One of the standout highlights of Mexico City Art Week was the reopening of La Cuadra San Cristóbal, one of Mexican architect Luis Barragán’s most inspiring masterpieces. A miracle of light, color and nature, it integrates Modernist principles of geometric abstraction and pure architectural volumes with traditional Mexican architecture and the country’s vibrant colors. The stunning equestrian estate—just forty minutes north of Mexico City’s center—is a living pictorial composition in which empty space, architecture and nature blend seamlessly. Designed and completed in the 1960s by the celebrated architect, everything at La Cuadra San Cristóbal coexists in a delicate, near-impossible balance, achieved through a measured orchestration of colors and light drawn directly from nature, both inside and throughout the estate.
Now, after decades of private ownership and limited access, the estate is finally set to become a cultural landmark following its 2024 acquisition by Fundación Fernando Romero. The architect and philanthropist purchased the property to preserve Barragán’s architectural vision and transform it into a dynamic cultural platform. Romero is, of course, himself a leading figure in Mexican architecture, known for major projects in Mexico City spanning both cultural and commercial fields—from the iconic Museo Soumaya and Eco-Museum to business and hospitality ventures like the G-20 Convention Center and the Kering offices. Notably, he was also behind the bold design for Mexico City’s new international airport, conceived together with Norman Foster. The project would have covered 555,000 square meters with three runways—expandable to six by 2062—all served by a single terminal building, eliminating the need for shuttles and trains between terminals. Yet despite its visionary scope, the project was canceled by public vote in 2018.
While Romero was a young architecture student in Mexico City, Barragán was more than an inspiration—he was a cornerstone of his visual and structural education. “We did not have a great education in Mexico then. It was like a crisis in education because architecture is always interconnected with the economy, and we had an economic crisis in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s,” Romero told Observer during Mexico City Art Week. He started visiting Barragán’s works when he was in his 20s. “I realized that that was probably the best school, the best education I could have. When you visit each of his masterpieces, he contradicts all that the professors wanted to teach you in the schools. He has this perfection in composition, proportions and color but then embraces imperfection as a possibility. I always found it a great relief just to visit his work.”
It was only later when Romero began offering tours of some Barragán properties with Pablo León de la Barra, now curator for Latin America at the Guggenheim, that he began to dig deeper into his practice. Through those experiences, he learned from people closely involved in Barragán’s process and developed his own interpretations of the architect’s decisions. “That was also part of the learning process—how to read architecture, how to analyze architecture and how to share and confront how people read and live it.”
Romero later spent time in Europe and returned to his home country, a celebrated architect and designer in his own right. His revisiting La Cuadra, however, happened almost by accident. While searching for a place to house the Archivo Diseño y Arquitectura collection, he connected with the family that owned the iconic site. “They were very interested in finding somebody that can actually protect the property,” he said. “So, my first commitment was to protect this property for life, but I was also willing to try to create a place to celebrate Barragán’s genius.”
During the VIP sneak peek of La Cuadra San Cristóbal coinciding with ZONAMACO, visitors encountered a striking display of maquettes of Barragán’s most iconic projects, beautifully isolated on pillars and staged inside the former stables. In September, the estate will host a full exhibition dedicated to twenty of Barragán’s most memorable projects across Mexico—an overdue tribute to an architect whose genius, though never taken beyond his home country, anticipated much of today’s architectural thinking through his masterful dialogues of color, light and nature. His work, long before it was the trend, sought a more harmonious integration between human interventions and the natural beauty of the planet.
The exhibition, curated by Jorge Covarrubias—renowned for his work restoring Casa Prieto López and Fuente del Bebedero—will spotlight Barragán’s first modernist buildings in Mexico City and provide an in-depth exploration of eight major works: Casa Prieto López, Casa Gálvez, Casa Gilardi, Casa Estudio Barragán, Convento de las Capuchinas, La Cuadra San Cristóbal, Torres de Satélite and Fuente del Bebedero.
Romero’s vision for the estate extends beyond the celebration of Barragán’s legacy—he aims to transform it into a vibrant cultural center, inviting contemporary artists for residencies and hosting exhibitions that continue the conversation between art and architecture. “Artists have a passion for architecture, despite that we’re working in completely different fields,” he explained. “Architects need to solve problems, functional problems. Artists work with almost no limits. The relation with artists drastically enriched Barragán.”
Notably, Barragán’s work was deeply shaped not only by architectural predecessors like Juan O’Gorman—who designed Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s studios—and his close companion Mathias Goeritz, who fled Germany in search of light in Spain and Mexico but also by artists such as Rufino Tamayo, whose vivid use of color and texture profoundly influenced his aesthetic vocabulary.
Barragán’s magic lies in his mastery of color, texture, abstract form and harmonious dialogue with the surrounding environment. His work is less about construction and more about creating devices of aesthetic perception—melding the exciting and the possible in ways that continue to influence today’s artistic landscape. In a way, his legacy parallels the sensory explorations of James Turrell, whose light installations redefine perception, or the aesthetic experiments of today’s contemporary architects.
“We are trying to create a place to celebrate this relationship between art and architecture,” said Romero. And to inaugurate what promises to become a landmark destination within Mexico City’s already rich and vibrant art scene, artist Marina Abramović performed a memorable piece for invited guests and ZONAMACO VIPs. Seated majestically on a chair in the hacienda, surrounded by magnificent horses, Abramović delivered a powerful reading of her Manifesto, an ode to her belief that “Art is oxygen,” which she repeated with fierce conviction.
“Every artist should make their manifesto; I made it years ago,” she began. Her deeply personal and inspiring declarations ranged from “An artist should not lie to himself or others” and “An artist should not kill other human beings” to the wryly delivered “An artist should avoid falling in love with other artists” That drew knowing laughter from a crowd fully aware of her famously passionate and tumultuous relationship with longtime collaborator and partner Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen), with whom she created some of the 20th Century’s most iconic and demanding performance works, exploring identity, trust, pain and the limits of the human body.
“An artist should develop an erotic point of view of the world,” Abramović continued before concluding that, “An artist should be erotic.” Her declaration transcended artistic practice, reflecting a broader aesthetic and ethical mission for all creatives—to bring beauty, vitality and passion into the world.
This principle of artistry as a living, breathing force is also at the heart of Romero’s mission to reactivate the estate as a site of aesthetic exploration and inspiration. Abramović’s electrifying performance was a fitting opening gesture for the Artist Experience, a new program Romero plans to host annually at the estate to coincide with ZONAMACO—marking a bold start to what promises to be a transformative chapter in this historic site’s life.
Additional pavilions will soon be built on the 6.7-acre walled estate to complete the dynamic cultural center Romero envisions, including exhibition spaces and a library designed by globally celebrated architects like Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma. La Cuadra will formally open to the public in October of this year.
Thanks to Romero, La Cuadra San Cristóbal will once again become what he calls an “erotic” artwork—one that triggers all the senses and mental sensations. The site will house multiple exhibition spaces for permanent and temporary projects, an artist residency program, a library and even a podcast production studio. “It has been at least six years in the process of thinking the best way to the project,” he told Observer, adding that his dream is to do the same with more of Barragán’s sites. His aim is not only to protect and make them accessible to more people but also to transform them into new cultural and creative platforms that can continue to nurture and inspire future generations of artists and architects.
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