Dylan Impink : Proposal for the 2016 Linda and Turan Duda Traveling Fellowship
MEXICO CITY’S EMIGRE-ARCHITECTS: EXCHANGE IN CULTURES OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE INTRODUCTION The years surrounding the Second World War saw an unprecedented migration of artists and intellectuals out of Europe’s totalitarian states. Common historiography focuses on the United States as the destination for that movement, especially for architects. However, Latin America was no less appealing: South American intellectuals kept in close contact with their European colleagues, Le Corbusier travelled to Uruguay long before North America, and a map of Esprit Nouveau readership shows as much circulation in Latin America as the United States.¹ Latin America was as – if not more – fertile for realizing a modern architecture. Mexico City in particular emerged as a significant center for Latin American architecture because of its population of emigre-architects and for the extent to which those architects contributed to and reexported Mexico’s modernity. This travel study proposes to investigate the ‘alternative modernism’ of Mexico City’s architecture and urbanity through a group of those emigres: Hannes Meyer, Max Cetto, and Mathias Goeritz of Germany; Félix Candela of Spain; and Clara Porset of Cuba. The Linda and Turan Duda Travel Fellowship offers the opportunity to trace the paths of the architectural cultures which these actors carried to Mexico and then, in a reciprocal way, projected abroad again. This is a proposal for a travel study organized around the idea of architects’ journeys. ALTERNATIVE MODERNISM, TRAVEL, AND EXILE Latin American architects in the early half of the twentieth century were well in-touch with developments in the profession abroad, and they largely accepted the rhetorical modernism of Le Corbusier and his European peers. The rapid industrialization and urbanization of many Latin American cities – Mexico City inclusive – explains the relevance of such architectural theories which account for modernity’s new social problems. However, this acceptance was never uncritical. Latin American architects, being aware of their cultural reliance on European models, consciously adapted and synthesized an ‘alternative modernism.’ Specifically, Latin American architects were able to reinvigorate modern architecture by acknowledging its social implications in contrast to the ‘International Style’ paradigm in the United States, which was socially ambivalent. In Mexico City, the confluence of emigre-architects was necessarily engaged in that project.² The particular condition of being emigres disposed these architects to contribute to the creation of Mexico’s own alternative modernism. While definitions vary on the characteristics which differentiate emigres from exiles from expatriates, the five architects share two prerequisites: Their departures were politically motivated and they retained some control in the means of their departure. The very nature of these architects’ emigration makes them inherently political characters and thus disposed to applying the social
conscientiousness which defines alternative modernism. Furthermore, the cultural detachment of being a foreigner was one which – for all five – enabled them to experiment outside of traditions while culturally observing Mexico with fewer assumptions. They were thus able to create a more synthetic Mexican architecture, drawing on past, foreign influences and their own keen observations.³ In that regard, these emigrearchitects were in a position to contribute to the adaptive aspect of Mexico’s alternative modernism. PROPOSITION I propose to study the architecture and urbanism of Mexico City through the widened geography which its emigre-architects present. By visiting key nodes on these architects’ paths to Mexico, I will observe the architectural cultures which they brought with them. And, because that exchange of ideas was reciprocal, I can search for how Mexico’s alternative modernism was projected back to those nodes. In these cities, I will visit and document projects realized by the architects, projects which influenced the architects, and related institutions and schools. I will also choose one project by each architect – to be determined by accessibility – to document in detail through photography and drawing perspectives, plans, and sections. This way, I can have set-piece projects to organize my overall exploration. While my focus will be on those five actors, others will get necessarily drawn into my investigation. Luis Barragán and Juan O’Gorman, for example, were Mexican architects active in the creation of an alternative modernism and who frequently associated with the five emigres. Upon my return, I will prepare a print publication as a travel portfolio in addition to a public lecture at the College of Design. This travel study proposal comes after several semesters of related seminar research. In the spring of 2015, Prof. Burak Erdim’s Rebel Cities course introduced themes in the exchange of architectural cultures which I have used as a framework. In the fall of 2015, Prof. Patricia Morgado’s seminar on Luis Barragán introduced Mexico City’s modern architecture to me in depth. And, in an independent study with Prof. Erdim this semester, I have been performing research and developing a bibliography specifically in preparation for this proposal. I have a personal, long-term aspiration to work in Mexico City, so this travel would precipitate an eventual move. But, my simple aspiration from this travel is to enrich myself as an architect by witnessing the work of these architects, tracing their journeys, and experiencing Mexico City in an expanded way. The following map describes my suggested travel plan and is annotated with explanations of potential activities and sites in each city.
1. Colomina, Beatriz. “Toward a Global Architect,” in Architects’ Journeys: Building, Traveling, Thinking edited by Craig Buckley and Pollyanna Rhee. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. 2. Fraser, Valerie. Building the New World: Studies in the Modern Architecture of Latin America 1930-1960. New York: Verso, 2000. 3. Carranza, Luis E. and Fernando Luiz Lara. Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, and Utopia. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.