Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis (May 7, 1931 – December 30, 2011) was a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

architect. He was a prolific designer of private houses, public buildings and master plans in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and some other countries. He was awarded the prestigious UIA Gold Medal in 1999, the

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

in 2000, and the

Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale ( ja, 高松宮殿下記念世界文化賞, Takamatsu-no-miya Denka Kinen Sekai Bunka-shō, World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu) is an international art prize inaugura ...

in 2011.

Life and career

Ricardo Legorreta was born on May 7, 1931, in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He studied architecture at the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

, from where he graduated in 1953. After working for ten years with José Villagrán García, he established his own office in 1963.UIA: 1999 Gold Medalist Jury Citation
, retrieved 31 December 2011

Architectural expression

Legorreta was a disciple of

Luis Barragán Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (March 9, 1902 – November 22, 1988) was a Mexican architect and engineer. His work has influenced contemporary architects visually and conceptually. Barragán's buildings are frequently visited by international ...

and carried Barragan's ideas to a wider realm. Barragan, in the 1940s and 1950s amalgamated tradition and the modern movement in architecture yet his work is mostly limited to domestic architecture. Legorreta applied elements of Barragan's architecture in his work including bright colors, play of light and shadow, and solid Platonic geometric shapes. One of the important contributions of Legorreta has been the use of these elements in other building types such as hotels, factories as well as in commercial and educational buildings. His most famous works are the Camino Real Hotel in Mexico City, the IBM Factory in Guadalajara and the

Cathedral of Managua The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (Spanish: ''Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María''), referred to as the New Cathedral (''La Nueva Catedral''), is located in Managua, Nicaragua. It was dedica ...

Works

In Mexico City

* 1964, Laboratorios Smith Kline & French, collaboration with

Mathias Goeritz Werner Mathias Goeritz Brunner (4 April 1915, Danzig, German Empire – 4 August 1990, Mexico City) was a Mexican painter and sculptor of German people, German origin. After spending much of the 1940s in North Africa and Spain, he and his wife, ...

, today the Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal, Av. Universidad 1449 * 1967, Colegio Cedros and

Universidad Panamericana Preparatoria Universidad Panamericana Preparatoria (Preparatoria UP or prepaUP) is a private senior high school in Mexico City, affiliated with Universidad Panamericana. It has separate campuses for girls and boys. The Campus Yaocalli (Centro Escolar Yaocalli), ...

, Tecoyotitla 364 y 366, Chimalistac,

San Ángel San Ángel is a Colonia (Mexico), colonia or neighborhood of Mexico City, located in the southwest in Álvaro Obregón, D.F., Álvaro Obregón borough. Historically, it was a rural community, called Tenanitla in the pre-Hispanic period. Its curren ...

* 1967, Casa Lomas Altas * 1968, Camino Real hotel, Colonia Anzures * 1968, Offices of Celanese Mexicana, now ''SEMARNAT'', Av. Revolución 1425, Tlacopac,

* 1972, Restoration of the

Palace of Iturbide The Palace of Iturbide (1779 to 1785) is a large palatial residence located in the historic center of Mexico City at Madero Street #17. It was built by the Count of San Mateo Valparaíso as a wedding gift for his daughter. It gained the name ''� ...

, Historic Center * 1976, Seguros América offices, today Tribunal Federal de Justicia, Av. Revolución 1508,

* 1985, Kodak factory in

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the ...

* 1993, Restoration of the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso,

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. Justo Sierra street #16, Historic Center * 1993,

Papalote Museo del Niño The museum Papalote Museo del Niño is located in Mexico City Bosques de Chapultepec. The museum is focused in learning, communication and working together through interactive expositions of science, technology and art for children. Building This ...

Bosque de Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

2nd Section * 1994, Restoration of the Club de Banqueros, Av. 16 de Septiembre 27, Historic Center * 1994, Remodel of the

Chapultepec Zoo Chapultepec Zoo (Spanish: ''Zoológico de Chapultepec'') is a zoo located in Chapultepec Park; it is one of four zoos near Mexico City, and the best known Mexican zoo. It was founded July 6, 1923 by Mexican biologist Alfonso Luis Herrera using do ...

* 1994, Centro Nacional de las Artes master plan, Edificio de Administración e Investigación, Edificio Central and Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas ''La Esmeralda'' * 1998,

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

Santa Fe * 2001,

Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe The Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Santa Fe Campus (in es, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe) commonly shortened as Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe, ITESM Campus Sant ...

* 2005, Plaza Juárez including the Museum of Memory and Tolerance and

Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores The Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs ( es, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, ''SRE'', lit: Secretariat of External Relations) is the government department responsible for Mexico's foreign affairs. Mexico currently has 80 embassies, 3 ...

(Plaza Juárez tower) * 2010,

Torre BBVA Bancomer ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to: Biology * Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome * ' ...

, in collaboration with ''Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners'' of London.

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (translated as "Promenade of the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Secon ...

at Lieja street. * 2010, División de Estudios de Posgrado y Especializaciones en Economía,

. Centro Cultural Universitario

Other cities in Mexico

* 1967, Chrysler factory in

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

* 1967

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

Cuernavaca Plant * 1970, IBM Guadalajara Technology Campus,

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

* 1975, Hotel Camino Real, Cancun, now Hyatt Ziva Cancun * 1981, Hotel Camino Real, today ''Westin Brisas'',

Ixtapa Ixtapa (, ) is a resort city in Mexico, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the state of Guerrero. It is located northwest of the municipal seat, Zihuatanejo, and northwest of Acapulco. In the 2005 IN ...

* 1985, Renault factory en

Gómez Palacio Gómez (frequently anglicized as Gomez) is a common Spanish patronymic surname meaning "son of Gome". The Portuguese and Old Galician version is Gomes, while the Catalan form is Gomis. The given name ''Gome'' is derived from the Visigothic word ...

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

* 1989, Plan Maestro para Huatulco,

Huatulco Huatulco (; ''wah-TOOL-coh''), formally Bahías de Huatulco, centered on the town of La Crucecita, is a tourist development in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca. Huatulco's tourism industry is centered on its nine ...

* 1990, Hotel Las Brisas, Huatulco * 1991,

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (English: Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey), abbreviated as MARCO, is a major contemporary art museum, located in the city of Monterrey, in Nuevo León state of northeastern Mexico. MARCO organize ...

* 2001, EGADE Escuela de Graduados en Administración y Dirección de Empresas del

ITESM Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and Mixed-sex education, coeducational private ...

in Monterrey * 2007, EGAP Escuela de Graduados en Administración Pública y Política Pública del

in Monterrey * 2007, Hotel La Purificadora, 2006

Puebla City Puebla de Zaragoza (; nah, Cuetlaxcoapan), formally Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, formerly Puebla de los Ángeles during colonial times, or known in English simply as Puebla, is the seat of Puebla Municipality. It is the capital and largest city ...

* 2007, Hotel Casa Reyna, Privada 2 Oriente 1007, Puebla City * 2007, Hotel Camino Real Monterrey * 2008, Museo Interactivo Laberinto de las Ciencias y las Artes,

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

* 2008, The Tides, Playa del Carmen

Riviera Maya The Riviera Maya () is a tourism and resort district south of Cancun, Mexico. It straddles the coastal Federal Highway 307, along the Caribbean coastline of the state of Quintana Roo, located in the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. H ...

* 2011, Centro Médico Zambrano Hellion of the

in Monterrey

United States of America

* 1983–1985, Casa Montalbán, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

* 1985, buildings at Solana Complex in Southlake near Dallas * 1988,

Tustin Market Place The Market Place (also known as the Tustin Market Place or the Tustin/Irvine Market Place) is an outdoor shopping center located in Orange County, California that straddles the borders of Tustin and Irvine, California, Irvine. Opened in 1988, the ...

Tustin, California Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, and does not include the unincorporated community ...

* 1990,

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM) is a cultural institution serving children, families, and schools in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area. A member of the Association of Children's Museums and the Association of Science-Tec ...

* 1994, Pershing Square restoration, Los Angeles * 1995,

San Antonio Public Library The San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) is the public library system serving the city of San Antonio, Texas. It consists of a central library, 29 branch libraries (as of the fall of 2017), and a library portal. SAPL was awarded the National Medal for ...

* 1995, South Chula Vista branch library,

Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popul ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California * 1998,

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

Institutes for BioMedical Research building,

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as o ...

* 1998,

The Tech Museum of Innovation The Tech Interactive (formerly The Tech Museum of Innovation, commonly known as The Tech) is a science and technology center that offers hands-on activities, labs, design challenges and other STEAM education resources. It is located in downtown Sa ...

, San Jose * 1998, The UCLA Tom Bradley International Hall Gallery and Conference Center, Los Angeles * 1999,

Santa Fe University of Art and Design Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) was a private, for-profit art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The university was built from the non-profit College of Santa Fe (CSF), a Catholic facility founded as St. Michael's College in 1859, and ...

Visual Arts Center, 1999, Santa Fe * 2001,

Max Palevsky Residential Commons Housing at the University of Chicago includes seven residence halls that are divided into 48 houses. Each house has an average of 70 students. Freshmen and sophomores must live on-campus. Limited on-campus housing is available to juniors and senior ...

(Chicago) * 2003,

Latino Cultural Center The Latino Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas serves as a regional catalyst for the preservation, development, and promotion of Latino and Hispanic arts and culture. The facility, known for its vivid colors and solid exteriors, was designed by arc ...

Dallas * 2003, Keller Estate Winery,

Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 a ...

* 2005, Bakar Fitness & Recreation Center at

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It condu ...

Mission Bay, San Francisco * 2015,

Cross Border Xpress Cross Border Xpress (CBX), historically also called the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, is an airport terminal located in the Otay Mesa area of southern San Diego, California, United States, with an access bridge ...

terminal and bridge in

Otay Mesa Otay Mesa ( ) is a community in the southern section of the city of San Diego, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border. It is bordered by the Otay River Valley and the city of Chula Vista on the north; Interstate 805 and the neighborhoods of Oc ...

, connecting to

Tijuana International Airport General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez) or simply Tijuana International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Tijuana), , in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, is Mex ...

Central America

* 1993, Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, (

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

, Nicaragua) * 2004, Multiplaza Panamericana (

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

, El Salvador) * 2005, Centro Comercial

Multiplaza Multiplaza is a chain of shopping malls, owned by Grupo Roble of El Salvador (the real estate subsidiary of Grupo Poma), in Central America. Background The first Multiplaza mall opened in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1990 as part of the expansion pla ...

Panamericana, in Antiguo Cuscatlan,

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

* 2005, New campus of the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios, ESEN, Santa Tecla,

* 2007–2009, Casa Margarita,

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

* 2012–2014, Terra Esperanza,

Other countries

* 2000, Mexico pavilion at

Expo 2000 Hannover An expo is a trade exposition. It may also refer to: Events and venues * World's fair, a large international public exposition * Singapore Expo, convention and exposition venue ** Expo Axis, one of the world's largest membrane roofs, constructe ...

* 2003,

Fashion and Textile Museum The Fashion and Textile Museum is the only museum in the UK dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design. The museum is committed to presenting varied, creative and engaging exhibitions, alongside an exciting selection of educ ...

, (

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, United Kingdom) * 2004, Houses in

Las Águilas Las Águilas is an administrative neighborhood () of Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. I ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

* 2005, Hotel Sheraton Bilbao,

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

* 2007,

Texas A&M University at Qatar Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) is a branch of Texas A&M University located in Education City, Al Rayyan, Qatar. The university offers undergraduate degrees in chemical, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. A graduate progr ...

, (

Education City Education City is a development in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Developed by the Qatar Foundation, the property houses various educational facilities, including satellite campuses of eight international universities. History Education City was launched by ...

, Doha, Qatar) * 2008,

Carnegie Mellon University (Qatar) Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (Arabic: جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر), is one of the degree-granting branch campuses of Carnegie Mellon University, located in Doha, Qatar. It is Carnegie Mellon's first undergraduate bran ...

, (

, Doha, Qatar) * 2008, Campus Center and Student Residential Village, the American University in Cairo, Cairo) * 2009, Casa Del Agua Hotel, 2009 ( Jeju-do, South Korea) * 2010,

Davidka Square Davidka Square ( he, כיכר הדוידקה, ''Kikar HaDavidka'') is a public square at the intersection of Jaffa Road, Street of the Prophets, and Pines Street in West Jerusalem. Its official name is ''Kikar Haherut'' (, Freedom Square). It fea ...

, 2010 (

Jerusalem, Israel Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) *

Other Recognition

In 2000, Legoretta received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

. In 2002, Legoretta received the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

granted by the government of Spain.

References

External links

Official Legorreta a Legorreta website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legorreta, Ricardo Ricardo Legorreta buildings, 01 Modernist architects from Mexico Postmodern architects Architecture firms of Mexico 1931 births 2011 deaths Architects from Mexico City Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Postmodern architecture in Mexico 20th-century Mexican architects 21st-century Mexican architects Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal