Page 105 - Libro Max Cetto

Foreword

he present work aims to inaugurate a promising collection that we hope will be gener-
Tous and provocative, the objective of which is to put into circulation a series of canonical
texts –in this case, a “classic,” as Bettina Cetto has called Modern Architecture in Mexico/
Arquitectura moderna en México– on various topics related to architecture and the city. This
repertoire will likewise be enriched with works on general or particular issues, either broad
overviews of the history of twentieth-century architecture, as in the present case, or the
construction and geometry of shells, which were critically acclaimed at the time but, for
whatever reason, have not been reprinted or have otherwise become scarce and inaccessible.
We therefore believe that, although many of them can be found in libraries, we must turn
them more attractive to the interested public, young students and trained architects by mak-
ing them available in new formats.
Reflection becomes a living process when readers pick up a –physical or digital– book
and extract information and decipher ideas and concepts through the perspective of today.
Sometimes a new reader establishes a vicarious friendship with an author whom he or she
has never met before. With this in mind, we want to familiarize contemporary eyes and
minds with those ideas that preceded them. We also hope that, through these readings,
they will enliven them and each reader and each author will therefore be able to establish
a fruitful dialogue between generations. That is our goal: to break the calm, sleepy repose
of the seemingly forgotten, to put ideas back in circulation with new perspectives and fresh
focuses to refresh them as much as possible in order to give them continuity in our days.
It was thus decided that this book –and those to come– should be available for down-
load, free of charge. It was decided to make a facsimile edition accompanied by a series of
new essays that explain the genealogy of Max Cetto’s ideas, bring to life his context and pull
back the curtains on the history of this book, pay homage and bear witness to his personality,
evaluate his architectural production and appreciate his teachings in the workshop at the
UNAM’s School of Architecture which, for over thirty years, has borne his name, all with the
goal of strengthening the ties between young people and the old masters.
With this book, we have met an outstanding commitment to the architect Max Cetto,
to his daughter Bettina, a great promoter of this project for years, and to his students and
scholars, who have also been struggling to put back into circulation the ideas of their be-
loved master.

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ÍNDICE