Ricardo legorreta biography wikipedia

Legorreta continued his work with the design of the Casa Montalbán in Los Angeles (1985), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey (1991), the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua (1993), Pershing Square in Los Angeles (1993), the Central Library from San Antonio in Texas (1995), the Technological Museum of Innovation in San José, California (1998), the Visual Arts Center of the University of Santa Fe, New Mexico (1999), the Juárez Complex in Mexico City ( 2003-2005), Carnegie Mellon University of Business and Computer Science in Qatar (2009), Georgetown University School of Diplomacy in Doha, Qatar (2011), and many other public and private urban buildings and spaces.

Legorreta was an artist and designer who’s worked was always aligned to the environment.

Ricardo Legorreta became renowned for his creative interpretation of original Mexican architecture: vibrant colors, geometric shapes, fountains, light-filled spaces, and intimate patios are hallmarks of his style.

His career spanned over more than fifty years. The result, created on a site measuring some seven million square feet, succeeds in linking modern construction techniques with a sense of timelessness.

Tokio, Japan

• National Architecture Award. The Solana Village Center, reminiscent of Mexican colonial-era plazas, presents a hotel with clusters of office and retail buildings, where brown and white stucco exteriors harmonize with the colors and textures of the prairie landscape.

  In Legorreta’s residential work, a personal, contemplative side emerges, illustrating the extensive talent of this architect.

  The resulting form blends public spaces effortlessly: the horizontal emphasis allows for lavish gardens, patios, pools, and fountains, all accentuated by a brilliant use of color, which commences with a startling magenta screen at the hotel entrance. The Ixtapa site features expansive, welcoming, open public areas, as well as terraces and walkways to the beach, and pools that invite exploration and contemplation of the dramatic setting.

  A similar integration of building and site is apparent in Legorreta’s industrial architecture of the 1970s and 1980s.

  It was at this point that Legorreta met Luis Barragán, who advised him to invest more attention into the landscape. Further, these buildings contain the first indications of what would become a constant theme in Legorreta’s industrial architecture: a concern for those who labor within the buildings.

  

  The results harmonize with the environment, mediating interior and exterior spaces. He is the only Mexican who has received the prestigious Praemium Imperiale awarded by the Japan Art Association (2011).
   

in collaboration with Charles Moore.

1965
The UNAM designates his workshop as the official place for students to fulfill social service.


1962-1964
Head of the Experimental Group of UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.

1959-1962
Professor at the National School of Architecture, UNAM.

The cobblestone landscape continues the desert hues and textures, joining building to site in a manner that would be impossible to achieve solely with vegetation.

In 1985, Legorreta Arquitectos began one of their most extensive works: the master plan for Solana in Dallas, Texas, and the design of the Solana Village Center and the IBM National Marketing and Technical Support Center.

From 1961 to 1963, he devoted himself to free professional activity, and in 1964, he founded Legorreta Arquitectos together with Noé Castro and Carlos Vargas Senior. Islamic architecture features in his work, as seen by the incorporation of courtyards in many of his projects. He also worked on the project for the restoration of the Palacio de Minería (Palace of Mining) in Mexico City.

Awards and Recognition

Legorreta received numerous accolades throughout his career, including:

AIA Gold Medal (2000)

In 2000, Legorreta was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement.

He designed more than 100 projects, from museums and hotels to offices and factory buildings, university campuses, urban spaces, and private residences in Mexico and abroad.


His work was inspired not only by deep-rooted Mexican culture but also by the colonial period. This led to further refinement of what became known as an emotional or empathic architecture.

Subsequent works in collaboration with Barragan, such as the Camino Real Hotel (1968) in Mexico City, represent a fusion of tradition and modernity.

Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005.

7 May 1931 Born in Mexico City;

1948-52 Educated at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City;

1948-52 Draftsman for José Villagrán García, Mexico City;

1950 Degree in architecture;

1953-55 Project manager for José Villagrán García, Mexico City;

1955-60 Partnership with Villagrán;

1956 Married Maria Luis Hernandez: 6 children;

1959-62 Design professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City;

1961-63 Freelance architect, Mexico City;

1962-64 Chief of the experimental architecture group, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City;

1963 Principal, Legorreta Arquitectos, Mexico City from this year;

1977 Principal, Legorreta Arquitectos Diseños, Mexico City from this year;

1978 Distinguished honorary fellow, Mexican Society of Architects;

1979 Honorary fellow, American Institute of Architects;

1983 Juror, Pritzker Prize from this year;

1985 Los Angeles office established;

1986 Member, consultant committee, J.

Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles;

1989 Member, Urban Development Council of the Miguel Hidalgo Delegation, Mexico City;

1989 Member, International Jerusalem Committee;

1992 Adviser to the president of CNCA, Mexico City;

Honorary member, Academy of Arts, Mexico;

Visiting professor at numerous universities in North America and Spain;

2000 Awarded the AIA Gold Medal;

30 December, 2011 Died

Selected Publications

"Legorreta Remembers Barragán," Progressive Architecture 70/2 (February 1989)

"The Wall in Mexico," Architecture and Urbanism 265 (October 1992)

Further Reading

Ammann, Gloria, "Hacer una arquitectura congruente con el país," Racontes 62 (May 1982)

Antoniades, Anthony, "Ricardo Legorreta: una arquitectura mexicana," Summa 235 (March 1987)

Bayón, Damian, and Paolo Gasparini, Panorámica de la arquitectura latinoamericana, Barcelona: Blume, 1977; as The Changing Shape of Latin American Architecture: Conversations with Ten Leading Architects, translated by Galen D.

Greaser, New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley, 1979

Burian, Edward R. (editor), Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997

Diaz de Ovando, Clementina, "El Palacio de Iturbide," Artes de México, 21 (1972)

"Entrevista al Arq. Legorreta," Arquitectura de México 28 (August 1967)

Arq.

Upon completion of his studies in 1952, Legorreta worked in Villagrán García’s studio, becoming a partner in 1955; the results of this collaboration are seen in the functionalist/rationalist Hotel Maria Isabel (1961).

Legorreta was aware of the limitations of functionalism as practiced in Mexico, particularly what he perceived as its rigidity, universality, and lack of warmth.

Together, these elements infuse this work with a sense of mystery and warmth, elements that characterize Legorreta’s style.

These elements are also prominent in later hotels executed by Legorreta’s firm, notably the Hotel Camino Real Cancún (1975) and the Hotel Camino Real Ixtapa (1981).