Page 158 - Libro Max Cetto

A Tribute to Max Cetto

Max Cetto at the
Facultad
de Arquitectura
(UNAM)
Photography by
Felipe Leal, 1979.

influenced me greatly, perhaps more than I know. He introduced me to his vocation and
his love of nature, his admiration for the Mexican landscape and his understanding of its
rough terrain. Coincidentally, the architectural workshop that now bears his name sits on a
rocky site, two kilometers away from his house on Calle de Agua in Pedregal de San Ángel,
which is emblematic for its architectural design and for being the first to be inhabited in
that modern subdivision, which I had the fortune to get to know during his reviews of my
work and which, years later –who ever would’ve guessed– would become my office.
I was also fortunate enough to accompany him to the San José Purúa Hotel and Spa,
one of his famous works from his early career in Mexico, in a style he defined as “contem-
porary rustic.” When we approached the hotel, which once had a splendid exterior, he saw
what had been done to it after it had been taken over by a Spanish firm that substantially
modified the entrance, and he told me, “I'd rather not get out, you go on ahead, check out
the lobby, see the landscape up close. I'll wait for you here because I prefer to keep the
memory of what this place was rather than what it has become today.” Indeed, it had been
transformed into a very banal hotel, contrary to the spirit of its origins. I was nevertheless
amazed at the organic placement of the buildings on the grounds, a sinuous complex of
rooms and swimming pools at the edge of a ravine. I remember he patiently waited for me
in the car for more than an hour; who knows what he was thinking or recalling. I was struck
by his sad face when I got back and we then continued our journey through rural Micho-
acán, where he sometimes accompanied a group of students. He showed us public squares
and other places of interest, giving us his comments and analyses. My thesis project con-
sisted of a market and a slaughterhouse in Los Reyes and Tocumbo, in the avocado-growing
region of Michoacán. For both projects, Max's comments were decisive.
Beyond this direct pedagogical relationship, he bequeathed to me a humanistic vision,
linking art and architecture with creative thinking. He had been influenced by Walter
Gropius, the expressionist architect and set designer Hans Poelzig and Ernst May, all major
figures of 1930s German architecture and urban planning, especially May, the director of

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