Recap: Modern Mexico City

Rich in color, culture and details, the Modern Mexico City travel tour, which took place last month, was a feast for the eyes and for the senses. Travelers of the trip crisscrossed Mexico City and enjoyed a number of UNESCO world-heritage sites including a special visit to the house and studio of Luis Barragán and the Barragán designed Gilardi House; many important sites by the Mexican architect Mario Pani including the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) campus; and the Rivera-Kahlo house and studio designed by Juan O’Gorman.

Guests greatly enjoyed staying at the Camino Real Polanco - the legendary hotel designed by Ricardo Legorreta in 1965. The trip was led in parallel by Louise Noelle Gras, Professor and Researcher at the National University of Mexico and long-standing president of Docomomo Mexico, and Kathryn O’Rourke, associate professor of art history at Trinity University and author of the recently published book Modern Architecture in Mexico City.

 

Guests were treated to a full day exploration of the works by Felix Candela led by Docomomo Mexico member and Candela expert, Juan Ignacio del Cueto. The day included visits to the Candela designed Bacardi Bottling Plant (1958-60) and Administrative Building by Mies van der Rohe, as well as Medalla Milagrosa Church (1953-57), El Atillo chapel (1955-57), and San Vincente de Paul chapel (1958-60). Unfortunately, earthquake damage on the road to Candela's breathtaking Los Manantiales restaurant stopped the group from their visit. Docomomo US will provide information on the challenges at the Los Manantiales restaurant in a future article.

 

Docomomo US would like to thank all of our Docomomo US and Docomomo Australia guests who joined us on the trip in addition to the study grant recipients. 

 

Docomomo US will be announcing a travel tour to Brazil in May 2018, shortly. For more information and to be notified about trip details, please email us at info(AT)docomomo-us.org.