After a process lasting well over two decades, the permanent exhibition space of the Luis Barragán Archive (1902-1988) has been inaugurated this May at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, a stone’s throw from Basel across the German border. It is located in the building designed by Dieter Thiel next to the more famous Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron.
Since 1996, the archive had been managed by the Barragán Foundation based in the neighbouring Swiss town of Birsfelden, but the lack of suitable space had largely prevented its access and use.
By partnering with the Vitra Design Museum, the collection of the most important Mexican architect of the 20th century is now available to enthusiasts and scholars: 13,500 sketches and drawings, photographic material, furniture, objects, documents and personal and professional correspondence.
The director of the foundation is the Italian Federica Zanco, who was formerly on the editorial staff of Domus: “It is a project I have dedicated a large part of my life to since it is as old as my children. There has been some controversy involving the lack of usability of the archive. I have received several criticisms too. The truth is that the material needed suitable space to be consistently organised and archived, as well as the time and staff required for a complex and articulated cataloguing operation”.
The archive is organised as a thematic gallery, displaying documents and other material in continuous rotation. “Everything that is not on display can be consulted on request”, Federica Zanco continues, “just as the study room can be visited. It is here that we have moved the entire library of the foundation, which is full of all the publications on Barragán from the 1920s onwards”.
The connection with Domus did not end with the editor. Amongst the architect’s correspondence – in addition to exchanges of letters with Le Corbusier, Philip Johnson and De Chirico – there are also several letters with Gio Ponti, who was one of the very first to publish on Domus in 1935, and who remained a lifelong friend of the Mexican architect.
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This is not the first collaboration between Vitra and the Barragán Foundation. In fact, the touring exhibition “Luis Barragán: The Quiet Revolution” dates back to 2000. After its debut in Weil am Rhein, it toured the world, ending in Mexico City.