Luckily for me the only person from Mexico City I had a chance to meet was from Satellite. Erik laughed at the idea to take pictures of something he passes at least twice a day for 30 years, but being a kind host he was he could not refuse a weird tourist from a weird country. So, off we went.
Five triangle shaped cement towers, ranging in height from 34 to 57 m, are designed by Luis Barragán and Mathias Goeritz in 1957. The towers stand in-between busy highways and define the entrance to Satellite municipality. The area will celebrate 50 years in 2009, so the towers are being prepared for a face-lift.
From the pedestrian bridge the towers can be seen in full size. Majestic! I could not believe how tall they were! Compare the towers to the passing cars.
Then we left the car in the abandoned parking bay behind the towers and wandered around for I don’t know how long. I absolutely loved the experience of being in the shade of these simple structures, constantly looking up into the sky. We were alone on this safety island with the evening traffic speeding right next to us.
The towers scream Barragán – from the first sight – simple, but in reality phenomenal as the shape of the towers and shades change with every step you make. By 5:30 pm the light has changed and the white tower began to shine gold. Amazing.
More pictures on flickr.
Later I saw yet another area of Mexico City – Coyoacán, which at night felt like a Mexican answer to London’s Camden and New York’s Saint Marks’s. The main colonial plaza – Plaza Hidalgo – was full of hippies, punks and other kinds of young people, who look very similar around the world. With a great dinner and humongous two scoops of ice-cream my visit to Mexico City was over. It’s only been three days, but I have already found my comfort zone here. I was sad leaving D.F.
No comments:
Post a Comment