Experience- is it better to experience something without knowing about the background? Of all the architecture that comes to the top of the list for Mexico City is that of Luis Barragán’s. Tickets are hard to acquire for this house- closed on my first visit and after much trolling, managed to get tickets for this 2nd trip (plan ahead if you want to visit!).
All across Mexico City, I have been so compelled by the large swaths of exclusive and bright color, that I’ve started a (unfinished) project for this. I’ve written about color and this city before- the richness of the color seems to reflect the richness of the culture of the city overall. This house demonstrates that application of this color but on both the interior and the exterior.
This house feels very hand crafted- the wood cantilevered staircase, the custom door and window shades- which seems in contrast to the flat concrete facade of the exterior. Like with many places in Mexico City- there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to what’s behind that door.
In particular, this house was designed for account for privacy to the various use cases- when you look at the floor plan, each part of the house does look (and feel) boxed in. Sometimes the walls do that job, but the door to the stairway above was designed to look like the doors of the cabinets so that when closed, the illusion that space would be truly enclosed would be achieved.
What’s hard to tell from the plans is that there are ways that Barragán contrasts the smaller boxed in spaces with some of the common areas. There’s consideration to how light travels throughout the house at times- indirect and creating an ambiance to the space despite windows being a bit few and far between.
For any architecture nerd, this house is a piece of history. To the question I started this post with- I came to experience this house without any of the background. I think I wanted to appreciate it for the space that it is and not the space that it needs to be. The house is a restrained piece of work- personalized in every way to Barragán’s life and work. Due to demand, there’s no time to take it all in as much as one would like- so when you go, every minute counts.
Website: Architecture Today write-up
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