The last time we were in Guadalajara I came across a book called the “Guia Arquitectonica Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara” or The Architecture Guide to the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara. It’s a great architecture guide published by the government of the state of Jalisco. The book organizes the cities into neighborhoods and then goes through each of the fifteen or so neighborhoods and points out architecturally significant buildings and monuments one by one. Each listing has a picture, an address and a small summary of who the architect was, the year it was built and anything special that elevates the building above the fray. There are about 300 listings in the book.
As I was casually reading the guide, I came upon several houses architected by Luis Barragán. I immediately went ploughing through the book looking for other mid-century modernist style buildings and architects, trying to glean what I could from the scholarly spanish summaries of each house. Connecting all the houses to the various neighborhoods and learning about the other modernist architects working in Guadalajara, admittedly I didn’t know anyone besides Barragán. A light went off in my head and I realized it would a great experience to go and seek all these buildings out. To actually use the guide - for what it is - a guide.
Marcia and I went out and got our own copy of the book and marked 20 or so buildings we wanted to visit, I grabbed the camera and a nice wide-angle lens and we set off to learn more about the modernist architecture of Guadalajara.
We learned so much that afternoon. I was introduced to the earlier work of Luis Barragán, face to face, in some situations the houses have been altered considerably and in one, the house was boarded up and looked to be vacant. Some of his houses still remain unscathed and one or two have been restored faithfully and are on display to the public. I was also introduced to the works of Alejandro Zohn, Felix Aceves, Ignacio Diaz Moralez and Rafael Urzöa, as well as the work of several un-named architects and engineers whose work has come to exemplify a modernist ideal that briefly flowed through certain neighborhoods in mid-century Guadalajara.
It was like peeling back an impenetrable layer of concrete, to see wonderful, enlightened architecture whose idea and ideals I share. It was like finding a community of like minded individuals who had been here before me. Every other house I saw I was convinced I was going to buy, one day and fix it up, especially the Barragán house that had been boarded up and basically left to rot.
I’ve posted 31 photos to Flickr and carefully annotated each photo with specifics taken from the guide and general impressions Marcia and I had, while visiting each building. A very special thanks to the folks who edited and wrote the Guia Arquitectonica Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara. This is my hommage to the modernist architects of Guadalajara.
and so, let’s begin…
Hi! looks like you had fun in Guadalajara.. I am a Young architect from Monterrey.. and Ill be visiting guadalajara in hope of finding all the barragan house to be found.. can you tell me where to get this guia de arquitectura de guadalajara? and any tips you might find usefull like, in what area or hotels/hostels to stay while im there ( both in convinience being close to barragans works are in general)
tahnks!