The Mexican architect Mario Pani studied architecture at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the 1930s where he attended lectures by Le Corbusier and was influenced by his city visions. At the end of the 1940s, Mexico City experienced massive waves of migration from the countryside that doubled the city’s population in less than ten years. On a large plot of undeveloped land to the south of the city the young architect was able to realize his ideas given the freedom to experiment and design the Multifamiliar Alemán far from the bustling city center. He took the challenge to find a synthesis between the modernist “internationalist style” and Mexico’s postrevolutionary nationalist ethos. Providing greenspace and sunlight in between, six high-rise buildings were laid out in a diagonal “zig-zag”. At the center of the complex Pani created a swimming pool, surrounded by gardens and walls that featured pre-Hispanic symbols.

In use.