In partnership with the Edith Farnsworth House, architecture scholars Luis E. Carranza and Kathryn O’Rourke will explore five photographs that shaped modern architecture and urban planning in Mexico.
Picturing Mexico: Architecture & Modernism
Elementary school in Xochimilco, Mexico City, 1933. Designed by Juan O’Gorman.
In Mexico, architects used photography to stay connected to global design movements and communicate the ideas behind their work. Photographers, including Armando Salas Portugal and Lola Álvarez Bravo, developed innovative approaches to capturing the forms, spaces and concepts of modern Mexican architecture.
Through five influential photographs, speakers Luis E. Carranza and Kathryn O’Rourke will explore how photography helped define and share Mexico’s modern architectural identity with audiences both at home and abroad.
Prior to the program, guests can enjoy light bites and refreshments outside the Lecture Hall from 5 - 5:45 p.m.
This program is in partnership with the Edith Farnsworth House.
Keynote speaker
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Meet the speakers
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meet the speakers
Kathryn O’Rourke is a historian of modern architecture and Grace Slack McNeil Professor of American Art at Wellesley College, where she directs the Architecture program. She is the author of "Modern Architecture in Mexico City: History, Representation, and the Shaping of a Capital" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016), "Home, Heat, Money, God: Texas and Modern Architecture" (University of Texas Press, 2024), and editor of "O’Neil Ford on Architecture" (University of Texas Press, 2019). Her current book project is "Archaism: Modern Architecture and Global Power in the Twentieth Century". Prior to joining Wellesley, O’Rourke taught art history and urban studies for fifteen years at Trinity University in San Antonio. She has served on the executive committee of the Society of Architectural Historians on the State Board of Review of the Texas Historical Commission.
Luis E. Carranza is an architect, historian and experimental filmmaker whose research and teaching focuses on modern architecture and art in Latin America (with an emphasis on Mexico). He is currently a Professor at Roger Williams University, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Visiting Professor at Yale University's School of Architecture, and the O'Neil Ford Centennial Chair in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin.
He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California and his Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Architecture from Harvard University. His publications include "Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, Utopia" with Fernando Lara (2015), "Radical Functionalism: A Social Architecture for Mexico" (2021), "Ephemeral Architectures and Falsified Cities: Utopian Visions for Latin America" (2025), and "On Time and Experience: Luis Barragán and Modern Life" (2025). He serves as co-curator of the Barragán Gallery at the Vitra Design Museum.
Ignacio L. Vallarta School in Lomas Altas, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, 1968. Designed by Ricardo Legorreta.
Office Building, Mexico City, 1952-53. Designed by Juan Sordo Madaleno.
UNAM Central Library, mosaic murals by Juan O’Gorman, 1948-1952.
Sales Pavilion #2 in Pedregal, Mexico City, 1950. Designed by Francisco Artigas. Photo by Fernando Luna.
