The Agent of Nature in Houses of Luis Barragán

This paper discusses Luis Barragán’s method, development process and source of creating “remoteness” and realizing “empty and lonely” scene atmosphere in the daily space of human scale. Starting from the analysis of Luis Barragán House and Studio, it notes that the building has gradually realized the double shielding of the city and the nature during transformation. By adjusting the layers of light, differential treatment of spatial interface, setting half height wall, and making the coexistence of human and higher spatial scale, the house creates a controlled dimness, brings a far-reaching sense of space and makes the interior a container of “natural shadow”. Through sorting out Luis Barragán’s design works in different periods, it discusses how Luis Barragán’s attitude towards “nature” has changed his design language. Architecture is becoming “closed” and “box of light”, which enables natural information to be filtered, and turns specific “complexity” into abstract “subtlety”, making it appear strangely. This paper focuses on the profound influence of El Pedregal on Luis Barragán’s aesthetic ideal which turns to the primitive and vigorous, and points out that this change is related to his gradual in-depth understanding of the sense of loneliness in the North American continent.