Pani, Mario (1911–93). Mexican Paris-trainedarchitect. Returning to Mexico (1934) headopted Modernist Bauhaus principles, andmost of his works were designed with others. Among them may be mentioned the ReformaHotel (1936); several housing-schemes at RíoBalsas (1944), Avenida Juárez (1945), and Paseode la Reforma (1946—destroyed); the NationalSchool for Teachers (1945–7); and the NationalConservatory of Music (1946), all in MexicoCity. His vast Unidad Habitacional PresidenteÁlemán, south of Mexico City (1947–50), consisted of over 1,000 apartments, withschools, shops, etc., arranged in a scheme oflandscaped grounds, and further developmentsfollowed, including Unidad Habitacional Presidente Juárez (1951–2—partly destroyed (1985) ), and the huge Ciudad Habitacional NonoalcoTlatelolco (1964–6—12,000 dwellings in over100 buildings), the scale of which was perhapsrepellent. He prepared (1947) the master-planfor the Ciudad Universitaria, and designed theSecretaría de Recursos Hidráulicos (1950–3), and the Rectoría (1951–2) of the NationalUniversity, as well as Acapulco Airport (1954–5). Other Modernist CIAM-inspired planswere made for Yucatán (1951), Acapulco(1952), Ciudad Satélite (1954), and CiudadJuárez, Chihuahua (1963). Despite the praisebestowed on him, the numbers of projects thathave been demolished and the failure of muchof his work to age gracefully suggest his reputation has perhaps been over-rated.

Bibliography

Kalman (1994);
Larrosa (1985);
Malave (1983c);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Jane Turner (1996)