Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Modern architecture comes to Mexico as a European style just like earlier times, but in the philosophical battle between ‘what is European architecture and what is national architecture’ the result, which was not evident in its origins, has become a unique architecture that can now be called ‘Mexican Style’ or architecture. The early part of the twentieth century, after the 1910 revolution, saw a strong development in Mexico, particularly Mexico City. The wars in Europe and depression in the USA brought a high number of immigrants to the country, amongst them architects and engineers with ‘modern ideals’. This paper analyses how the modern movement settled in Mexico, developing in time into a unique architecture that can be called its own. An architecture that is new as per the values of a Mexico that is re-building itself but adapts into it the context and the culture of such a contrasting history. To do so, the paper puts forward the architecture and more importantly the thoughts behind the architecture of less known architects that are an important part of this process. The starting point for this argument comes from the statement Hitchcock and Johnson (1932 p. 239) make about the international style “…There is now a single body of discipline fixed enough to integrate contemporary style as a reality and yet elastic enough to permit individual interpretation”. Following a brief discussion of what is Mexican, we assess how architects of the mid-twentieth century achieved this goal.