The modern world forced us to leave the comfortable haciendas or at least the big and spacious houses. The 20th century proved that the human population could reproduce on a large scale in a very short time and soon the cities barely had space for all the people migrating from different parts of the world.
Thus, architecture had to deal with many problems in a short time, ensuring the well-being of society and urbanity. However, many times the development of architectural projects were not the most welcoming and people felt that they lived in gray boxes along with thousands of other gray boxes that crushed the spirit. In response to that is how emotional architecture was born in the middle of the 20th century.
“Art in general, and naturally also architecture, is a reflection of the spiritual state of man in his time. But there is the impression that the modern, individualized and intellectual architect is sometimes exaggerating —perhaps because he has lost close contact with the community— by wanting to emphasize too much the rational part of architecture. The result is that the man of the 20th century feels crushed by so much “functionalism”, by so much logic and utility within modern architecture”.
The above is part of the “Emotional Architecture Manifesto” published by Mathias Goeritz in 1953 before the opening of the El ECO Experimental Museum in the then Federal District in Mexico. This place, designed by the aforementioned architect, proposes an exaltation of emotion.
Its walls, corridors and rooms are suitable to provoke something. Sometimes the functionality is lost, especially if we compare it with currents like De Stjil, but what it gains in impression and feeling is indescribable for that very reason, because it appeals to an abstract feeling.
Social space is one of the main things emotional architecture appeals to. It seeks for people to feel part of the place, for it to dialogue with the people and for the people to appropriate it.
The mystery, as if it were a cathedral or mosque, is part of emotional architecture and although Goeritz was its founder, today the best-known example is that of the house of the architect Luis Barragán, the greatest Mexican exponent of architecture worldwide.
His house is a true work of art, so much so that it is the only individual property in Latin America to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Upon entering a strong yellow contrasts the external reality of Mexico City with the interior that causes fantasy and a slight pressure on the chest. Emotional architecture plays with colours, ceilings and windows to provoke feelings of claustrophobia and at the same time make you feel in a safe space.
Small corridors reveal large windows that transport you to a place of relaxation that transforms the previous feeling of oppression into one of complete freedom. This is how little by little you end up falling in love with a space so changing that it makes you want to be there all the time.
That emotional architecture is calling you. You don’t need an architect like Barragán to achieve it. In your own home you can start playing with the space to transform the place into something that makes you feel. It is to awaken creativity and print it in your home so that instead of resting in the back of your mind, it is always present in your living room, bedroom and more.