Page 175 - Libro Max Cetto

In Cetto’s Proximity Bettina Cetto

living room, terminating at the other side of the house, near the entrance, in a natural
curve. After the rock formation in the living room was chiseled out, the whole idea lost
its organic continuity. 31

Fig. 21 Staircase, model home (Berdecio House), Avenida de las Fuentes 140. © Archivo Max Cetto, UAM
Azcapotzalco, Mexico. Published in Franz Schuster, Treppen (Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann Verlag, 1964, 38), its
authorship assigned to Max Cetto.

At the uam Max Cetto Archive, one can find early draft projects for residences in El
Pedregal with abundant structural and visible stonework that did not convince the develo-
pers. One had to design for a bourgeoisie that could be encouraged to buy houses in the new
subdivision and live in them. This largely explains why the Avenida de las Fuentes model
homes were not very “rustic.”

Cettoʼs Residence and Relationship with Juan O’Gorman

Dr. Ida Rodríguez Prampolini writes:

By 1949, Cetto had become famous in Mexico, and was known affectionately as ‘El
Hombre del Pedregal.’ He had built and now lived in the first house in Pedregal, an
area of Mexico City devastated during two millennia by volcanic eruption... 32

The rough terrain, produced by volcanic rock and featuring unique vegetation and colo-
ration, challenged Max Cetto’s imagination. As was his style, he walked it again and again
at different times of day until he got to know it like the back of his hand, thus allowing him
to design this masterpiece, which brings together all his experience and reflections as an
architect. Considering the water supply needed for construction, he took advantage of the

31 Max Cetto, Modern Architecture in Mexico, 180.
32 Cristóbal Andés Jácome, Ida Rodríguez Prampolini: La crítica de arte en el siglo xx (Mexico City: Unam, Instituto de
Investigaciones Estéticas, 2016), 489.

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