"This book showcases 26 Mexican architects' contemporary design in a wide variety of interior and exterior spaces"--Preface.

Mexico City became one of the centers of architectural modernism in the Americas in the first half of the twentieth century. Invigorated by insights drawn from the first published histories of Mexican colonial architecture, which suggested that Mexico possessed a distinctive architecture and culture, beginning in the 1920s a new generation of architects created profoundly visual modern buildings intended to convey Mexico's unique cultural character. By midcentury these architects and their students had rewritten the country's architectural history and transformed the capital into a metropolis where new buildings that evoked pre-conquest, colonial, and International Style architecture coexisted. Through an exploration of schools, a university campus, a government ministry, a workers' park, and houses for Diego Rivera and Luis Barragan, Kathryn O'Rourke offers a new interpretation of modern architecture in the Mexican capital, showing close links between design, evolving understandings of national architectural history, folk art, and social reform. This book demonstrates why creating a distinctively Mexican architecture captivated architects whose work was formally dissimilar, and how that concern became central to the profession.

Representative homes built by 12 architects working in Mexico are profiled with text and numerous color photographs. Modernism as well as the natural and human environment of Mexico influences all the architects profiled. Categorized under the headings colorists, personal visions, and functionalists, the profilees include Jorge Robles, Agustin, Hernandez, Abraham Zambludovksy. Isaac Broid, Carlos Santos Maldonado, and J.B. Johnson. Also included is an introductory chapter that discusses the history of Mexican design from the Aztecs to the Modernists. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Since the mid 1970s, there has been an extraordinary renewal of interest in early modern architecture, both as a way of gaining insight into contemporary architectural culture and as a reaction to neoconservative postmodernism. This book undertakes a critical reappraisal of the notion of modernity in Mexican architecture and its influence on a generation of Mexican architects whose works spanned the 1920s through the 1960s. Nine essays by noted architects and architectural historians cover a range of topics from broad-based critical commentaries to discussions of individual architects and buildings. Among the latter are the architects Enrique del Moral, Juan O'Gorman, Carlos Obregón Santacilia, Juan Segura, Mario Pani, and the campus and stadium of the Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City. Relatively little has been published in English regarding this era in Mexican architecture. Thus, Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico will play a groundbreaking role in making the underlying assumptions, ideological and political constructs, and specific architect's agendas known to a wide audience in the humanities. Likewise, it should inspire greater appreciation for this undervalued body of works as an important contribution to the modern movement.

Modern Mexico is a fantastically fertile breeding ground for contemporary architecture and design. The nation is an exotic, sensual mix of cultural influences. The mysterious monolith architecture of.

La casa habitación implica la puesta en marcha de función y estética de manera conjunta. Se trata de un reto apasionante para cualquier arquitecto puesto que exige la aplicación de todo su "oficio" y recursos profesionales para lograr un objetivo. Pero va más allá, llega incluso al grado de involucrarse personal y emocionalmente con el tema del diseño y con la altísima responsabilidad que representa. Por todas estas circunstancias, resulta de gran interés examinar cada una de las propuestas que se incluyen en esta edición y analizar los diferentes caminos que condujeron a su realización final. El resultado será, sin duda alguna, el hallazgo de un denominador común, que es justamente la diversidad como indicador del dinamismo que caracteriza el quehacer arquitectónico actual, reflejo, a su vez, del tiempo en que nos ha tocado vivir.

The states of Northern Mexico—Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California Norte and Sur—have architecture, urbanism, and landscape design that offer numerous lessons in how to build well, but this constructed environment is largely undervalued or unknown. To make this architecture better known to a wide professional, academic, and public audience, this book presents the first comprehensive overview in either English or Spanish of the architecture, urban landscapes, and cities of Northern Mexico from the country's emergence as a modern nation in 1821 to the present day. Profusely illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, maps, and analytical drawings of urban cores of major cities, The Architecture and Cities of Northern Mexico systematically examines significant works of architecture in large cities and small towns in each state, from the earliest buildings in the urban core to the newest at the periphery. Edward R. Burian describes the most memorable works of architecture in each city in greater detail in terms of their spatial organization, materials, and sensory experience. He also includes a concise geographical and historical summary of the region that provides a useful background for the discussions of the works of architecture. Burian concludes the book with a brief commentary on lessons learned and possible futures for the architectural culture of the region, as well as the first comprehensive biographical listing of the architects practicing in Northern Mexico during the past two centuries.