Product Description

A beautifully produced 'best of' Barragan's creations. This Mexicanarchitect, famous for his use of colour and his love of gardens, believed that 'human life' refers to the sum total of physical, vegetative, instinctive, and spiritual functions. Architecture had to satisfy all those needs. Some thirteen projects by Barragan are extensively photographed and give an impression of the way he gave concrete form to this ideology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1627317 in Books
• Published on: 1992-01-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 257 pages

Customer Reviews

WONDERFUL BOOK ON BARRAGAN
The book has 257 pages with text in japanese and english.

It has three essays on Barragan by Yutaka Saito, Kenneth Frampton and Sheila Hicks as well as interviews with Ignacio Diaz Morales and Francisco Gilardi (son of the Gilardi house original owner).

The work is divided into three categories: Landscaping and Chapel (San Cristobal, Los clubes, El muro rojo, Satellite City towers, Chapel for Capuchinas and Jardines del Pedregal), Residential Works (Gilardi, Meyer, Galvez. Prieto Lopez, Barragan and Gonzalez Luna houses) and Survey drawings (plans of the works).
The book also includes a biography, a chronological list of works as well as a writer's profile.

To be honest I had my doubts about buying this book, because I couldn't find good information about it.
By the cover it seemed to have text in japanese only.

But if you have architectural japanese books you know they usually have wonderful photographs, so that made the final decision.

And finally... as it happens with the world famous GA architecture it has many beautiful photographs and that is definitely the strengh of this wonderful book.
In the end it was worth both the price and the wait.

Really Inspiring!
This is an inspiring book that is really worth every penny!

It is not comprehensive, as there are several other books available that feature every Barragan project--instead it focuses on the best Barragan works through pages and pages of well done color photography, including minimal text and a few interviews. There are also plans of the featured projects. Without having visited these buildings, it is possible to really understand the way they work, using the contents of this book.