The life and work of luis barragán
Reagan McKinney • march 2021
The world of architecture is vast and littered with many different styles and incredible architects. Today, we want to highlight Luis Barragán.
The Life and Work of Barragán
Luis Barragán was born in 1902 in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he finished his studies to become a civil engineer and architect in 1925. Before 1940, he devoted his time to building residential homes and apartment buildings. Barragán had a passion for landscape architecture, so from 1940 to 1945 he began to study real estate and planning. Eventually, he acquired many properties in San Jeronimo. In these properties, he worked to build gardens in the volcanic rock surrounding the areas. Throughout the rest of his career, he was commissioned for many projects in Mexico. His most notable work is La Casa Luis Barragán.
La Casa Luis Barragán
The Casa Luis Barragán is Barragán’s house and workshop built on General Francisco Ramirez Street in Mexico City. The house is designed to preserve the look of the street, and the only defining factor about the exterior of the house is its size. Scholars point out that the modesty of the home contrasted with the artist that Barragán embodies is humble and purposefully anonymous.
Many of the floors and walls in the home are built from volcanic stone, which offers a contrast to the light and windows in the home, while also complimenting the natural elements. Barragán also uses color to add and volume and weight to the rooms. In the lobby of his home 2 of the walls are painted pink in order to disrupt the interior of the dining room.
The home also features a garden that was allowed to grow freely, further highlights Barragán’s deep love of the natural world.
Barragán designed the house to reflect his passion for nature and architecture. The home features windows placed purposefully to bring the most light and nature into the room in a way that places nature adjacent to life in the home.
Principal + Founder, KV Harper, says of Barragán’s love of color, “Barragán’s use of color as a way to highlight and break up spaces is definitely an inspiration in most of our projects. I also love that he respected the spaces he designed. He adapted to the spaces and not the other way around.”
Barragán’s career was full of notable achievements. In 9176 the New York Museum of Modern Art showed the first exhibition of his work with launched him into international fame. He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1980. Barragán passed on November 22, 1988, from Parkinson’s disease. His work has left a lasting impact on architects internationally.
Architect Annie Labruzzo says that" Barragán’s artful use of coherent geometries infused with dramatic color, light, and shadow created an architectural environment that is intuitive to human nature. Such skill he had in balancing both serenity and the spark of curiosity during the journey between spaces."
