R. Legorreta ….”with pre Columbian architecture we have to meditate on simplicity…….based on simple masses.”
While traveling the country side and “looking at” the villages of Mexico he had an encounter with a farmer which lead him to understand that many people were economically poor but spiritually rich. Legoretto determined that he would design architecture that truly serves the people.

Do you think his exuberance for “viva la Mexico” is apparent in his work?
Legorreta’s work is extremely interesting in the way he roots his architecture in the fundamental culture of his country. It is interesting that he is inspired by precolumbian architecture, a typology based on simple forms, rather than be inspired by a more present version of Mexican culture. Greatly affected by the Spanish, the Mexicans lost a lot of their indigenous culture, becoming a strongly Catholic nation. The Mexican people did, however, invent their own way of mixing the European with traditional culture, and the Spanish that moved there, mostly clergy, more often adopted traditional techniques unlike what happened in the present-day United States. Some results of this are how Churrigueresco style architecture in Spain became barroco novohispano in Latin America, and the creation of religious folk art.

It’s interesting, then, that Legorreta would choose to reject the Spanish or even mestizo styles popular at the time, while favoring a combination of extremely ancient ideas with modernism.  The result is undeniably beautiful, but it is historically interesting to think about why he would choose to ignore visual styles at the heart of present-day Mexican folk culture in favor of ideas from hundreds of years ago.  It is interesting social commentary, and criticism of colonialism throughout Latin America is not uncommon.

Which project (any in the book) seems to convey Legorreta’s sense of mystery to you?

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose is a project that seems to have so many small changes in plane and space, which seems to provide interesting places to discover at a personal, human scale.  The playful use of columns and sporadic light wells creates an inhabitable sculpture of wonder.  Changes in texture and light reflection create spaces which are constantly reacting to light, adding a living component to the building.

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