Luis Barragan's Gardens of El Pedregal (Building Studies)

The name Luis Barragan evokes images of Latin American modernism-brightly colored plain surfaces set off against lush foliage. His 1,250-acre Gardens of El Pedregal, begun in 1945 on the lava fields of south of Mexico City, were dotted with houses and plazas, fountains and ponds, cacti and pepper trees. Barragan considered El Pedregal his most important project, and critics have described the houses and gardens there as a turning point in Mexican architecture. This book examines El Pedregal's program and form, its representation in architect-commissioned photographs and advertising, and its place within contemporary discourses on cultural identity, design and place, and suburbanization. Like our highly acclaimed Revolution of Form, Luis Barragan's Gardens of El Pedregal offers an in-depth analysis of this now mostly destroyed project through original documents, drawings, color and black-and-white photography, and critical examinations of the design process.