Luis Miró Quesada Garland: A Forerunner of Modern Architecture in Peru
Luis Miró Quesada Garland: A Forerunner of Modern Architecture in Peru
During the first decades of the twentieth century, when a traditional architectural outlook of classical languages and order still ruled, the architect Luis Miró Quesada Garland (1914-1994) was a fundamental precursor to the change of mentality that would lead Peru towards a contemporary and modern architecture.
Luis Miró Quesada, also known as “Cartucho”, was a great theoretician and disseminator of the new Peruvian architecture. A graduate of the National University of Engineering (UNI) in 1937, he was a teacher, journalist, art critic and essayist, who published his first articles on architecture in the magazine El Comercio (1938) and four years later became head of the Works section of the Lima Public Benefit Society.
Luis Miró Quesada, through his many writings, was responsible for disseminating and defending the ideas that underpinned a modern architecture for the local context. Among his texts is the book “Espacio en el Tiempo” (Space in Time), published in 1945, the first Peruvian volume to deal with the new architecture as a consequence of a structural change in society, “the book was not only the theoretical basis of the Agrupación Espacio but also, as a manifesto, its vocation was to introduce architectural modernity in Peru. This has made it one of the most widely disseminated and recognised theoretical texts on Peruvian architecture”. (A. Acevedo, 2015)
It was after the publication of the book “Espacio en el Tiempo” (Space in Time) that the desire for change and renewal began to rule the classrooms of the National University of Engineering (UNI), where the Architecture Students’ Centre (CEA) promoted a reform of the Syllabus. A year later, the Department of Architecture and the process of modernisation of teaching were created, one of the key events in the conception of art and architecture that mark the beginning of the Modern Movement in Peru (A. Acevedo and M. Llona, 2015).
Luis Miró Quesada was not only a great architect and theoretician, but also a great teacher, guiding dozens of generations of professionals under the principles of modern architecture. One of his most outstanding roles was the leadership of the Agrupación Espacio, formed in 1947 by members of the CEA together with artists, writers and other intellectuals, where the panorama of new ideas reflected in architecture and art was debated. As a result, the Agrupación Espacio Manifesto was born, through which concepts of a Peruvian modernity that went beyond architecture were disseminated and validated (Martuccelli, 2000).
The architect was in charge of the presidency of the Society of Architects (1952-1954) and was a member of the Metropolitan Deliberative Board of Monuments (1961-1963). In the 1950s, together with a group of people linked to culture, he founded the Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC) from which the new aesthetic approaches related to abstract art emerged. He was Dean of the UNI (1963-1964) and director of El Comercio Gráfico and director of El Dominical.
Luis Miró Quesada was one of the great architects and planners of modern thought. His works reflect the postulates of his writings, many of which are still in force, and are therefore considered works of great relevance in the Peruvian context. Among his main projects are the Casa Huiracocha (the only modern building with protected status), the Radio El Sol building, the Casa 11 de Previ and the Portada Cementerio El Ángel.
The architect Luis Miró Quesada is a key figure in the history and evolution of contemporary Peruvian architecture, being in charge of disseminating ideas of modern thought, art and architecture. He was a visionary man in his time, who always maintained coherence in putting his ideas into practice. Today, his legacy, both theoretical and architectural, continues to inspire Peruvian generations.
His main works of the modern period are:
1947-1948 Casa Huiracocha
The Casa Huiracocha or also known as the “house where the architect Luis Miró Quesada Garland lived”, built between 1947-1948, is located in Jr. Huiracocha 265, in the district of Jesús María, in the city of Lima.
“In this project, Miró Quesada makes use of elements such as the open floor plan, the sliding window and the roof garden, where a clear influence of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye can be seen, but expressed in a local language. It is the first work considered to be modern in Peru, as a new language and all the innovative elements that made it up could be clearly observed. It combines the use of exposed brick, a language of walls, ceramics, folded metal sheeting and partitions in a harmonious way. The fluidity in the spaces and the transparency according to the function is a perennial feature throughout the house, making it an integrator of environments and highlighting a horizontal direction that is only contrasted with a vertical axis, the cylinder of the stairwell”. (M. Linares, 2009)
Casa Huiracocha is a monument declared by National Directorial Resolution N° 290-96/INC dated 22nd August 1996. Its declaration is justified by the fact that it is one of the main pioneering works of modern Peruvian architecture, and therefore has historical and artistic value.
1951 Casa Jan
1953 Radio El Sol Building
The Radio El Sol Building was built on Av. Uruguay, on the corner with psj. Velarde in the Cercado de Lima. The 7-storey building is characterised by being the first building in the city of Lima to have an entirely glass façade. The building has an auditorium in the first basement, the very popular Café Monaco of the time on the corner of the first floor and offices on the other floors. Although Luis Miró Quesada Garland was awarded the Chavín de la Arquitectura prize in 1954 for the Radio El Sol Building, it is not currently protected.
1957 Agrupamiento Clement
The Agrupamiento Clement is a group of social housing from 1957, located on General Clement Avenue in the district of Pueblo Libre, Lima. These were built on a single floor, with an exterior courtyard that served as an entrance and an extension of the common areas. On the outside, the walls alternated with the finish of the tiling, achieving a different dynamic for the street.
1959 Tortuga Building
1965-1967 Palomino Housing Complex
Financed by the Lima Public Benefit Society, the Palomino Housing Complex is located at Av. Venezuela cdra. 26 to 31 in the Cercado of Lima, near the industrial zone. The project was designed jointly by architects Santiago Agurto, Fernando Correa, Fernando Sánchez and Luis Miró Quezada. The social housing is made up of a T-shaped module which, through repetition, allows the curved buildings and routes to be shaped. In addition, pre-Hispanic remains were incorporated into the public recreational area, earning the project the recognition of the 1967 Tecnoquímica Prize. At present, the building does not have a protected status.
1968-1975 Housing Previ 11
The Experimental Housing Project (PREVI), in the Lima district of Los Olivos, is an initiative promoted between 1968-1975 by the Peruvian government and sponsored by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). The architect Luis Miró Quesada participated, together with the architects Oswaldo Núñez and Carlos Williams, in the design of the experimental dwelling, Casa Previ 11. This is characterised by the use of the courtyards as an extension and projection of growth to the adjoining spaces. It currently has no protected status.
References:
Acevedo de los Ríos, A. and Llona Ridout, M. (2015) Catálogo Arquitectura Movimiento Moderno Perú. Obtained on the 16th July 2018, from cammp.ulima.edu.pe
Dede, A. F. (28th November 2011). HABITAR. Obtained from https://habitar-arq.blogspot.com/2011/11/luis-miro-quesada-garland.html
Martuccelli, E. (2000). Arquitectura para una ciudad fragmentada: ideas, proyectos y edificios en la Lima del siglo XX. Lima : Universidad Ricardo Palma.
All photographs were kindly provided by Alejandra Acevedo, author with Michelle Llona of the Arquitectura Movimiento Moderno Perú catalogue.