LUIS BARRAGAN

Introduction
Architect: Luis Barragan Objectives:
• The goal of this research is to come to a greater understanding of Barragan's works , and what makes his
• architecture unique .
• In addition to focusing on one project Barragan studio house and the philosophical foundations for its design.

Schooling
• Luis Barragan (1902–1988), born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, He studied as an engineer in his home town, while undertaking the entirety of
additional coursework to obtain the title of architect.
• Towards 1925, recently graduated from the faculty of engineering, he made a voyage that would mark the beginning of a fruitful career as an architect in México.
• In Paris, during the Exhibition of Decorative Arts, the work of Ferdinand Bac came to his attention, a landscaper, writer and illustrator whose drawings referred to
Hispanic-arabian and Mudejar architecture.

Beginnings
• Barragán leaves Guadalajara in 1936 and upon his arrival in Mexico City begins work with a functionalist style of architecture.
• It is toward 1940 that he develops his first great housing development: ‘El Pedregal de San Ángel’.
• The refinement of wide open spaces, particularly gardens, gave him the opportunity to exercise imagination and management of different scales in public and private
space, always preserving the magic touch.
• “A perfect garden”, he said, “no matter its size, should enclose nothing less than the entire universe.”
• This new concept was coined by Mathias Goeritz, one of his best colleagues, around 1950 as an antidote against the rationalist excesses of modern architecture.
• However for Luis Barragán both concepts were interesting: it was not only a functional perception like the precepts that Le Corbusier´s ‘La Maison Outil’ marked in the
first
third of the 20th century. Although interested in this new conception of ‘house’, he never forgot the importance of the house as a refuge, as a space for introspection and
solitude.
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Ideas and paths:

• Besides landscaping, Barragán searched for the technical domain of materials, elements and concepts in architecture in order to create emotional architecture.
• This new concept was coined by Mathias Goeritz, one of his best colleagues, around 1950 as an antidote against the rationalist excesses of modern architecture.
• However for Luis Barragán both concepts were interesting: it was not only a functional perception like the precepts that Le Corbusier´s ‘La Maison Outil’ marked in the
first third of the 20th century.

• Although interested in this new conception of ‘house’, he never forgot the importance of the house as a refuge, as a space for introspection and solitude.
• An icon of contemporary architecture, received the Pritzker Prize in 1980.

• His work is considered ‘as a sublime act of poetic imagination’ (Park et al., 2008) (Del Arenal et al. 0000).
• Sublime is the experience of either space or energy that is so overwhelming, that the indivisual diminishes, in order for revelation to take place.( color as a pathway of
light searching the shadow in Luis Barragan, Maria joao durao,2010, Lisbon technical university APCOR- Portugees color association, Lisbon , Porugal) An icon of
contemporary architecture, received the Pritzker Prize in 1980.

• His work is considered ‘as a sublime act of poetic imagination’ (Park et al., 2008) (Del Arenal et al. 0000). Sublime is the experience of either space or energy that is so
overwhelming, that the indivisual diminishes, in order for revelation to take place.( color as a pathway of light : searching the shadow in Luis Barragan, Maria joao
durao,2010, Lisbon technical university APCOR- Portugees color association, Lisbon , Porugal)

WORDS OF MORGAN:
 LUIS BARRAGAN
In search of identity:
• His architecture responds to the contextual and natural inheritance of Mexico, signifying a new residential dwelling predicated on modernity and indigenously rooted in the
symbol of Mexican living.
• Luis Barragan´s Architecture has been recognized by its aesthetical and philosophical values.
• For Barragan, the existence of an international or even national architecture was absurd, because every region had to generate its architecture rooted on its time, culture,
traditions, climate and materials.
• A strong emphasis was given to the natural environment and the cultural context. (Figueroa and Castorena, 2006). Critical regionalism and its role in
Barragan's designs :
• Barragan developed a school of thought that Kenneth Frampton defined as “critical regionalism” that was based on the idea of a regional attitude towards design.
• For Barragan, a design must take into account its physical and climatic conditions as well as its cultural background. (Figueroa & Castorena, 2006).
• However, his approach to traditional design is based on the ability of the architect to identify the essential building elements and then designs consider the sensual
perception as a key element of the spatial experience. Therefore his proposals pay to “convent” them into a contemporary image. (Ibid).
• Barragan´s architectural particular attention to sun patterns, day lighting, noise control and ventilation.
• He used his personal intuition and perception to manipulate the physical factors and achieve a carefully balanced equilibrium between physical conditions and built
environment (Figueroa & Castorena, 2006).
• The manner in which his buildings are integrated within their given ‘‘place’’ is perhaps the key factor in his significance and renown (Park et al., 2008)

•
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• While drawing from cultural and regional references of Mexico, Barragan offered a utopian vision of the unification of the vernacular Mexican style with architectural
purity and simplicity (Ibid).
Barragan’s architecture is associated with two primary connections:
1. The abstract neo-plasticity of De Stijl and Bauhaus strongly inspired the geometry of the house,
2. whereas Barragan’s association with avant garde artistic circles, which included Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Jos Clemente Orozco, infused him with indigenous
culture and regional principles (Park et al., 2008). Principles:
• Natural light–direct and indirect- give spaces a different character thought the day and in various times of the year.
• Therefore, he planned to control amount and quality (color temperature) of natural light.
• This was done through the extensive use of large scale models that were professionally photographed.
• This stage was always preliminary, allowing for options to be evaluated and new ideas tested.

• As the building was constructed, he will supervise construction daily and modify “on site” many of the openings, including its proportion, size and location (Figueroa and
Castorena, 2006).
• Most of the interior walls were painted white. It was for special areas of the building that intense colors were used such as pink, yellow or orange.

• Barragan found out an effect that can be described as “colored light”.

• He usually hidden the light source and then painted the glass, mixing “warm” light with planes lit by “cold” light.
• The result was a mixture that changed the indoor quality of space and our perception of color. (Figueroa & Castorena 2006).
• His vision has inspired some of the best known contemporary Mexican architects including Ricardo Legorreta, Andrea Casillas, and Enrique Norton of TEN (Taller
Enrique Norton) Arquitectos, among others (Park et al., 2008).
• Ricardo Legorreta is among the disciples of Barragan who make use of his sense of color, spatial composition, and design vocabulary (Ibid).
• The 1966 Folke Egerstrom House and Stables built around a brightly coloured, sculptural sequence of horse pools (Barragán loved horse riding) and the 1975-77
Francisco Gilardi House framing an indoor pool.
 LUIS BARRAGAN
From the above ,we can conclude the following principles and design approach of Barragan when it comes to architecture:
*1* The application of critical regionalism ; the regional attitude toward design, and by that we do not mean vernacular architecture or the regional style , but taking the context
as a main source of design.
*2* Color as a part of light: Barragan pays a large amount of the attention to day lighting, natural light give spaces a different character thought the day and in various times of
the year. ( bioclimatic lessons)
*3* The technical domain of materials.
*4* The ability of the architect to identify the essential building elements and then to " convent" them into a contemporary image.
*5* Landscaping as an essential part of the project. the exterior space, patio or garden, had a new connotation and use on Mexican contemporary architecture. His concepts
about green space, terraces, porticoes, fountains and many other outdoor elements had become a major contribution to a more “natural” approach to architecture.
*6* Reframing: the studio house is Barragan's microcosmos, a place for his introspective memory and a living body that grows and changes. This kind of approach can be
traced back from the work of Schon.
*7* The use of Elements and notions in order to create "emotional architecture“.
 LUIS BARRAGAN
Casa Barrágan (1948)
• on two adjacent lots in a working class suburb of Mexico City: 12-14 Calle General
Francisco Ramirez Mexico City México
• ‘a house is never finished; it is an organism in constant evolution’

• ongoing project of creating house, studio, and gardensConcept:

• "A house is never finished; it is an organism in constant evolution".
• Studio house of barragan in Tacubaya ( place where water comes together)
• Luis kahn visited the house, and remarked that it was not just a house: IT IS THE
HOUSE.
• Luis Barragán’s house has no time.

• It could have been built a hundred years ago or a hundred years from now.” — Louis Kahn
Form :
• The house is located on two adjacent lots on a small street (12 and 14 General Francisco Ramirez Street) in the Daniel Garza suburb of Mexico City. The total surface
area is around 1,161 m2
• The entrance is directly from the street on the east side. The garden opens towards the west. The studio takes the northern part of the building, with an entrance directly
from the street; the rest is Barragán's private residential quarters
 LUIS BARRAGAN

Function:
There are three main types of functions can be recognized in this project: Pragmatic function:
• living rooms, saloons, entertainment room, kitchen, dining room ,gallery, office space , bedrooms, studio and terrace.
• The separate dining room is reached from the hall and the living room, next to which there is a small breakfast room and the
kitchen.
• All these spaces open towards the garden.
• On the first floor are the master bedroom and a guest room, as well as an 'afternoon room'.
• On the second floor, there are service spaces and a roof terrace. The upper storeys are accessed via narrow stairs without railings.
• The levels of the different floors are not regularly placed, but are designed so as to allow spaces of different heights.
• Thus, the living room is double height.
• The upper floor is more private space with thick wood shutters for the windows. Access to this area and the roof terrace is via stone stairs lacking railings, a typical
Barragán characteristic.

• The upper floor contains a master bedroom with dressing room, a guest room and an “afternoon room.”

• [ The main bedroom has a window facing the garden and was where the architect slept, simply calling it the “white room.”

• It contains a painting called “Anunciación” as well as a thirty cm tall folding screen with images of an African model which were cut from magazines.

• The dressing room attached to the bedroom is also called the “cuarto del Cristo” or Christ room, with its crucifix.
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• The guest room faces east onto the street and originally was a terrace. This and the bedrooms have a monastic feel because of their sparseness and type of furniture,
reflecting the Franciscan beliefs of BarragánThe north side of the property is reserved for the studio with direct access from the street.
Cultural and Contextual function:
The building’s form is a response to its physical setting and climate; WORLD HERITAGE….
Barragán called himself a landscape architect;
"I believe that architects should design gardens to be used, as much as the houses they build, to develop a sense of beauty and the taste and inclination toward the fine arts
and other spiritual values."

Symbolic function:
The building conveys symbolically the sensation of simplicity, a dry climate and a little of ambiguity.

Facades:
• The entrance facade aligns with the street and preserves the appearance of the neighbouring facades. It is a massive boundary with precise openings.
• All the windows of the eastern facade represent the possibility of hiding the direct communication between domestic space and the city. The entire exterior conserves the
color and natural roughness of the plastered concrete.
• "...the words beauty, inspiration, enchantment, magic, sorcery, charm and also serenity, silence, intimacy and amazement have disappeared at an alarming rate in
publications devoted to architecture. All of them have found a loving welcome in my soul, and even if I am far from claiming to have made them complete justice in my work,
they have never ceased to be my beacon. " —Luis Barragan, acceptance speech for the Pritzker Prize
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The house is built from concrete with a plaster rendering, due to the use of this material there are no irrelevant ornaments to distract the eye of the visitor, also color is
an essential part of materiality in Barragan's designs.
Color:
"The eye does not see form, but what the eye sees is color".
Aristotle "Color is the most sacred element of all visible things".
Ruskin We can interpret the use of color and color temperature as the following:
1. Francis bacon says that the shadow in paintings is due to its escape from the body.
2. Deleuze analyzing bacon's Scream remarks that it is the entire body that escapes through the mouth.
“It seems important to me that spaces are not aggressive. I always used low forms and permanently worked with right angles. At all times in my work, I had in mind the
horizontal and vertical planes and angles of intersection. This explains the frequent use of the cube in my architecture.” —Luis Barragan
• The atmosphere of the gardens marked what would be his architectural work, integrating straight and solid walls and courtyards open to the sky.
• With a career of over 30 built works, his combination of lively block colors and serene gardens earned him the Pritzker Prize in 1980, the Jalisco Award in 1985; finally, a
year before his death Barragán received Mexico's National Architecture Award.
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Torres de Satélite
Architect: Luis Barragan
Built in: 1957-1958
Location: Satellite City. Naucalpan de Juárez. Mexico City, Mexico
Introduction
• Satellite City is a subdivision of residential character located northwest of the metropolitan area of Mexico City. It was founded in 1957 under the urban planning drawn
and designed by the Mexican architect and urbanist Mario Pani.
• The general idea was to create a development project large, on the main base creating a different urban model that had been observed in Mexico City, breaking with
established designs.
• To connect efficiently to new subdivision with the capital city, an expressway that leads to the entrance of the Satellite Town was established.
• To identify this access, a source was projected in the square, however, this intention was soon replaced by erecting vertical elements that constitute a city skyline and
could stand out even contemplated from afar and moving. Location
• They are located in Satellite Town, northwest of the metropolitan area of Mexico City, in the municipality of Naucalpan, State of Mexico.
• The square where they implant is in the North Loop Ring (Boulevard Manuel Ávila Camacho) Founders Corner Circuit, Autopista Mexico – Queretaro.

Concept
• The work is approached as an experiment: an inseparable union between architecture and sculpture.
• Barragan and Goeritz working on a conceptual project with huge blind volumes, an aesthetic exercise referred landscape (moving) from the road.
• This is a sculpture of five blocks hormibón, with heights ranging between 30 and 50 meters, seemingly randomly deployed on a concrete slab, hard and devoid of any
other element.
• The primary intention of creating a source soon replaced by erecting vertical elements that constitute a city skyline and could stand out even contemplated from afar and
moving.
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• Thus, an island in the middle of the highway, on a sloping hill, oval, besieged by car, is a metaphor for the modern city, but only as an object or symbol and not as an
integral concept that territory almost imagined so idyllic by their creators.
• The urban concept was truncated and only prevailed image. The intrinsic strength of the sculptural composition and avant-garde vision of Barragan and spectacular
Goeritz managed to remain despite the changes. Prevailed both the majesty of the pieces as their changing nature.

Shape and colors

• The towers are completely hollow and lacking triangular roof buildings.
• Prisms get their geometry trick as the movement changes its perception; sometimes as regular planes, others like fugal lines to Heaven: as fine as vertices or heavy walls.
• They have the texture of the concrete formwork knurled every meter, which is achieved by applying the techniques used in the construction of industrial chimneys. This
visually increase your height.
• Mainly known for their intense color. The use of bright colors, and the layout of the towers, texture and scale, integrate it with the cosmopolitan Mexican devotion.
• Throughout its history, the colors have undergone several modifications. They were originally white, yellow and ocher, according to its creators found inspiration in the
towers of San Gimigniano.
• On the occasion of the Olympic Games of 1968 were painted by Mathias Goeritz idea with orange color to contrast with the blue sky.
• In 1989, they took their current colors. Due to the poor condition of these proceeded to restore. Matías GOERITZ helped rescue the project but died before the final choice
of colors.
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CONCLUSIONS:
It is most important to learn from Barragan that a good architectural, interior, landscape or urban concept will always take into account the passive and low energy aspects. An
approach rooted on tradition can be contemporary.
A well done passive and low energy design must attend all senses and response to enrich our perception of nature and environment.
1* Barragan's work has references on traditional Mexican architecture.
2* The use of landscape "gardens" as inherent part of architecture
3* Considering the sensual perception as a key element of the spatial experience.
4*Nahhas's design concepts and materials have a crucial role in the aesthetics of his work.
5* Nahhas aimed to mimic the style of the Mexican modernist architects Barragan, & Legorreta, featuring exposed finished concrete , and local dry landscape
6* The abstracted reductionist geometric forms, large glazed openings, and earth-toned plastered surfaces, provide a contrast to the white limestone buildings and the small
punched in or strip openings that are characteristic of many parts of Amman.
7* The development of architecture based on traditional elements. 8* Considering the sensual perception as a key element of the spatial experience.

REFRENCES :
• Park, J. Lee, H. Cho, Y. and Lee, K. (2008) Abstract Neo-Plasticity and Its Architectural Manifestation in the Luis Barragan House/Studio of 1947. Springer Science +
Business Media, LLC., Volume 31, Number 1, 2009.

• DEL ARENAL, M. ALCALÁ, H. and GODARD, N. () Luis Barragan's Architecture: return to the origins. ALBERTINA Proyectos Culturales
• Figueroa, A. and Castorena, G. (2006) Bioclimatic Lessons from Luis Barragan’sArchitecture. Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-
8 September 2006
• www.barraganstudio.com
• www.symbiosisdesign.com
• www.logerretaandlegoretta.com