110 years of the birth of Enrique Yañez
By means of a table of reflection, it was reminded with affection and respect to this great personage, fundamental figure of the Mexican architecture of the twentieth century.
The National Institute of Fine Arts, through the Directorate of Architecture and Conservation of the artistic Heritage Building (DACPAI), reminded Mexican architect Enrique Yáñez at 110 years of his birth, with a reflection table that took place on Tuesday 19 June in the Sala Adamo Boari of the Palace of Fine Arts.
The objective of this space was, in addition to giving it a well-deserved homage, to disseminate the work of this architect among the young generations, and to talk about the work of those who collaborated, materially and intellectually, in the shaping of the institutions of our Country.
Enrique Yáñez was one of the pioneering architects of functionalism in Mexico. He was born in the Federal district on June 17, 1908 and studied at the National School of Architecture of the UNAM, where he received an architect in 1938.
Among his works are the Mexican union of Electricians, the Escuela Normal Superior, the National School of Chemical Sciences of the UNAM and a large number of health buildings, such as the hospital La Raza, hospital General López Mateos, hospitals Lung cancer, oncology, OB/GYN, and nutrition at the National Medical Center; The maternity Hospital in Nonoalco and the general hospitals of Torreón, Tampico, Saltillo, Veracruz and Ciudad Juárez; among others.
"It was a vocation of service to society, with hospitals that are still functioning today. They were architects looking for social welfare. I think that part has been lost, but at the beginning, all the pioneer architects wanted to bring the maximum of service to a country that had just come out of the revolution and was rebuilding. " Teacher Louise Noelle commented on the event.
Yañez was an architect given to his profession with the clear conviction that architecture must respond to social imperatives. Like other colleagues of his generation, he adopted the postulates of functionalism to solve the problems faced by the Government to provide room for workers, and to equip the population of public service buildings, specifically hospitals . Therefore he specialized in the construction of this genre until becoming a teacher and referent.
In addition to its theoretical principles and political convictions materialized in its built work, it devoted itself to the diffusion and teaching through several publications including the books Hospitals of Social Security (1973) and architecture, theory, design and Context (1983).
For all this, it is a pillar in the history of architecture in Mexico, whose homage more than deserved is necessary.