Casa Gilardi
Completed near the end of Barragán's career, Casa Gilardi turns a narrow urban lot into one sequence: an enclosed entrance, a corridor washed in yellow light, a courtyard and a dining room with water.
Facts
The dining room of Casa Gilardi ends in a red wall that cannot be reached.
It is the room's single focal point, set against two blue planes, and the indoor pool reflects both.
Casa Gilardi sits on a narrow urban lot, so Barragán built it as a sequence rather than a set of rooms.
An enclosed entrance leads to a long corridor washed in yellow light, then a courtyard, then a room that holds both the dining space and a pool.
Barragán kept adjusting the colours of Casa Gilardi while it was being built.
He judged each one against the daylight, the texture of the wall and the size of the surface, so the colours were never a palette chosen in advance.
Color System
Mexican Pink
The street facade is pink plaster, kept behind the preserved jacaranda tree — distinct from the interior's red focal wall
Jacaranda Violet
The preserved jacaranda tree in front of the house ties the pink facade to its flowering season
Reyes Yellow
Washes the entrance corridor, preparing the eye before the cooler room ahead
Bebedero Blue
Two flanking planes give the isolated red wall a field to sit against
Bougainvillea Red
A single inaccessible plane at the end of the dining room — the room's one focal point
Reflecting Water
The pool doubles the red and blue planes in a softer, less stable register
Limewash White
White surfaces along the entrance sequence pause between the saturated rooms
Garden Green
The jacaranda's foliage is the only part of the composition that changes with the seasons