Ciudad Universitaria UNAM México

December 2006 | Janaury 2007 - Estados Unidos de México. Distrito Federal

"Without doubt, the University is, and I firmly confirm that it is, the most comprehensive and clear exponent of the direction that seems to have taken the Mexican architectural movement. Its volume impresses me as well as the speed of execution and organization"

Richard Neutra, La Ciudad Universitaria y los problemas del mundo, en El Nacional, México, 1952.

"The University Town is the most representative work of contemporary Mexican architecture [...]. Deserve a special attention the gables and the large stadium [...]"

Enrique Yáñez, Del funcionalismo al post-racionalismo, 1990, cit., pp.119-120

After Twenty-five years after the construction of the University we can say this was one of the most important architectural works that were made in Mexico [...] In the field of World architecture, the establishment of university places Mexico in a predominant position."

Mario Pani e Enrique del Moral, La construcción de la Ciudad Universitaria del Pedregal, 1979, cit., p.215

"The University Town, for its size and possibilities is turned into a new laboratory of the Mexican muralism "

Antonio Rodríguez, Historia de la pintura mural en México, 1970, cit., p.441

These are some images from a photographic and documentary work done between 2006 and 2007. They represent some buildings of the extraordinary complex of the UNAM Campus (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México) in Mexico City.
Executed with in a short time and formidable organization between 1949 and 1952 to broaden the spaces offered by the old buildings in the heart of the capital, is an absolute masterpiece of the contemporary rationalism, where more than in any other implementation, it was able to relate with the ancient culture and history of the place, the Distrito Federal, ardent forgery of the latin american rationalism.
The Campus excels in size, functionality, sublime formal, artistical and sculptoreal language. The original project was produced by a team of 110 professionals coordinated by architects Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, designers of the general plan and of the main buildings as the Rectoria, the sports fields, the multifamiliar houses for the teachers. Since its original conception, numerous other buildings have been added to the the complex.

The "Campus Central de la Ciudad Universitaria de la UNAM" has entered since 2 July 2007 in the World Heritage list of UNESCO as cultural heritage of humanity for "[...] establishing exceptional and universal values of the Mexican culture."