Luis Barragán is one of the most important architects in Mexico with a catalog that exceeds 170 projects, it was also the second person in the world to win the Pritkzer Prize; the most important award in the field. Until a few weeks ago the world learned of the existence of a garden made by him in the El Cobre Housing Unit in Mexico, despite its international recognition.
The Barragán collection belongs to a furniture company in Switzerland since 1995 that has the name of Barragan Foundation, this consists of 13,500 drawings, 7,500 photos, 3,500 negatives and more documents. Access has been almost impossible and therefore few knew about the garden built by the architect.
Nevertheless, Two weeks ago the foundation launched a web page that lists the 170 projects that the artist designed until 1988, the year of his death.
“The list presented is the result of 25 years of work. These 170 entries represent almost all of the projects developed by Luis Barragán. Includes entries where Barragán’s intervention could have been marginal, but substantial ”, said Federica Zanco, director of Barragan Foundation in an interview.
The garden is an anomaly in Barragán’s professional career and It took the foundation 25 years to be able to decipher where in Mexico City that design that they only knew through plans was located.
Although modest in size and scope, This project offered Barragán the opportunity to apply his principles in landscape design to a spatial and social context that differed substantially from his previous works ”, highlighted the Barragan Foundation page.
Barragán never did work with government or social institutions because of a resistance to feeling controlled. His were the mansions and giant spaces with which he could play light games.
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“I believe that architects should design gardens to be used as much as the houses they build, to develop a sense of beauty such as taste and inclination towards fine arts and other spiritual values ”, commented Luis Barragán in the middle of his career.
The El Cobre Housing Unit garden is located in the middle of five buildings that make up the condominium. Some bars have been added for protection in the corridors that connect the garden with the street, but other than that, the construction is intact. There are still 50 works to be located.
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