Visiting Luis Barragán's Architecture

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know I recently came back from my Mexico City trip, and made a big emphasis on visiting the houses designed by Mexico City architect Luis Barragán. Before I get to recapping the whole trip I wanted to share a peek inside of the architectural tours I did because they were so inspiring. I love his use of light, color and minimalism. Safe to say I have lots of ideas for the desert house yard now!

Last time Joe and I went to Mexico City we visited his home Casa Estudio Luis Barragán and his last work Casa Gilardi. This time we had to visit the one I’d been dying to do before–Cuadra San Cristobal. And since we loved it so much we decided to revisit Casa Gilardi.

We booked the Cuadra San Cristobal tour with The Traveling Beetle which was such a cool way to experience his architecture. They pick you up from your hotel in a vintage VW Beetle or bus, and then take you around a bunch of Barragán architecture. Our first stop was Camino Real Polanco which wasn’t technically a Barragán work, but was designed by another similar Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta with significant input from Barragán in 1968. This front wall is incredible! There was also the craziest fountain called Fountain of Eternal Movement in the entry designed by Japanese-American landscape architect Isamu Noguchi. The fountain made me feel a lot of things, and kind of blew my mind. Definitely would recommend checking it out.

Then we went to Torres de Satélite which was a cool piece of art in the middle of the freeway. They are a group of sculptures built in 1958 as an entrance toward the neighborhood developed outside of the city. Our guide told us it was painted in shades of ochre back in the 60’s and I found a photo here. Wish it was still those colors, they look amazing. They were very cool to see how they change depending on where you are standing.

We drove through a few neighborhoods that Barragán developed and then made our way to Fuente de los Amantes. It was such a cool fountain and the water disappears onto the rocks below it.

When we made it to Cuadra San Cristobal just down the road I was basically in awe the whole time. It is such a magical place! This one was on my bucket list for a while and I’ve seen a million photos, but seeing it in person was even better. I couldn’t stop staring at every angle and details. He had such a way with angles and light. Safe to say I was ready to move in, haha! It’s in the rancho neighborhood where horses are trained and the property has stables and the prettiest white horses live on the property.

Casa Gilardi is one of my favorite Barragán houses, and the tour is really cool because it’s a private residence and the people that give the tour actually live in the house. Our tour guide actually grew up in the house. Can you imagine? I’m forever jealous of that!