LEGORETTA

Camino Real Hotel – This evokes a unique sense of place in his minimalist details & simplicity of material.  The use of concrete, in this color – seems unique to Mexico, where concrete is much easier to come by than wood.  The massing is pulling double duty – allowing each visitor a spectacular view tot he coast and aggregating to elude to a Mesoamerican pyramid.   From a larger view, it appears buried in the landscape.  The stone steps place the site in antiquity, even though it was built in 1981.  The use of punched sunshades in the porch coverings, concrete, and the pools are responses to the climate.  I want to go stay at this hotel.

Solana – I’m less enthusiastic about this project.  The interiors seem appropriately Texan, but perhaps only in the way it relates to Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth (vaults, light, concrete – no surprise Legoretta was inspired by Kahn).  Maybe I’m not familiar with the Texan vernacular, maybe there is no Texan vernacular.

This building seems like an object building to me – a little too Toys-R-Us / Legos at first glance.  It’s hard to get past that to find deeper meaning – at least on the exterior.  I get the sense that Legoretta didn’t like Texas – so he designed a building that would fit right into the scene of object buildings along American highways.  Not to be too cynical, but let’s face it, he’s got his work cut out for him on this project.  It’s an office park (huge cooling load), in the middle of the dessert (why is there lush grass in the pictures?), that must maintain a corporate identity of IBM.  The commission itself was starkly at odds with Legoretta’s social and cultural ideals.

Maybe the bigger question – Is there much cultural richness to be found in Texas for him to latch onto as inspiration for the architecture?  (No offense to those from Texas) I wouldn’t know where to start.  In the article: “this attitude {Mexicans considering their culture second best to the empire of the U.S.} deeply concerned Legoretta, who is fiercely proud of being Mexican and does not believe that Mexicans are second best.” It’s evident that Legoretta ‘gets’, and probably appreciates, the culture and richness of Mexico much more than what could be seen as the capitalist empire of the US.

-D. Hoet