Enrique de la Mora

Enrique de la Mora y Palomar (16 June 1907 – 9 May 1978) was a Mexican architect who designed prominent university buildings and Roman Catholic churches in which he experimented with hyperbolic-paraboloid roofs. He is generally regarded, along with the Spaniard Félix Candela, as one of the most famous structural expressionists in Mexico. De la Mora was distinguished with the National Prize for Architecture in 1947 and some of his works, particularly his Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Ciudad Universitaria, is now part of a UNESCO's World Heritage Site since 2007. In Guadalajara, Mexico Enrique de la Mora y Palomar, affectionately nicknamed "el pelon," was born to well - known architect Manuel de la Mora y del Castillo Negrete, De la Mora would go on to become one of Mexico's most renowned Modern architects. In 1933, De la Mora graduated from the National School of Architecture as a pupil of José Villagrán Garcia and began his career the following year when he created the design to department store El Puerto de Liverpool in Mexico City. Initially, Enrique de la Mora worked alongside his brother-in-law constructing several buildings before pursuing a solo career in architectural construction in 1938. He would go on to design and construct more than 70 Catholic sites as a self proclaimed artist and pioneer of Mexican ecclesiastical architecture during the Mexican Modernism Movement. Listed below are three of his most notable works that are still around today. In 1940, De la Mora's career would skyrocket after the construction of his design for the Parish of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, or La Purísma Parish, was completed a year later in Monterrey, Mexico. Despite having the same Latin cross base that other Catholic parishes had, the entirely curved roof and walls had never been constructed for such churches before. He worked alongside Spanish - Mexican architect Félix Candela to create these parabolic roofs he is now accredited for, which are known as "shell structures" or cascarones, named after Mexican toys that are emptied egg shells filled with colorful confetti and used for several festivities.