Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orezce and David Alfaro Sigueiros recieved government

commissions to adom the walls of eld and new architecture with vibrant murals.

Modemist architecture and contemporary art combined in an effort to put forth the

image of a strong and progressive government in control of the nation, though each

succeeding government had serious socioeconomic problems to contend with. The

government has the responsibility to build and maintain the country's infrastmcture.

The standing joke in Mexico cenceming politics and finance is that only one half of the

108

national coffers are used for legitimate purposes while the other half is siphoned off in

cormpt dealing, that somebody's brother can have a job, or that this town can have a

Lienzo Charro (rodeo groimds) because they supported the mling party. It is in these

diverse ways that the government and the mling party influence architecture.

A study of pre-Columbian architecture surprises in that there is continuity. It was

once believed that many of the different civilizations of Mesoamerica had developed

independently. New consensus is they did not. It is now known that the Mayan

civilizations in the jungles of the Yucatan had contact with, and were influenced by,

Teotihuacan far to the North. The Toltecs had extensive contact with other groups,

including the Maya at Chichen Itza. The Aztecs absorbed ideas from many neighbors.

What the conquering Spaniards discovered at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was, in a

sense, a culmination of the great civilizations that had thrived in Mesoamerica for thirt\

centuries. Within two years of the arrival of Cortez, the Aztec empire lay in mins. The

complex civilizations of ancient Mexico came to an abmpt end, but that dees net mean

all was lest. The people did not forget in two short years all they had known, and some

of their knowledge penetrated many aspects of the building of the new nation. The

Spaniards did net obliterate the existing culture. They superimposed their own on top

of what existed, and created a fusion of two cultures. By htis means perpetuating a

degree of continuity from ancient pre-Columbian civilizations to colonial Mexico.

When studying the colonial architecture of Mexico, it becomes obvious that the

Spanish heavily influenced Mexican architecture as they brought new forms and ideas

from Spain. Their influence is abundantly seen in towns and cities all over Mexico.

109

What is perhaps less obvious is the recognition of the influence that the Indian would

place upon Spanish culture in the New World. Not only would the Indian bring the old

culture into a Spaniard's home if they married, and the Indian infuse Catholicism with

personal gods and existential beliefs, but the Indian craftsman would infuse Spanish

architecture with their own sense of proportion, use of material, light and textures, and

the pre-Hispanic images of gods and creatures were semptitiously included in the

details (Fig. 2.13) once tmst was established between client and craftsman. . The client

at the beginning of the conquest was the clergy. They directed the planning and

detailing of much of the building. These men were neither trained in architecture, nor

did they come equipped from Spain with plans in hand. They designed and built from

memory more or less as of a laymen (Fig. 2.11). This usually left great oppormnity for

the native craftsman to bring to colonial architecture that which was embedded in their

collective memory from the previous 3,000 years of Indian building. It would be up to

later modem architecture to continue integrating images from that collective memory.

When studying modem architecture, one point most central to this thesis is that

stated by Jose Villagran about the constant theme running throughout Mexican

architecture. He pointed out that as Mexican culture becomes even more identified

with the west, in doing so its architecture may lose a certain originality of form or

figure, while the difference in size, the use of light and proportion, the emphasis on

brilliant color, the contrasting tones and tactile surfaces may remain constant. He

believes this because of the evidence that these qualities were threaded from the

pre-columbian architecture into the colonial architecture, and have now been threaded

110

into modem architecture, and have become woven into the fabric of change. Villagran

also laid a set of ethics by which Mexican architects should practice. What concerned

him most was the social responsibility of architects to distinguish qualities and

characteristics of the Mexican people and embrace a leading role in their evolution. As

artists, poets and ethers had dene for the arts, Villagran promoted this search for

Mexican identity in architecture. National identity should reveal the constant that

Villagran spoke of which would assure its continuity within Mexican architecture.

Luis Barragan's work represents the culmination of Mexican architecture. His

work clearly embodies all that came before it, but the way in which it does speaks

directly to the notion of continuity within Mexican architecture. Barragan said: "El arte

es recuerdo, recuerdo puesto en escena, (Art is memory, staged memory)" (Riggen

p.7). He also believed the infant eye to be the most acute, that which can see with a

freshness undiminished by the actualities of life lived, and thus the source of memory.

As Barragan could understand successfully the forms of the past, and through them

re-present them to ensure the essence of Mexican place, he would always create an

architecture that was within the character and culture of his own time and nationality.

In this way Barragan would present, not only the architecture for the infant eye, but the

awakening of the infant eye itself He could present a fresh architecture that would

evoke memory. Barragan could stage memory.

In the contemporary, Mexican architecture continues to enjoy a wide diversity of

cultural influence. With Teodere Gonzalez de Leon and Abraham Zabludovsk\, we can

see the influence of the pre-Columbian tradition of grand terraced spaces in their

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Auditorio Nacional (Fig. 2.32). Gonzalez de Leon's Banamex bank building

(Figs.2.35-2.37) demonstrates a sensitivity to the colonial architecture it is surrounded

by, while also utilizing the tactile texture of the pre-Columbian. Ricardo Legoretta in

his Monterrey library (Figs.2.38-2.39), as well as Sore, Madalene and Yturbe in their

Westin hotel (Figs.2.40-2.41), continue to utilize the plastic expression of Barragan.

Casillas, in his own house (Figs.2.42-2.43), strives to achieve the meditative restraint

and spatial complexity of Barragan. Net only are Mexican architects utilizing a wide

variety of vocabularies, but the cultural complexity of Mexican architecture is

undergoing an expansion that is increasingly intemational. This expansion is evident in

the work of architects such as Enrique Norton of T.E.N. Arquitectos. From the use of

foreign consultants and technology to the use of imported building materials, we see a

clear engagement of the process of globalization in Norton's Escuela Nacional de

Teatro (National Drama School) (Figs.2.44-2.45). The drama school also exibits the

influence of Barragan in its plastic espressien, net in the use of color but in its dramatic

form. Norton also achieves Barragan's tradition of evoking memory. While making no

historical references, with its organization of elements within the outer shell his drama

school suggest the essence of theater. With the work of such architects, contemporary

Mexican architecture net only continues to embody that which came before it, but

expands its vocabulary to include the wider cultural complexity of the global

community.

We have followed the path from pre-Celoumbian culture to the height of a

rigorously thought out intellectual architecture. The architect who strives to create a

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meaningful architecture for the Mexican people, by creating a sense of Mexican place,

must take a similiar path. One who is perhaps less creatively endowed than Barragan

cannot simply copy his forms and details, or utilize his architectural vocabulary, and

hope to create an architecture that moves beyond the superficial qualities of Mexican

architecture to create a sense of Mexican place. One must, as Villagran told us, identify

the distinguishing characteristics of the Mexican people and concretize those

characteristics in architecture. Thus it is necessary to understand the influences that

have been brought to bear en Mexican culture, and to understand hew the Mexican

people think. One must also, as Barragan taught us, understand the forms of the past in

order to create an architecture that is within the character and culture of our own time.

Thus it is imperative to understand hew the forms of the past were shaped, and what

influenced their development. In these ways, may one create architecture that embraces

the present, while retaining the essence of Mexican place.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Adria, Miquel. Mexico 90's; Una Arquitectura Centemporanea/A Contemporary Architecture. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1996.

Bom, Esther. The New Architecture in Mexico . New York: William Morrow, 1937.

Coe, Michael D. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994.

Celle, Marie-pierre. In Street-Porter, Tim. Casa Mexicana (pp. 7-24). New York: Stewart: Tabori & Chang, 1994.

Dal Co, Francesco & Jose, Juan. In Riggen, Antonio. Luis Barragan: Mexico's Modem Master. 1902-1988. New York: Monacelli, 1996.

Femandez, Justine. In Bom, Esther. The New Architecture in Mexico . New York: William Morrow, 1937.

Ingersoll, Richard. In Adria, Miquel. Mexico 90's: Una Arquitectura Contemporanea/A Contemporary Architecture (pp. 6-16). Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1996.

Myers, I.E. Mexico's Modem Architecture. New York: Cornwall, 1952.

Oster, Patrick. The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People. New York: Harper and Row, 1989.

Ricalde, Humberte. In Adria, Miquel. Mexico 90's; Una Arquitectura Centemporanea/A Contemporary Architecture (pp. 17-21). Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1996.

Riding, Alan. Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans. New York: Vintage. 1989.

Riggen Martinez, Antonio. Luis Barragan: Mexico's Modem Master, 1902-1988. New York: Monacelli, 1996.

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Sabloff, Jeremy A. The Cities of Ancient Mexico: Recenstmcting a Lest World. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989.

Smith, Clive B. Builders in the Sun: Five Mexican Architects . New York: Architectural Book Publishing, 1967.

Street-Porter, Tim. Casa Mexicana. New York: Stewart: Tabori & Chang, 1994.

Tannenbaum, Frank. Ten Keys to Latin America. New York and Toronto: Random House, 1962.

Toca, Antonio and Anibal Figueroa. Mexico: arquitectura nueva. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1991.

Villagran, Jose. In Smith, Clive B. Builders in the Sun: Five Mexican Architects (pp. 9-14). New York: Architectural Book Publishing, 1967.

Interviews

Stapleton, Ma. Esther. Personal interviews. July 1994 - present.

Senior Iturbide, Ramon. Personal interviews. July-Dec. 1994

Arq. Falcon Moran, Eduardo. Personal interviews. May-Dec. 1994.

Arq. Rodriguez Lopez, Arturo. Personal interviews. May-Dec. 1994.

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