Juan O'Gorman
Mexico City, Mexico 1905

The first son of an Irish father and Mexican mother, Juan O'Gorman was born in Mexico City in 1905. After graduating from the Architecture School of the National University of Mexico, O'Gorman worked in the offices of various architects.

O'Gorman adhered to a philosophy of progressive socialism which ultimately affected both his writings and buildings. Influenced by Le Corbusier and other European Modernists, O'Gorman produced some of the first examples of functionalist architecture in Mexico.

By World War II, O'Gorman had started to move away from his original architectural philosophy in favour of a more regional architecture. Disenchanted with functionalism, he temporarily abandoned architectural practice and devoted himself to mural painting.

In the early 1950s, O'Gorman returned to architecture. Inspired by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, he advocated a form of organic architecture. He integrated vernacular forms and detailing with modern structural and spatial arrangements to achieve a culturally, socially, and environmentally significant architecture.