While the kids enjoy their "paseos" on Wednesdays, we have been taking advantage of their longer absences to take our own field trips! Vivi and Tonito were spending their last Wednesday riding rides and eating candy at Six Flags (I can't believe I let my two baby 4 year olds go to Six Flags without a parent!). We, on the other hand, went to Casa Gilardi, designed by Luis Barragan in 1976. Luis Barragan is a famous Mexican architect who used bright colors and designed houses and buildings in the minimalist style. Here is an outdoor patio, built around this Jacaranda tree, whose flowers are the same lilac color as the wall to the right.
He liked to play with perspective, and the pool inside the house (we were prohibited to take pictures) was amazing- it was only a couple of feet deep, but the way he painted the walls bright red and blue, and the way the light reflected out of the skylight and off the walls, the pool seemed really deep. There was also a long hallway with tall and skinny windows that reflected onto mirrored spheres. Google "Casa Gilardi" and you can see images of the pool and yellow hallway- I don't like minimalist style, but this was really incredible.
We also saw a hotel, church, and a fountain (in Las Arboledas) he designed, in addition to the Torres de Satelite, which he collaborated on with Mathias Goeritz. We learned from the son of the family who lives in Casa Gilardi that the 5 Torres represent a hand, or figners, coming out of the earth. But someone else said it was the 5 children of Mathias Goeritz, so who knows what the real reference is. There is also his famous Casa Barragan and Museum nearby, but since the UNAM is starting classes this week, 1000s of students were going to be going to the museum and it would be too crowded. This Casa Gilardi is actually lived in by a family that will give you a tour if you call in advance.
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