The presence of Mexican architecture on the global scene is increasingly evident and strengthened by the ambassador architects who constantly represent Mexico in international events and exhibitions. Within these samples, you are able to see a constant concern to show contemporary values that denote a sense of responsibility, reinventing their own identity with the urgency of addressing current challenges.
It is undeniable that Mexican architecture had an important boom with the role of Luis Barragán as it was he who redeemed the vernacular architecture by relating it to modern values, which was the watershed to form an image about national identity. However, this image of Mexican architecture has evolved over time, exposing some of the most representative aspects of the country.
Within this line, MantovArchitettura organized this year an exhibition in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano confirmed by some of the most representative contemporary ambassadors of the Mexican architecture with projects that were carried out in the decade of 2010 categorized by infrastructures, cultural centers, single-family houses, multifamily buildings, landscaping and social development projects that address the current needs of Mexican society from different scales but with quite similar discursive coherence.
These guests included Fernanda Canales, Luis Aldrete, Atelier ARS, Macías Peredo, Ambrosi Etchegaray, Manuel Cervantes, Fernanda Canales, Estudio MMX, Producer, Workshop | Rocha + Carrillo and S-AR who, parallel to the exhibition, gave talks where they deepened their architectural process to generate a much more complete discourse with the exhibited pieces.
As evident to the faithful followers of the work of these Mexican architects and architects, there are certain characteristic features of that generation that connect in a common language such as the management of transition spaces, the exploration of the private and the public that leads to an urban fabric, the interior landscapes, the constant exploration of vernacular materials and techniques and above all the concern for the social, for the people.
The relevance of exhibitions such as this one where specific moments in the history of Mexican architecture are exposed with key actors is fundamental to focus the collective efforts since as Manuel Cervantes comments in an exclusive interview for ArchDaily about his exhibition 'Praxis' in Mexico City: it is important to have a record that allows you to realize what you have done to visualize the future, (...) having it in the museum somehow exposes you to public opinion, exposes you to the visits, exposes yourself and that exposure is always positive in life because it makes you think.
These reflections are detonated and enunciated in the exhibition Designing Mexico. Architettura: Necessità e Libertà that will be open to the public until June 9, 2019, at the Urban Center of San Cristoforo within the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, they trace a path with extreme and contradictory characteristics that create a new multifaceted identity were different heights are balanced.
"The relationship between the identity of the land, which in many aspects is extreme, and the drive towards internationalism, which marked the twentieth century in Mexico, can be recognized in the work of a heterogeneous and cohesive group of young architects. The exhibition shows a representative selection of that work. Although it takes into account its own roots and is aware of the challenges of the past and the future, the architectural discourse in the country has adopted a totally contemporary attitude and continues its dialogue with what was designed in the past, both by individuals and by nature." - MantovArchittetura about the exhibition Diseñando México. Architecture: Necessity and Freedom
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Mantovarchitettura is a pedagogical project that offers students an intensive program of exhibitions, seminars, and conferences that take place within the framework of the scientific project of the UNESCO Chair "Architectural preservation and planning in World Heritage Cities." International guests conferences, seminars and architecture workshops in Mantova.
