Yaimi Lizz Cartagena Santiago

ARHT 301 - Latin America & Caribbean, Fall Semester 2022

Prof. Jesús M. Meléndez Vázquez
CRITICAL REVIEW- “FROM THE INTERNAL TO THE RADICAL AUTONOMY AND
ALTERITY IN THE MODERN LOCAL”. “BEYOND THE SUPER SQUARE: ART AND
ARCHITECTURE AFTER MODERNISM IN LATIN AMERICA”
From the Internal to the Radical: Autonomy and Alterity in the Modern Local made by Javier De
Jesús Martínez is an essay that attempts to reformulate political and disciplinary principles using projects
designed by the architect Henry Klumb as a reference principle. The writing mainly focuses on exposing
the projects: The Student Center, The Faculty Center, and the private residence of Henry Klumb, as
physical, cultural, and political aspects of the post-war period that encouraged the architecture of the island
of Puerto Rico ethically and aesthetically in a positive way. Javier De Jesús Martínez introduces the topic
with a brief and coherent explanation of what the essay is about.

According to the reading, the arrival of the architect Henry Klumb to Puerto Rico facilitated the idea
of architecture and society in that modern movement era and influenced the mid-twentieth century in the
social, economic, and political qualities. The main point of his research includes references and historical
memories about the radical change that Puerto Rico experienced in the 1940s where the emergence of the
Popular Democratic Party (PPD), World War II, and the policies of Roosevelt's New Deal influenced a new
revolution and social ideology for a feasible modernization of the country. In this way, the Puerto Rican
version of modernism transcends contemporary spatial, representational, and operational architectural
processes. “Puerto Rico’s economic reconstruction also helped finance an intense urban development. The
development of housing and a potential tourist economy was part of the policy of the New Deal and key in
the island’s process of modernization.” In other words, the author clarifies that modernization in Puerto
Rico certainly influenced economic reconstruction and that provided benefits to the island in several ways.
Based on the past, a new global order was created by three mechanisms: the decolonization process, the
progressive decentralization of the production process, and the construction of international connections in
the background which extends the disciplinary productivity in terms of society throughout the world. It
should be noted that in Puerto Rico the development practices of liberation and industrialization
demonstrate the importance that was marked on the physical evolution of the areas.

Architect Klumb’s critique of traditional orthodoxy during the 1930s mentions that the third
generation reintroduced the notion of place based on considerations of climate, topography, materiality,
scenarios, events, and the transport of trains, planes, and automobiles, which extended an autonomous
vision returning modernism as a reference of development. Klumb after two decades declares the
perspective through a discourse about defending the values and the importance that it implies by
demonstrating the benefits of the industrial, social, and scientific acknowledgments with the main purpose
to acquire the way to express emotions through the art as part of the path of life. Corresponding to the
philosophy of Klumb, the architectural structure does not contain any meaning itself, it gets projected in
terms of the context that gets explained in a certain moment. Also, he radicalized his discourse in two
perspectives, an initial process of criticizing the extension of some historical structures in new architectural
interpretations, and the actual orthodox procedures that can be considered in the place-making context.
 Klumb’s architectural designs for the new structures in the University of Puerto Rico express the
indicator of a new ideological point of view that proves an extensive impact in some different stages on the
physical improvement of some campuses of the University of Puerto Rico. On the other hand, the
Recreational Center of the Faculty was a design process for the campus where it integrates composition and
distribution of autonomous qualities where it constitutes a flexible spatial relationship in the different
programs solidifying dynamic vision between the fenestrations with the nearby context. One of the
fundamental elements in Klumb's designs is the consideration of the external perception and its symbolism
when relating to the interior, for example, he projects it satisfactorily in his residence. The residence and
its environment of nature influenced the design and identity by merging interior and exterior spaces
generating a peaceful and organic environment.

The author highlights the most important project of Klumb in 1953, the Student Center of the
University of Puerto Rico, which was a central role of great historical importance because its complexity
attributed to a geometric base locating the center of the campus, its programs, and the institutional space of
the structure. In such a way that the geometric order leads to an internal and external logical understanding
of the building and manipulating the light, the topographic responses and the vertical geometry represents
the modern strategies.

I find it interesting that the reading has a relationship to the architecture of the past as an expression
of beauty that has achieved a fundamental logic integrating the style or movement projected in its time.
Nevertheless, it does not achieve the proper functioning of economic and social needs as an important
aspect to consider. However, the architecture of Henry Klumb demonstrates the evolution of
industrialization and financial resources of distribution in Puerto Rico. Javier De Jesús Martínez mentions:
"To glorify the past without accepting the present" teaches how we value the past while worrying about the
future and ignoring the present without focusing on the basic needs of human beings. The essay made by
Javier De Jesus Martinez helps to understand how the influences of an architect, such as the architect Henry
Klumb, influenced the contemporary architecture of the island of Puerto Rico in a way and encouraged the
improvement of the economy, society, and culture by designing and building functional and environmental
programs that enrich the visual and future perception of the country.