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Luis Barragan: The Quiet Revolution

by John McGee

Indoor pool at The Gilardi House, Mexico City, designed by Luis Barragan 1975-77
(Photos ©Barragan Foundation, Switzerland)

Mexican architect Luis Barragan (1902-1988) must have seemed a romantic anomaly among the severe modernists of his day. In his 1980 acceptance speech for the Pritzker Prize (the Nobel Prize of architecture), Barragan mused on his inspiration, "...the words Beauty, Inspiration, Magic, Spellbound, Enchantment, as well as the concepts of Serenity, Silence, Intimacy and Amazement...have never ceased to be my guiding lights." At the time, such proclamations might have seemed flamboyant if not downright uncouth. But perhaps because Barragan shamelessly adopted such a sensual program, his houses and suburban developments continue to entice. 

Luis Barragan in the 1960s 

Barragan said, "Don't look at what I do, see what I saw." The Vitra Museum and the Barragan Foundation have kept that in mind, organizing this well-executed, comprehensive retrospective of Barragan's poetic modernism around Armando Sala Portugal's vintage photos, the architect's original sketches, contemporaneous magazines and sales brochures, a full-scale reconstruction, and video walk-throughs of several buildings. 

Born and raised in Guadalajara, Barragan studied engineering, later teaching himself architecture. In 1924-5, Barragan traveled to Europe where he became especially interested in the Moorish architecture of north Africa and Spain. The courtyards, watercourses, and mystery of the 13-14th century Alhambra in Granada inspired some of Barragan's recurring elements—walls, patios, gardens, water, light and color.

Or perhaps they gave Barragan a new perspective on the fountains splashing in the small town plazas of his childhood Mexico. The architect considered fond memories an important wellspring for creativity. "Nostalgia is the poetic awareness of our personal past...," he said. 

Capilla de Tlalpan, Mexico City, 
designed by Luis Barragan 1953-60

On another trip he made to Europe in 1931, Barragan attended lectures by Le Corbusier. Shortly thereafter, these elements all came together in Barragan's unique style, blending the pastel housefronts of Mexico, the gardens of Spain, and the clean, rectilinear forms of European modernism. 

In the late 1940s, Barragan built two houses for himself in Mexico City. He eventually sold one, but lived in the other, using it as a testing ground for design experimentation and refinement until his death. According to the exhibition, these two houses exemplify the architect's key features: "importance of perspective, careful staging of the view from one space to the next, sequences of indoor and outdoor rooms blurring the distinction between house and garden, reduction and abstraction of architectural elements, and a sensuous use of color." 

Color is certainly one of the most distinctive elements in Barragan's buildings. Long pink walls explode in bright sunlight at San Cristobal Stables (1966-68). Yellow light pours through slits, infusing the hallway of the Gilardi House (1975-77). Sometimes Barragan's color is more than luminous; it's transcendent. The triptych altarpiece of the chapel Capilla de Tlalpan in Mexico City (1953-60) holds no holy images. Instead, three monochrome gold panels glow with candlelight. 

San Cristobal Stables, Los Clubes, Mexico City, designed by Luis Barragan 1966-68

Such control of light and atmosphere has seduced generations of architects. In numerous video projection booths, Portuguese architect (and fellow Pritzker winner) Alvaro Siza and Mexican architect Ricardo Legoretta talk reverently about Barragan the man and architect. Tadao Ando, another self-taught architect and admirer of Barragan, helped design the show. And the tiny peep-show models of the Barragan and Galvez Houses were built by architecture students who visited them. 

This attractive, informative (bilingual labels) show makes it easy to see why architects and the general public alike fall for Barragan. There's enough detail for serious fans and plenty of background and big pictures for first-timers.

Luis Barragan: The Quiet Revolution was held June-July 2002 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MoT) in Kiba, Tokyo, Japan.

©2007 John McGee

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