Centro Urbano Benito Juárez
It was one of several projects of this type by architect Mario Pani, designed to be semi-autonomous and incorporate as much outdoors space as possible.
Most of the complex, and the mural work with it, were destroyed by the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the demolition of many of the damaged buildings.
Presidents Plutarco Elías Calles, Emilio Portes Gil and Lázaro Cárdenas all took their oaths of office here.
[2] In the mid 20th century, the Mexican government was building "centros urbanos" or planned urban communities in various parts of the city.
Its success prompted the commission of the Centro Urbano Benito Juárez by Mexican President Miguel Alemán Valdés to house government employees and their families.
[2] Pani's work on this and other projects paralleled that of French architect Le Corbusier, using the latter's principles such as location, mobility, architectural aesthetics, history and more.
[10] These emphasis on space reduced Le Corbusier's recommendation of 1,000 residents per hectare to 240, and would make this the least densely populated of his apartment projects.
Within the apartments, open space was created by eliminating walls between the living and dining rooms, which was popular in the United States starting in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mérida realized that motorists did not have time to contemplate peripheral images, so he placed elongated anthropomorphic figures which preceded and anticipated the forward motion of the cars.
[17] Pani's and Mérida's work received mixed reviews, which often reflected the rivalry "Contemporáneo" school of art, and the more politicized Mexican traditional muralist movement.
One example of this mixed message was from Siqueiros, who initially praised the "plastic integration" concept but then condemned both the art and the architecture as "bourgeois", poorly done and representing a return to the pre Mexican Revolution Porfiiran era.
[1] The real destruction occurred during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, thirty three years after the complex was finished.
[20] This earthquake severely damaged the Colonia Roma section of the city, leaving many buildings in ruins.
Pensiones Civiles erred when they created the rental contracts with tenants by neglecting to add a clause allowing them to raise rents.
One student of Mérida's Alfonso Soto Soria, used some of the original designed to create a monument to the work done at the Juárez complex.
[3] Like other planned urban communities of the mid 20th century, what remains of the Conjunto Urbano Benito Juárez has continued to deteriorate.
