‘Palimpsest Barragan’ offers a unique opportunity to engage closely with a 20th-century modernist architectural masterpiece by Luis Barragán. As a hidden and still unrecognized gem nestled in a paradisiacal jungle on the Pacific coast, the ruins of this unfinished building have faded into obscurity. Much like Mexico’s pre-Hispanic pyramids, the site is currently in a state of progressive decay. The workshop will not only ‘unearth’ the project and finally place it on the map of architectural discourse, but it may have an even greater impact by initiating a debate surrounding the preservation of the disintegrating ruin.
A building can better withstand the passage of time if its structure is transformed into a layer of an entirely new identity, by dissolving its ruins into a new building and becoming part of an ‘architectural palimpsest.’ The juxtaposition of existing ruins with new additions or subtractions can become an endless process—an eternal layering, with each element contributing to the complexity of the palimpsest.
