"Life deprived of beauty is not worthy of being called human" - Luis Barragán
Invitation to La Casa Luis Barragán.
Although this is my first post, I would like to reflect on my trip to Mexico city with my parents to see the creations of Luis Barragán. It has been about 4 months and I may make an inaccurate comments, but please bear with my murmuring and my terrible English grammar. If you hate reading, you know what to do; SCROLL.
If you start asking why there are numerous horses in his house, it is because Luis Barragán loved horses growing up. Every ornament, painting, and photographs of horses seem to bring out the beauty and display his affection towards horses, let alone his horse ranch he designed, only for horses.
He preferred employing crosses on the windows and doors for he was a devout.
His own bed room is surprisingly frugal and again religious as opposed to most people who prefer having the luxury around them.
Apparent influence of religious art, and an example of his incredible use of light and its yellow reflection that cast on the walls. His prodigious use of light and colors is best shown in Capilla de las Capuchinas. The wall painted in pink is accompanied by the yellow ambiance generated by the window resulting in appearing to be a caramel color. In addition, at certain times of a day, the cross designed by Luis Barragán casts a shadow on another golden cross designed by his friend Mathias Goeritz bringing about the collaboration of two prodigies.
One would find his rooftop to be the most distinctive and peculiar one. Usually, people would go up to a rooftop and expect to see a panoramic view of the landscape, however, his rooftop daringly crops the sky by having soaring walls around. He believed that home separates the world with others and the world of him. By building these walls, he obstinately monopolized the sky partially and he was able to have his privacy.
"My house is my refuge, an emotional piece of architecture, not a cold piece of convenience." - Luis Barragán
View from the bathroom.
The secret rendezvous place? Much as he enjoyed having the solitude as his best friend, he would sometimes call his lady friends to this hidden place. Discovering this place was a jaw-dropping experience for me, because this is something I would love to have in my yard. In order to get here, one must find a secret path and push aside conveniently flourished ivy.
One of the most exciting part of exploring one's house, at least for me, is to see what the owners are interested in. I think of collection of books, artworks, and his music records to be the exterior accessory of a house as opposed to doors, pillars, and wall, which serve as vital organs of a house.
It was painted this way because of the Olympics, but they were initially in different colors. I wonder if the Mexican residents who pass by this monument everyday are aware of Luis Barragán and what he has done to the architectural history.
Luis Barragán preferred to have the stairs without rail or anything to hold onto as to give a sense of nervousness in higher places. I personally like it this way merely because of the minimal appearance.
What's so special about his garden, besides not having extravagant colorful flowers, is that it gives a sense of a relatively enormous garden, only it is not. By adding the background layer to the foreground of ivy, the garden seems to last, I wouldn't say forever but relatively far. Garden seems to play a significant role in artists life such as Monet and his water lilies. I am not sure if Luis Barragán was influenced by those artists, but I also find fascination in gardening in regards to the embracement of nature, and the virtue of having the exterior-home-like space.
Luis Barragán was evidently a perfectionist. He would pour the water in the glass to the perfect amount that gives perfect reflection when the light hits the water at certain times of a day.
In his horse ranch, you just feel like a midget because everything is calculated according to horse size. You may have noticed that he loves applying pink to the walls. This is because he loved bougainvillea with its white flower surrounded by bracts in bright colors such as pink and purple. His juxtaposition of simplicity and use of color of one of the showiest color is truly fascinating.
