Mario Pani Darqui (March 29, 1911 – February 23, 1993) was a Mexican

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

urbanist Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban a ...

. He was one of the most active urbanists under the

Mexican Miracle The Mexican miracle () is a term used to refer to the country's inward-looking development strategy that produced sustained economic growth. It is considered to be a golden age in Mexico's economy in which the Mexican economy grew 6.8% each ye ...

, and gave form to a good part of the urban appearance of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, with emblematic buildings (nowadays characteristic of Mexico City), such as the main campus of the

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

, the Unidad Habitacional Nonoalco-Tlatelolco (following

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

's urban principles), the Normal School of Teachers (Mexico), the National Conservatory of Music and other big housing projects called ''multifamiliares''.

Early life and education

Mario Pani Darqui was born on March 29, 1911, in Mexico City, and moved to Europe in early childhood. His parents were Dolores Darqui and Arturo Pani–Arteaga. Pani attended the Marist College, a

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

Catholic school in Genoa, Italy for three years (now Istituto Champagnat, Genoa); followed study at San Carlo College (Collegio San Carlo) in Milan, Italy; and the

Lycée Janson-de-Sailly Lycée Janson-de-Sailly is a ''lycée'' located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The ''lycéens'' of Janson are called ''les jansoniens'' and they usually refer to their high school as Janson, or JdS. It is the biggest academic inst ...

secondary school in Paris for four years. Pani continued his education at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in Paris for six years.

Career

In 1938, he began the journal ''Arquitectura Mexico,'' which was published until 1979. He introduced the

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

in Mexico, and was the first promoter of big housing

Tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...

projects. Pani was a great innovator of the urban design of Mexico City, and was involved in the construction of some of its newer parts, developing or participating in the more ambitious and important city-developing plans of the 20th century in Mexico, like Ciudad Satélite (along with Domingo Garcia Ramos and Jose Luis Cuevas), Tlatelolco, the Juárez and Miguel Alemán tower blocks, and the condominium in

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (literally "Promenade of La Reforma, the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Maximilian of Mexico, Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig d ...

, the first of its type in Mexico. He would found the National College of Architects (Mexico) in 1946.

Works

Pani's works include: * Hotel Reforma (

at Paris street, Mexico City, 1936) * Escuela Nacional de Maestros (

, 1945), designed with

Enrique Yáñez Enrique Yáñez (né Enrique Yañez de la Fuente; 1908 – 1990) was a Mexican architect. He was a theorist of Functionalism (architecture), functionalist architecture, and specialized in Mexican hospital architecture. Early life and education ...

National Conservatory of Music of Mexico National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(Mexico City, 1946) * Hotel Plaza, now Secretariat of Urban Development and Housing * Secretaria de Recursos Hidráulicos (Mexico City, 1946, currently Embassy Suites) * Centro Urbano Presidente Alemán (Mexico City, 1949) * Centro Urbano Presidente Juárez (Mexico City, 1950, more than 50% destroyed after the 1985 earthquake) * Ciudad Universitaria of the

(1950–1953) based on main plan designed by then student Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon * Ciudad Satélite (1956–1952) * Insurgentes 300 condiminium (

Colonia Roma Colonia Roma, also called La Roma or simply, Roma, is a district located in the Cuauhtémoc, D.F., Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City just west of the Historic center of Mexico City, city's historic center. The area comprises two ''colonia (Mexi ...

, Mexico City 1958) * Torre Insignia (Mexico City, 1962) * Unidad Habitacional Nonoalco-Tlatelolco (Mexico City, 1964, severely damaged after the 1985 earthquake) * Port of Entry, Nogales, Sonora * Reforma 268 (condominium) * Condominium on Río Guadalquivir between Paseo de la Reforma and Río Volga, Colonia Cuauhtémoc

Awards and tributes

* 1986: National Prize for Arts and Sciences "fine arts" * On March 29, 2018,

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celebrated his 107th birthday with a

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Gallery

Image:Torre Banobras, Mexico City, by Mario Pani.jpg, Torre Insignia, a.k.a. Banobras Tower File:Torres de Satélite - 2.jpg, The ''

Torres de Satélite The Torres de Satélite ("Satellite Towers") are a group of sculptures located in the Ciudad Satélite district of Naucalpan, State of Mexico. One of the country's first urban sculptures of great dimensions, had its planning started in 1957 wit ...

'', landmark of Ciudad Satélite, a Mexico City suburb Image:CU-Mexico-rectoria-2.jpg, Rectory Tower of the Ciudad Universitaria campus of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM), Mexico City Image:Vista_Aérea_del_CUPA.JPG , Multifamiliar Miguel Alemán, Mexico City Image:Condominio Reforma Pani.jpg, Condominium on

and Ave. Río Guadalquivir, Mexico City Image:Hotel Reforma Mario Pani.JPG, Hotel Reforma, Mexico City (1936) Image:PlazaHotel Pani.JPG, Hotel Plaza (1946), now Secretariat of Urban Development and Housing, Mexico City Image:SateliteNomenclatura1.jpg, Ciudad Satélite (master plan), Greater Mexico City Image:Vista desde el edificio Chihuahua.jpg, Conjunto Urbano Nonoalco Tlatelolco, Mexico City Image:Edificio Unidad Habitacional Santa Fe.JPG, Unidad Habitacional Santa Fé, Mexico City Image:Unidad Habitacional Jamaica.jpg, Unidad Habitacional Jamaica, Mexico City Image:Reforma 368, Mexico City (Mario Pani, architect).jpg, Reforma 368 (1956) Image:Howard_Johnson_Macro_Plaza_Hotel_in_Monterrey.jpg, Condominio Acero, Macroplaza,

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Image:Parque España 55 - Mario Pani.jpg, Parque España 55, Colonia Condesa, Mexico City, apartments tower.

References

External links

Youtube.com video: ''Con los ojos de Mario − Pani I'' (With Mario Pani's eyes, part I)
�� {{DEFAULTSORT:Pani, Mario Modernist architects from Mexico Architecture firms of Mexico 1911 births 1993 deaths Architects from Mexico City École des Beaux-Arts alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Mexican people of Italian descent 20th-century Mexican architects Members of the Academia de Artes