Travel Reflections: Mexico Tour

Travel Reflections: Mexico Tour

by Sanika Kulkarni [HP]

A group of locals dressed as the Aztecs performing various dances in the historic core of Mexico City.

Photo: Sanika Kulkarni.

During my second semester of graduate studies in Historic Preservation at Pratt Institute, Lisa Ackerman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of World Monuments Fund, had arranged for a meeting of various professionals involved in the field of preservation in New York City and students who were taking her class. During the meeting, Liz Waytkuz, Executive Director of DOCOMOMO US mentioned about the travel fellowship to Mexico City. I have always enjoyed travelling and experiencing spaces. Hence I submitted my application which consisted of an essay stating why I need the travel grant, essay on my goals as a preservation professional and a letter of recommendation along with some other documents. Three weeks after the applications were closed, I was informed that I was one of the travel grant fellows. This travel grant was an opportunity to see and interact with various preservation professionals from all over the US and Mexico. Many of the fellow travellers briefly knew about Indian architects Charles Correa and B.V.Doshi (Pritzker Prize Awardee 2018) and were curious to know about modern architecture in India. This is what helped me focus on the two architects I studied for my graduate thesis.

Traveling and experiencing spaces definitely helps in better understanding and appreciation of architecture. Being selected as a DOCOMOMO US- Mexico Study Grant, I consider myself very fortunate as it helped me develop an appreciation for the preservation of Modern Architecture which wasn’t something I would have prioritized earlier. It was fascinating to see most of the participants of this tour Modernism in Mexico City were architecture enthusiasts, which was a surprise as not only architects and historians, like I always assumed were involved in preservation efforts.

The feeling I had from the aerial view of Mexico City being similar to India was confirmed on the first day during our exploration of the historic core. As we were visiting it on a Sunday, we could experience how the locals use the space with a few weekly pop-up markets, along with a group of locals dressed as the Aztecs for entertainment. Exploring the historic core of Mexico City allowed me to understand the architectural evolution of the city, and wandering through the streets filled with colonial architecture kept reminding me of Mumbai, India. The next few days of the trip were dedicated to exploring the modern architecture, along with a day trip to the historic city of Teotihuacán.

Hillocks located at the outskirts of Mexico City with temporary and permanent dwellings. The yellow wall see behind the dwellings is the boundary set by the city to avoid further encroachment of the hillocks.

Photo: Sanika Kulkarni.

When we were walking through the tiny lanes on our way to Casa Barragán, mentally I started to go through the images I had seen of it in the books and on the internet during my undergraduate studies of architecture. I wanted to take a picture on the terrace of the house - which was the first image I had seen of Barragán’s project - but, I was disappointed to hear that there was an additional fee for taking pictures. Now, reflecting on my experience of Casa Barragán, I recall each and every moment spent in the house and do not regret not being able to capture the spaces in pictures. Sometimes not having the artificial eyes (Camera Lens) helps in absorbing the actual experience.

To visit Teotihuacán, we had to travel outside of Mexico City for about an hour and a half. While we were on road, just after leaving the confines of Mexico City, we saw a few hills full of temporary and permanent dwellings where many immigrants coming to Mexico City from different small villages had settled in search for a better livelihood, making these hills their homes. A large wall constructed by the government was visible along the hills beyond which there were no dwellings. This wall was meant to stop any further encroachment of the hills. This site reminded me of squatter settlements in India which over time become thriving economies in itself.

Another destination I was excited to see was “Los Manantiales Restaurant”, a building designed by Félix Candela. Unfortunately, due to the structural damage, the building had suffered during the devastating earthquake of September 19, 2017, we couldn’t visit it. On very short notice, DOCOMOMO team arranged for us to visit one of Candela’s other projects: the Bacardi Factory and Bottling plant. During this visit, we got to see the corporate building designed by Mies Van Der Rohe along with the bottling plant designed by Félix Candela. As an architect, I was amazed by the innovative use of free-standing shells to house the bottling plant, especially for a 1950’s building. Candela’s design provided an elegant column-free space with natural light peeking through the glass windows at the seems, all in perfect alignment with the practical requirements of a plant like this one. This high-quality design has allowed the building to continue being used, which has been instrumental to the maintenance of the structures to this day.

Every small thought and action matters to achieving a goal. A massive earthquake had struck Mexico City on September 19, 2017, just a month before the DOCOMOMO US’ Modernism in Mexico City tour. While interacting with the local scholars during the trip, I found out that a lot of architectural professionals had volunteered to document the effects of earthquakes on all structures in and around Mexico City. This act speaks of how much the community values its architecture as they did not limit the documentation to only important structures. Dr. Juan Ignacio, a Félix Candela expert and a faculty at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México i.e. UNAM has been actively involved in documenting, maintaining and bringing awareness about Félix Candela’s shell structures. Some of his students had volunteered to document the damage sustained by Los Manantiales Restaurant. The seeds of volunteering for preservation are sown through the academic setup. An example of volunteering was at Casa Barragán, where the tour guides were architecture students from Mexico. This is something that I believe should be implemented in architecture schools in India, where only academic excellence is given a priority.

Casa Gilardi, one of the houses designed by Luis Barragán is currently privately owned. When we visited the house, they were working on the exterior maintenance. The owner said, every few years they inspect the external facade for any damages and make sure everything is in good shape. The effort taken by the current owner to maintain the architect’s original design intent (including the color palette used for the whole house) was fascinating for me. Overall during my 10 days stay in Mexico City it seemed like a lot of importance is given to understand the architecture of the region and efforts are being made to preserve not only the colonial architecture but the modern architecture of the 20th century.