Estructuras compartidas, espacios privados: Vivienda en Mexico

Description

A case study that analyzes the relationship between ideas and houses, this book focuses on 100 years of housing projects in Mexico: from the space that lies between bedrooms to that of streets and of society itself; from the space that first appears as a graphic representation to its ultimate role in defining our cities. This book questions the common tools used to conceive and represent housing projects. It attempts to collate the discourses of different authors in order to trace the meaning of privacy within shared structures. The global phenomenon of massive urbanization that originated in Latin America manifested itself in Mexico at an unseen scale and has since been a testing ground for novel housing and urban solutions. The geographic, social, and economic diversity of Mexico constitute a prime example of the challenges inherent to meeting individual needs in an increasingly crowded world. The drawings and essays comprise new ways of looking at theories and buildings in order to redefine the connection between housing and the city. This research is centered in drawings of 70 housing projects, creating a common language highlighting different attempts at reinventing the house not as isolated battles but as part of a strategy for reimagining how we want to live. This book showcases the pivotal voices that have shaped major cities through housing projects and explores how policies and ideas transform into built form, and how in turn buildings shape societies. This book showcases projects and theories from authors such as Luis Barragan, Juan OGorman, Mario Pani, Tatiana Bilbao, Alberto Kalach and Mauricio Rocha. It also includes works from Christofer Alexander and Alejandro Aravena.

Fernanda Canales founded her practice in 2002 committed to architecture, urban design and research. She holds a PhD degree cum laude in Architecture (ETSAM, Madrid), her Bachelor degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City and her MA at the ETSAB (Barcelona). She received the Career Award and Best Young Architect in Mexico (CAM) and was awarded fellowships by the National System of Creators and the Young Creator. Other recognitions include: ArchDaily Building of the Year, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture Award, Concrete WAN Awards and IIDA Design Award. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the world. She is author of books such as Vivienda Colectiva en Mexico (Gustavo Gili, 2017), Architecture in Mexico 1900-2010 (Arquine, 2013), Central de Arquitectura (Arquine, 2009), and coauthor of Arquitectos del Siglo XX en Mexico (Arquine, 2017, 2011) and ONeil Ford Duograph 4: Mexico (The University of Texas at Austin, 2012). She has been a professor of theory and urban design at the Universidad Iberoamericana and UNAM as well as a visiting critic and invited professor abroad.