Diego Villaseñor, Arquitecto

"... In many of the architectural projects... his work with local stone is fundamental. The architect uses it in various ways- he manipulates it, cuts it or positions as it is- always with mastery and perfection, as the great builders of Mexico have done throughout the centuries as a people well versed in its handling. "I did my first house with lava stone in the Pedregal, neighborhood of San Angel", DV comments. "They were stones from the same place. A construction that brought  with it the history of Xitle through materials from a volcano that, thousand of years ago, filled southern Mexico City with lava. It was material underlying the building itself..."

Rosanela Alvarez

"... On the other hand, we have here an architect who has always favored natural materials, especially those that are available locally. Stone and wood are thus granted preference, as well as elements from lesser category, in which the hands of artisans take on special significance; the whole, as always, having been judiciously designed and planned by Diego, himself..." 

Louise Noelle Mereles

"...No se puede valorar la obra arquitectónica de Diego Villaseñor sin instituir la oposición radical al gigantismo, que ha sido nuestro punto de partida; tampoco se puede hacer caso omiso de la historia de la arquitectura universal, notablemente la occidental, que se remonta a la Antigua Grecia. En el caso de Diego, la referencia principal sería la villa romana. La villa romana antigua estaba engastada en la vegetación mediterránea tradicional, espontánea (a diferencia del sofisticado jardin a la française): el pino marítimo y el ciprés. No van sin estilizadas columnas dóricas las casas de Diego, pero también ostentan, en caso, arco escarzado, ajeno tanto a la tradición románica, como a la gótica; ésta es una de sus audacias creativas, nunca forzadas. Lo que quiero insinuar es que sus casas se han fundido, con sutileza pero con acento, en la vegetación mexicana más típica, las cactáceas, buganvillas, plátanos…, y ésta ha sido como el estuche de cada una de ellas. Su ambiente predilecto es la costa del Pacífico, como le corresponde a un jalisciense. El intimismo del espacio interior de sus casas parece más bien herencia de Luis Barragán. Pero debo puntualizar con Ortega y Gasset que: “una idea de ayer no influye en otra de hoy, propiamente hablando, sino que aquélla, influye en un hombre que reacciona a esa influencia con nueva idea”. El intimismo naturalista de Villaseñor no es el secretismo de Barragán: está abierto al paisaje..."

Jacques Lafaye

"...Diego firmly believes that art, when honest and organic, can be one of the vehicles that serves to unite all those "many Mexicos". "Look what nature reflects, what it achieves, without pretension; how something appears magnificent, pristine, natural, but not minimalist in any superficial sense: Natural processes and forms are form and function's finest outcomes. It's no coincidence we find natural organisms so attractive to the eye. We see them that way because they fit and function with perfection. That's the beauty of vernacular architecture, organic architecture and 'architecture without architects.'" 

Ana María Maldonado

"... In the midst of a world trending toward globalization, DV recognizes of not evading one's roots given that he feels certain that nothing can be salvaged without them. Thereby the need to retain the local and work with a tradition that, in each of his projects, he expresses as genuinly his. Thus, DV projects distance themselves from the current trend in which architecture is subordinated to design, since he knows that the essence of his trade consists of creating and delivering a functional space for it's dwellers; a place that triggers emotions procuring wellbeing and serenity..."

Rosanela Álvarez

"... Diego Villaseñor is one of the most accomplished and leading Mexican architects who represent the spirit of Mexicanidad. He employs rational as well as emotional interpretations in his work. His approach to designing architectural projects involves, first and foremost, understanding the client's brief, but above all, understanding the site, its genius loci and its spirit of place. As Villaseñor states, "achitecture should possess magic and beauty" in order to stirr emotions. 

Georgia Butina

"... Contenía todo lo que un jardín debe contener: el Universo entero..."

"...Diego Villaseñor logra lo que Luis Barragán y Mathías Goeritz lograron: levantar sobre las cenizas del volcán  Xitle  (que hace siglos cubrió de lava el sur de la ciudad de México), los llamados Jardines de e Pedregal, un desafío para cualquier creador. Ambos Barragán y Goeritz sacaron un paraíso del infierno de piedras negras que acuchillaban la tierra y de esos cuchillos de obsidiana brotaron iris morados que son las flores que más enamoraron  al poeta Carlos Pellicer. 

Más que nadie, Villaseñor comprende que las plantas son la mayor riqueza de nuestro planeta. Son parte del aire que respiramos, del agua que bebemos. Sin agua morimos. Descuidarlas es descuidarnos a nosotros mismos. Por eso en vez de talar el árbol, Diego “le hace casita”. Aristóteles decía que las plantas son seres vivos; tienen alma y buscan su camino al sol. Intencionadas se mueven para asirse al muro o a la corteza del árbol. Siempre suben. Para llegar a rosa sacan espinas y secretan miel o una sustancia pegajosa que atrapa a múltiples insectos. Carnívoras, las plantas se tragaron a Diego Villaseñor y nos lo devolvieron en forma de cactus que levanta sus brazos al cielo. Ese cactus lleva el nombre de “candelabro”. 

Las plantas respiran y se comunican y se aficionan a quién las protege. La presencia  del buen jardinero las fecunda y algunas hasta tiemblan. El Principito de St. Exupéry cuida que no se marchite la única rosa de su planeta. Si la ignora, sus pétalos se marchitan y se yerguen al sentirse observados...."

Elena Poniatowska

"...A starting point in his design is that he first of all utilizes the drama of the setting.  Villasenor possesses a great ability to ‘feel’ the place and space and he uses that skill to frame and connect exterior landscapes and interior spaces.  It is frequently difficult to comprehend or distinguish what is ‘inside’ and what is ‘outside.  He is a great master of utilizing natural and made-made forms and he creates like a magician the fluidity of spatial sequencing. These different spatial sequences define intimate spaces where social conversations and interactions take place whilst at the same time there is a constant reminder that we are part of a much larger natural system..."

Georgia Butina

"...As with Luis Barragan, the great Mexican architect who has clearly inspired Villaseñor, there is a sense of an extremely gifted compositional hand at work. One exterior wall has potted plants before it, flowers atop it, and a tall cactus rising behind it— an exquisite painterly arrangement. So, too, are the alcoves accented with old jugs that play off the plantings, the wooden shutters and the vistas beyond. In each of these compositions, artifact, nature and architecture join together gracefully, making a harmony that perfectly reflects that of the house itself..."

Paul Goldberger

"... While Villaseñor's debt to the vernacular architecture of the Mexican coast is considerable, the real art is in the grace with which the architect has reshaped the style, expanding it into something suitable for a modern villa. The palapas could easily have yielded a coy, even sentimental design ; Villaseñor has made them seem a natural part of contemporary architecture and not an exercise in cute primitivism.

What helps, surely, is the quality of what Villaseñor has built below the canopies. For all the lushness of the plantings and the roofs, the structure of the house itself is restrained, clean and self-assured. There is no excess, but there is no sense of denying this kind of austerity, either. The rounded corners may temper the crispness of minimalism, but the attitude is similar-not a withholding of sensual joy, but a recognition that it can come from less as well as from more..."

Paul Goldberger

"...El artífice consiste en la interpenetración de lo tradicional tosco con el refinamiento de la mano invisible. Otra opción fundamental de Diego Villaseñor es la horizontalidad ,influencia posible de Frank Lloyd Wright, complementaria de la inmersión en el paisaje: vale decir la discreción del propósito que lo caracteriza . Quizá lo que más distingue a Diego de casi todos los otros arquitectos renombrados es su humildad frente a la obra: huye de la originalidad agresiva, y en eso tiene absoluta originalidad. De Villaseñor se podría escribir lo que dijo Octavio Paz de Manuel Tolsá: “no (era) un talento ecléctico sino sintético: no procede(ía) por acumulaciones ni superposiciones, sino por eliminación (…), concentración y equilibrio.""  

Jacques Lafaye