Francisco Mujica : From the Pyramid to the Skyscraper.

During his tenure at the University of Mexico City, Mexican architect and historian Francisco Mujica, born in 1899, undertook archeological research aimed at the reconstruction of pre-Hispanic pyramids in Central America. After his visit to New York in 1926, the architect became fascinated with the type of the skyscraper. Mujica was convinced of a possible parallel between ancient and modern forms, maintaining that the historical examples of pyramids and temples could lead to the design of new skyscrapers. In 1929, he published “The History of the Skyscraper”, an essay that coupled his own archeological drawings with images of recent high-rise buildings. His proposal imagined a reevaluation of pre-Hispanic architecture of Mexico and the adoption of its -“native” American- language, for the new type of the American skyscraper. To demonstrate his theories, Mujica provided a series of designs for new skyscrapers which referred, in form and ornamentation, to pre-Hispanic architecture.