View his acceptance speech

A limited edition Henry Moore sculpture was presented to Luis Barragán 1980 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Masterpieces

In 1945 he started planning the residential development of Jardines del Pedregal.
In 1947 he built his own house and studio in Tacubaya, Mexico City.
In 1950 he made the urban planning of Jardines del Pedregal and erected the Casa Prieto López in the volcanic fields of El Pedregal 
In 1955 he rebuilt the Convento de las Capuchinas Sacramentarias in Tlalpan, Mexico City
In 1957 he planned Torres de Satélite (whose iconic towers he created in collaboration with sculptor Mathias Goeritz and Jesus Ferreira) and an exclusive residential area, Las Arboledas, a few kilometers away from Ciudad Satélite.
In 1967 he created one of his best-known works, the San Cristóbal Estates equestrian development in Mexico City.
In 1975 he developed Casa Gilardi considered as his testament work.
In 2004 his house was listed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Luis Barragán


The architecture of Luis Barragán is stunning, seductive and autobiographical. As Luis Barragán comented in his Acceptance Speech of the Pritztker Prize: "Emilio Ambasz had pointed out in his book on my work published by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Underlying all that I have achieved, such as it, I share the memories of my father’s ranch where I spent my childhood and adolescence. In my work I have always strived to adapt to the needs of modern living the magic of those remote nostalgic years".

​Luis Barragán is considered as the most prominent Mexican architect and as one of the major figures on the international field of architecture in the last century. 

He was born in Guadalajara in 1902. His early education based from the Marists and the Jesuits in elementary and secondary school. His professional training was in engineering, he graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros in Guadalajara in 1923. 

After graduation, he travelled through Spain, France and Italy. While in France he became aware of the writings of Ferdinand Bac, a German-French writer, designer and artist who Barragán cited throughout his life, and finally he visited his gardens.

​In 1931, lived in Paris for a time, attending Le Corbusier's lectures. His time in Europe, and subsequently in Morroco, stimulated an interest in the native architecture of North Africa and the Mediterranean, which he related to his construction. His architectural practice was based in Guadalajara from 1927 until 1936 when he moved to Mexico City and remained until his death in 1988.