As probably most of you, I have never been in a house or a public space designed by the late architect Luis Barragan. That does not mean that I have no idea about the architect’s work. I actually believe I have quite a clear vision of his work since the images of his buildings that have been published embody his ideas in a powerful and iconic way that can hardly be challenged. It is clear that the images we know of Barragan’s architecture are ‘his’ images – carefully crafted representations of the idea of his own work. In this workshop, we will enter and visually inhabit two houses, Casa Barragan and Casa Pedregal, with the idea of representing the spaces, rather than the aura of images that we already know.

An important question we will try to address is how it feels to ‘appropriate’ through simple photography, the spaces, work and legacy of someone else for the benefit of one’s own visions, and what one can or cannot do. To begin to answer this question, we hope to start in the archives (near Basel, Switzerland) to look at and analyse the images, books and drawings that were produced during his lifetime. Following this, we will seek to focus on where we can insert and develop our own interpretation, without simply appropriating his legacy or iconography. These new interpretations, these new ‘images’, will then be presented at exhibitions in both Mexico and Switzerland.

Bas Princen, February 2021

This Summer School will be led by Bas Princen and assisted by Damien Greder.