The modern movement in Guadalajara: Forty years of (almost) unknown architecture

Abstract

Between 1930 and the early 1970s, Guadalajara produced some noteworthy examples of an austere architecture without stylistic pretentions and with an emphasis on the sense of space and functionality. The increasing use of reinforced concrete in construction replaced the traditional techniques of wood, adobe, and stone. The Modernist Movement in Guadalajara brings together the works of three generations of architects and engineers who transformed the urban image of the city with buildings reflecting the new visions of architecture that had developed in Europe during the first three decades of the twentieth century. These trends included Bauhaus rationalism and the appropriation of Le Corbusier’s five points of a new architecture: columns supporting the structure, roof garden, free plan, strip windows and the free design of the façade, in terms of both ornamentation and structural function. The present selection of works can be divided into the following sections: Precursors / Engineers / The Architecture School of the Universidad de Guadalajara (1948–1960) / Buildings with Latticework / Buildings with Roofs Based on Hyperbolic Paraboloids / Plastically Integrated Buildings / The Agua Azul Complex