Mauricio Rodriguez Anza has a strong urge to explore the revaluation of form in Mexican architecture. His revision of modem Mexican architecture suggests a dialogue between exterior and interior spaces.

The leitmotif of his recent work consists of examining three-dimensional drawing by way of tectonic drawings which have gradually evolved into specific languages with a corresponding physical equivalent It has led him to erect installations that begin by dealing with a three-dimensional space in order to develop a new vocabulary for large formats.

The architectural deconstruction presented by Mauricio Rodriguez Anza in Summons consists of separating the architectural drawings of the physical aspect of facades (structural articulation that is beginning to be used as a way to decode architecture from deep-rooted traditions of icons that propose main entrances, front with regard to rear, etc., and is becoming increasingly more referential). He wants to remove the masks that have attempted to hide the essence of modern architecture, that is, its structure.

In Summons the forms system is suggested and used in different ways via a structural module that explores the prospects of structurally-related composition formats, so that a building can function better. The different readings Rodriguez Anza proposes (trusses, panels and graphic supports) reflect the important potential of their components. The piece also proposes identifiable elements for use in integral buildings or communities.

If Rodriguez Anza's earlier work championed a progressive architecture based on the idea of redefining and rejuvenating buildings to get the most advantage out of them, in Summons he also tries to relate a system of architectural symbols to the unpredictable vicissitudes—contractions and expansions—of the modem economy. As yet, he says, no one has invented an architecture that reacts in a parallel fashion. The relativity between architecture and finance warrants a building that can adapt to the vitality of whoever is using or reusing it.

So the structural modules that make up the Summons architectural installation will be subject to contemporary financial speculations. But, in the words of Gabriel Esquivel, architect and professor at the University of Columbus in Ohio , "they will allow for the existence of crossed programs. These programs will not be characterized or ranked by the use of different drawings, colors or materials. This new dematerialization of Mexican architecture as well as its tectonic limit is the sole programmatic and materiality code, in revising the basic principles of modernity; they are an attempt to open new paths in Mexican architecture. In my opinion that is an admirable idea."

Museo XTeresa. October 1998.

Other sites on Mauricio Rodriguez Anza:
THE USES OF MEANING
RHETORIC AND ELOQUENCE
THRESHOLDS (NEW YORK EXHIBIT) 

 

SPANISH VERSION

 

       "Summons is an exercise of ordering and urban signalling, a catalyst for the understanding of a linear system of composition."

Mauricio Rodríguez Anza. July 1998.

 
   
...more on Summons (CNCA)
   
 

 

 
 
   
  Photo: Fernando Espejo Real and Hector Velasco Facio
 
© 2001 Anza One All Rights Reserved