Luis Barragan - Casa Gilardi in Mexico: Analytical Essay

Located at the heart of Mexico City in the Tacubaya district, Casa Gilardi is the last known work completed by Luis Barragan in 1973. Barragan’s work is largely influenced by traditional Mexican architecture and the structural features of modernism creating a distinctive architectural language that has become an important part of the urban Mexican landscape. Stated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, Casa Gilardi is frequented by tourists, journalists and design professionals for its unique take on ‘dwelling’.

Luis Barragan viewed the home as a space of refuge that provided the individual with room for introspection, solitude and respite. The striking lack of functional windows on the external facade provide impermeability to the space and subverts public views of the interior. This distinct separation of spaces is a feature celebrated largely in Mexican architecture and is evidently a strong influence in Barragan’s works. His architecture focused on privacy and creating spatial boundaries that averted the increasing fluidity of spaces in modern living. Barragan’s aversion of the “glass box” lifestyle characterized by open plans and the blended use of spaces is represented in his use of solid masonry walls that act as independent planes dividing the varied zones of privacy within the house. Barragan keeps intact the integrity of these zones by restricting access to private spaces, instead forcing individuals to follow a certain path. This transitional direction is physically represented in the altar-like yellow hallway which acts as the only access point to the internal courtyard located on the first floor. The high walled patios and strong geometric form further this notion of autonomy and territorializes the home as a private zone that promotes autonomy.

The Jacaranda tree is an ornamental tree that the purple flower open at spring to summer and it’s use to be a beautiful display and eye-catching. The building built around one single Jacaranda tree and tree’s branches has blended with stucco wall that make the fusion between architecture and nature, and also, he painted the walls to be a pink and purple colour to enhance the buildings connecting to the nature and its surrounding. However, the tree’s colour naturally become a complement to building’s colour because each spring, its blossoms drop to create a dramatic lilac carpet. Last but not least, it provide the light, colour, and shadow through the whole house with seasonal change. Bring the nature into the building that give people an intimate space to remind beauty, silence, pleasure, peace and get rid of fast world’s life. However, preserving the jacaranda tree inside the house that can prove its unique value today so that architecture can consider how to make a balanced and sustainable between the space and natural environment.

Barragan manipulates light and shadow to create ambiances of spiritual solitude within his spaces. This can most clearly be seen in the yellow hallway leading to the indoor swimming pool, with the tall narrow windows allowing the space to become flooded with golden sunlight. Barragan speaks much of his admiration of the beatific figure of St. Francis, and the influence that Mexican chapels and cloisters had on his work. His Catholicism is evident in the stained-glass windows which provide a filtered amber light to the altar-like hallway, with the vibrancy of this light being complemented by the textured walls. Colour is shown to have strong effects on the human psyche, and it is this yellow coloured ambiance and filtered light that creates an enchanting serene atmosphere. Barragan believed this space was one of rejuvenation through the empowering qualities of the sunlight. This lighting effect extends not only to the walls but to the surrounding surfaces. The reflective and mirrored qualities of the flooring and sculptural décor were selected to allow the journey through the space to be much like a surrealistic dream-walk. He created depths of light and shadow which blurred true form and enveloped the linear and geometric volumes of the interior, creating ambiances of spiritual solitude.

Barragan’s colour pallets borrowed hues from the Mexican architectural landscape and combined them with architectural experiences reminiscent of the Bauhaus, Josef Albers and James Turrell that created spaces and compositions heavily driven by bold colour. The powerful red column featured in the indoor pool is in stark contrast to the enveloping blue and draws immediate attention from the very first view framed through the yellow hallway. The eye instinctively follows the length of the column to the rippled reflection and further to the surface of the water, creating a visual journey that is primarily directed by Barragan’s use of colour. This use of saturated and vibrant hues dramatically changes the perception of surfaces, volumes and distances and in doing this draws attention to elements that become the focus of the entire composition. Prominently seen in the works of artists such as Frida Kahlo, Chucho Reyes and Diego Rivera, these bright hues are a recurring element in Barragan’s projects where each colour is framed by its adjacent hues creating a carefully considered composition on each plane, immersing the viewer in an abstract experience of the space.

Vernacular architecture is a house built with where available to get the local material and architecture use local culture and knowledge to design the house. However, Luis Barragan grew up in a Mexico village that he knew about Mexican traditional house. At that time, there are famous with the Mexican artists and architects and Mexican people are proud about their indigenous tradition drawing and create their own Mexican art. Their work are combined by the modern movement in art and the architecture’s local imagery and forms in Europe. In the early 20th century, there was a ware of the simply and economy of construction and vernacular urbanism and the Spanish colonial style. The Spanish Colonial of culture landscape is the quarries, their extract, finish and lay their limestone that was most used in Mexico’s technology. And then, the element of structure is stucco walls which whitewashed in white and colour that can avoid it fading in the intense nature light. Inner courtyard is an element which the house was organized, so that architecture use the climate knowledge and display the plants to enhance the architect’s house design in many Mexican homes. Those local elements are popular character in their house and the modern movement of art that its affected Luis Barragan to create a tradition Modernist house can uniquely adapted to the natural environment.

Barragan’s work reflects his engagement with several global architectural movements and styles which influenced his design projects. Reflective of to his upbringing in Guadalajara, Barragan’s work alludes to features of Mexican and Andalusian-style architecture, with open flowered patios and skilful use of light and shadow. His later architectural style, including Casa Gilardi, developed through strong influences of the European modernism movement, with the works of Mies and Le Corbusier inspiring his use of clean lines. Barragan’s work is often seen as one of the earliest examples of Critical Regionalist architectural style as it is reflective of many of its ideologies. Critical Regionalism is an architectural approach which valued its environment through reflecting and engaging with its geographical and social context in a subtle yet deliberate way. It separates itself from the ornamentation and complexities of Postmodernist Architecture and rejects the sense of anonymity which came with the International Style. Many key features can be found in the house Casa Gilardi. From the top-lighting in the skylights to the preservation of the natural elements of the location, Barragan valued the context of the site and took into consideration climate, topography, lighting and tectonic form when executing this project. His consideration of the tactile sense in the masonry walls is also reflective of his Critical Regionalist views on design.

In conclusion, Barragan’s architecture reflects his aim to create “emotional architecture” in order to critique the contextual popularity of Postmodernism.

References:

1. Casa Barragan (Yutaka Saito & Luis Barragan), 2002, Casa Barragan, Japan: TOTO Nogizaka
2. Barragan: Space & shadow, walls & colour (Dsniele. Panly, Luis Barragan & Jerome Habersetzer), 2002, Barragan: Space and shadow, walls and colour, Basel: Birkhauser
3. The architecture of Luis Barragan Ambasz.Emilio, 1976, The architecture of Luis Barragan, The Museum of Modern Art: Distributed by New York Graphic Society
4. Lesson from Vernacular Architecture Routledge, 2014, lessons from vernacular architecture, USA and Canada
5. Colour as Pathway Of Light: Searching The Shadow In Luis Barragan Maria Joao Durao, 2010, colour as a pathway of light: searching the shadow in Luis Barragan
6. The Representation of Ambiguity on the Spaces of Luis Barragán House and Studio (Jiae Han & Jeehyun Nam), 2018, the representation of ambiguity on the spaces of Luis Barragan house and studio
7. Mandy Palasik 2018, “Amidst Mexico City’s blanket of smog, dow an unassuming residential,” living in the past a tour of Luis Barragan’s Casa Gilardi, art blog, 2 February,
8. Karina Duque 2018, “El gran arquitecto Luis Barragán, a los 80 años de edad,” Clásicos de Arquitectura: Casa Gilardi / Luis Barragán, archdaily, 21 November,
9. Rebecca Firestone 2017, “I never understood how completely dependent his work is on color,” Casa Gilardi by Luis Barragán, the architecture take, 27 June,
10. Dania Abdel-aziz 2017, Architect: Luis Barragan, eduction, 1 October,
11. Tim Street-Porter, 1997, “Luis Barragán was born in Guadalajara in 1902 of a prosperous,” Architecture of Mexico: the houses of Luis Barragan, Mexconnet, 1 June,
12. Lindsay Garbutt 2018, “From the outside, Casa Luis Barragán appears to be a nondescript two-story building,” Casa Luis Barragán, Sacred Space of Mexican Modernism, Jstor Daily, 19 September,
13. K. Eggener 1984, Journal of Architectural Education “Placing Resistance: A Critique of Critical Regionalism’, Vol. 55, No. 4 (May 2002), pp. 228-237, Taylor & Francis, Ltd., England.

Image Bibliography

Image references:

• Figure 1- Indoor Pool- Casa Gilardi 2018, Eduardo Luque https://www.archdaily.mx/mx/02-123630/clasicos-de-arquitectura-casa-gilardi-luis-barragan
• Figure 2- External Facade – Casa Gilardi 2016, Armando Salas Portugal Vogue Magazine- Inside the Bold and Beautiful World of Famed Architect Luis Barragán https://www.vogue.com/article/luis-barragan-exhibition-architecture
• Figure 3- External Pink Window- Casa Gilardi 2009, Thom McKenzie https://www.flickr.com/photos/thom_mckenzie/3178097956/in/photostream/
• Figure 4- High Walled Patios 2018, Eduardo Luque https://www.archdaily.mx/mx/02-123630/clasicos-de-arquitectura-casa-gilardi-luis-barragan
• Figure 5- Internal Courtyard- Casa Gilardi 2015, Thom Ortiz https://thomortiz.tumblr.com/post/125730077186/fancyadance-luis-barragan-jacaranda-and-mexican
• Figure 6- Light and Shadow- Casa Gilardi 2018, Eduardo Luque https://www.archdaily.mx/mx/02-123630/clasicos-de-arquitectura-casa-gilardi-luis-barragan
• Figure 7- Spirituality 2017, Original Photographer Not Found https://mariagraziadeluca.com/crossing-part-ii-mexico-city-en/
• Figure 8- Yellow Hallway- Casa Gilardi 2017, Tim Power Architects Article- Casa Gilardi by Luis Barrágan https://www.tim-power.com/casa-gilardi-by-luis-barragan-in-mexico-city/
• Figure 9- Bold Colours Original Photographer Not Found https://www.freeinteriorimages.com/gilardi-house/6/touring-mexico-city-with-one-of-our-favorite-architectural.html
• Figure 10- Mexican Housing Original Photographer Not Found Pinterest- Myrea Belikov https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/499829258614529537/?lp=true
• Figure 11- Mexican Colour Palette Original Photographer Not Found https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/7f/d6/107fd654585080e8018e55a416a1a93c.jpg
• Figure 12- Rooster painting Painted early 1900’s, Jesús Reyes Ferreira
• Figure 13- “Baile en Tehuantepec” artwork 1928, Diego Rivera
• Figure 14- “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird” artwork 1940, Frida Kahlo
• Figure 15,16- Limestone Flooring- Casa Gilardi 2019, Kristabel Plummer http://iwantyoutoknow.co.uk/2019/08/mexico-city-guide-things-to-do-is-it-safe.html
• Figure 17- Purple Exterior Masonry Wall- Casa Gilardi Sandro Di Carlo Darsa Behance https://www.behance.net/gallery/1078557/Barragan
• Figure 18- Villa Savoye- Le Corbusier August Fischer Dezeen Article- Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye encapsulates the Modernist style https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/31/villa-savoye-le-corbusier-poissy-france-modernist-style-unesco-world-heritage/
• Figure 19- Skylight- Casa Gilardi 2018, Eduardo Luque https://www.archdaily.mx/mx/02-123630/clasicos-de-arquitectura-casa-gilardi-luis-barragan