District: Coyoacan
Architect: Mario Pani, Enrique del Moral, Juan O'Gorman, Félix Candela et al.
Build: 1948-54
Floor area: 10 km2
Rectory Tower by Enrique del Moral, Salvador Ortega Flores, Mario Pani Darquí, 1950-54. (Photo: Oliver Santana)
Monumental scale is a quality that is characteristic of modern architecture in Mexico, which can in part be associated with pre-Columbian traditions of large platforms and plazas. One of the most spectacular examples of this, actually creating a sense of a city within a city, is the campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Construction of the Ciudad Universitaria, situated to the south of the city, commenced between 1948-1954. It is a pioneering work of university planning in Latin America. The master plan was conceived by Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral who coordinated over sixty architects and engineers to turn the campus into a showpiece of modern Mexican architecture mixing strictly rationalist (new internationalist) premises with Mexican specifics such as local materials including volcanic rock, onyx and natural stone. The integration of public art in the form of murals, sculptures, and mosaics spread over the entire campus is also distinctive. Alongside some forty faculties and institutes, a few museums and a central library, the campus also contains a huge Olympic stadium (1952), a cultural centre and its own ecological reserve. Among the many architectural highlights on site, the Cosmic Ray pavilion (by Félix Candela) and the iconic Central Library (by Juan O’Gorman, Gustavo Saavedra and Juan Martinez de Velasco) are the most notable. The campus has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. p (fh)
The UNAM University Campus was designed by various architects between 1948-54. (Photo: Oliver Santana)
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