Latin American Architecture 1929-1960

This volume documents the golden period of Latin American architecture that was inaugurated in September 1929, when Le Corbusier was invited to lecture in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. These countries were eager to apply -- and transform -- a European-born modernism, and within a few decades, they captured international attention with an array of extraordinary buildings, exemplified by the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

The contributors to this insightful collection of essays (which grew out of a 2002 conference organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the New School University) offer contemporary reflections that underline the importance of reexamining this almost forgotten work in light of the contemporary crisis in global architectural production. Each essay examines a particular aspect of the cultural transformation that took place in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico. Among the topics explored are the influence of Le Corbusier on the region, the early work of Oscar Niemeyer, the roots of Mexican modernism and its radical transformation in the work of Luis Barragán, and the creative collaboration between Venezuelan architect Carlos Raul Villanueva and sculptor Alexander Calder.