Architecture of Luis Barragan

The Mexican architect Luis Barragan (1902-1988) had a long and distinguished career, but his total architectural output was small. His office was small in terms of staff, and he maintained a solo practice for most of his life, taking on a partner only in 1979. None of his staff, including his partner, wrote on Barragan and his office, leaving a somewhat incomplete record with respect to the way in which Barragan actually practiced architecture. Although several of his clients are still living, little of their recollections of working with Barragan have been published. The purpose of this dissertation is to address his career and works through the perspective of his clients. The research into this subject placed a great deal of emphasis on primary documentation wherever available and on personal interviews with the clients and collaborators on the projects themselves. The result of these investigations was a reconstruction, at least as close as was possible, of the course of the architect-client relationship from the initiation of the design through its completion, combined with an analysis of the design itself as a work of architecture. This study produced a picture of the architect not as the solitary artist, as he has often been depicted in the literature, but rather as an architect who was keenly aware of the role of his clients and who went to great lengths to work with them on their individual designs. Indeed, Barragan made his clients his partners during the design process, in addition to becoming their friend as well. He practiced architecture on a personal as well as professional level, which is rather unique and distinctly Mexican in character.