José Villagrán García (22 September 1901 – 10 June 1982) was a Mexican

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Career

He is known for having developed several theories of

Modernist architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural architectural movement, movement and architectural style, style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco Architectu ...

, and for designing the master plan for the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

. He studied architecture from 1918 to 1922 at the Academy of San Carlos before it became part of the National Autonomous University, where he eventually chaired the Faculty of Architecture. Villagán García was one of many young architects employed during the presidency of Alvaro Obregón (1920–24), following the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

1910–1920. Obregón's Minister of Public Education

José Vasconcelos José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexicans, Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial pers ...

, who insisted that Mexican architecture carry meaning. Villagrán García designed the huge

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

in Mexico City as a neo-Colonial structure, with a seating capacity of least 30,000. Given the size, it needed to be of concrete. However, the concrete also contained stone and volcanic ''tezontle'', in a revival of the eighteenth-century style. He received the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1968, and the National Prize of Architecture in 1980.

Publications

*''Panorama de 50 Años de Arquitectura Mexicana Contemporánea'' Mexico City: INBA/SEP 1952. *''Teoría de la Arquitectura''. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1989.

References

Modernist architects from Mexico 1901 births 1982 deaths Architecture firms of Mexico Architects from Mexico City Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico 20th-century Mexican architects Members of the Academia de Artes National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico) {{Mexico-architect-stub

Career

Publications

Further reading

See also

References