Teodoro González de León (May 29, 1926 – September 16, 2016) was a Mexican architect.

Biography

González de León studied at the Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura of the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 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 ...

(UNAM) from 1942 to 1947. Thanks to a scholarship from the French government, he worked in France for 18 months with

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

, from 1948 to 1949. During this time, he was involved mainly on the

Unité d'Habitation The ''Unité d'habitation'' (, ''Housing Unit'') is a Modern architecture, modernist residential housing Typology (urban planning and architecture), typology developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afons ...

project by

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and on the St Dié factory project. Still as student, he conceived the original concept and idea for the campus "Ciudad Universitaria" of the U.N.A.M., the main university in Mexico and that essence was developed by his own teachers and the great architects of the time. The complex is part of the World Heritage as named by the UNESCO where several famous muralists -

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

Juan O'Gorman Juan O'Gorman (6 July 1905 – 17 January 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect. Early life and family Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough A borough is an admini ...

- made important works. Between 1955 and 1965 he planned an urban planning series and made several construction plannings. Colmex007

After 1969, his work was influenced by Abraham Zabludovsky. Together with him, he designed several public buildings between 1974 and 1982, amongst them the Delegación Cuauhtémoc, the COLMEX building, the seat of the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (INFONAVIT), the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and the Museo Rufino Tamayo. From 1984 to 1987 he designed several distinctive buildings in Villahermosa, amongst them in cooperation with J. Francisco Serrano Cacho the administration center. Together with Serrano Cacho, he also designed the Mexican embassy in Berlin-Tiergarten (2000–2001). He also designed the Palacio de Justicia Federal in Mexico City and the

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

Reforma 222 containing two of the 30 tallest buildings in Mexico City, and the Torre Manacar in southern Mexico City. González de León was a numbered member of the Academia de Artes from 1984 on, and beginning in 1988 was member of the Colegio de México.Academia de Artes
''Arquitectura - Teodoro González de León''
/ref> He was an honorary member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA)International Academy of Architecture
''Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon''
and an emeritus academic of the Academia Nacional de Arquitectura. He was also an honorary doctor of the UNAM.

Notable works

National Auditorium National Auditorium () is an entertainment center at Paseo de la Reforma #50, Chapultepec in Mexico City. The National Auditorium is considered among the world's best venues by specialized media. It was designed by Mexican architects Pedro Ram ...

* Peninsula Tower * Reforma 222 * Torre 300

Awards

* 1982: National Prize for Arts and Sciences * 1989: Grand Latin American award at the

biennale In the art world, a biennale ( , ; ), is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally internationa ...

of architecture in Buenos Aires, Argentina * 1989 and 1994: Grand IAA award at the biennale in Sofia, Bulgaria * International honorary mention at the IX Panamerican biennale of architecture in Quito, Ecuador * 1994: Grand award at the II international biennale of architecture, Brazil * 1998: Gold medal at the V Mexican biennale of architecture * 2008: Gold medal of the International Union of Architects''Teodoro Gonzalez De Leon 2008 UIA Gold medalist''
, April 23, 2008.

Publications

*''Obra Completa = Complete Works.'' Edited by Miquel Adrià. Mexico: Arquine; RM, 2004. . With an introduction by William J.R. Curtis and texts by González de León. Text in Spanish and English. Edition of 1500 copies.

References

External links

* *
Teodoro González de León
at ''archiweb.cz''
Bilder der Werke von ''Teodoro González de León''
at ''praella.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez De Leon, Teodoro Modernist architects from Mexico 1926 births 2016 deaths Architects from Mexico City Academic staff of El Colegio de México National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni 20th-century Mexican architects 21st-century Mexican architects Members of the Academia de Artes