Felix Candela was a Spanish architect-engineer who fled to Mexico after fighting Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Like his Italian contemporary, Pier Nervi, Candela made structure architecture. Louis Kahn asked a brick what it wanted to be- Candela asked concrete what it could be. In 1958, on top... View full entry

After writing about one day of modernism in Mexico City, I decided to take this weekend to catch up on the places I'd recommended sight unseen (at least, in person). Here are three projects, one unexpected, which all made reference to time- temporary cities on ancient, new buildings enveloping... View full entry

In most cities and towns in Mexico, there is a zócalo or central plaza. It's an open space, usually loosely programmed, traditionally used for markets, celebrations, protests, ceremonies, relaxing, and socializing. The zócalo is also usually surrounded by some of the most important... View full entry

Puebla is a city to the southwest of Mexico City, about a two hour bus ride. A very old city, it was founded by Catholic orders to counter nearby Cholula, a historic center of Aztec and indigenous faith. Puebla remained a bastion of tradition and conservativism for nearly its entire history, a... View full entry

I have a tricky assignment at work. For reasons I won’t go into here, my task is to adapt  a house design to be appropriate and affordable for a middle class family in either Mexico or the United States. The floorplan of the house is more or less established. There are four critical... View full entry