Barragan: The Complete Works - Tapa dura

Mexican architect Luis Barrag !n is one of this century's mostcreative designers. Self-taught, he achieved international renown for hisremarkable personal artistic vision. Using vegetation, water, primarygeometric forms, and vivid colors, Barrag !n created a poetic andpainterly yet elegantly simple architectural style that transformed theMexican building tradition into an abstract architectural language. Therehas been extraordinarily little published on Barrag !n, and this newmonograph is the only comprehensive compilation of his work-102 buildingsand 12 additional projects-many of which have never been published before.Its intelligent analyses and sup erb illustrations demonstrate thecomplexity and scope of this great designer, as both an architect and alandscaper.It presents not only Barrag !n's well-known later work, but also shows thedevelopment of his oeuvre: from early projects, which incorporatedvernacular Mexican forms with Islamic elements, through a period clearlyinfluenced by the International Style and Le Corbusier, to a culminationin the clean, colorful modernism for which Barrag !n is best known.This new monograph collects over 400 illustrations: Barrag !n's drawings, color and black-and-white photographs of his work, meticulously re-drawnplans, elevations, and sections created especially for the book, and newscale models of important projects. In addition, the monograph containsmany texts-a preface by Alvaro Siza, essays by Mexican architecturalcritics Antonio Toca and J.M. Buendia, previously unpublished text byBarrag !n himself, and an unabridged transcription of his Pritzker Prizeacceptance speech. An invaluable volume, "Barrag !n: The CompleteWorks" alsoincludes a detailed bibliography and comparativeinternational chronology. This book is the essential compendium of thework of a master architect.