Luis Barragán Chair

A space for collective dialogue, where voices from the Global South can find a place to reflect on their challenges and propose new futures through architecture.

The Luis Barragán Chair was created in the spring of 2000 as a space for reflection open to students, architecture professionals, professors, and the community at large. For a decade, it brought together 23 distinguished guests who shared their visions on design, construction, and architectural thinking.

Now, the Chair has reemerged with a renewed vision, as a contemporary response to the current challenges in architecture and cities. We propose shifting our gaze to architectural practices in Latin America, a territory that is equally complex and rich in history and learning, where unique challenges and contexts drive innovative practices, deeply rooted in local realities, but at the same time are capable of opening reflections of a planetary scope.

Upcoming events

The gravity of things

Sebastián Irarrázaval is an architect who graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He pursued postgraduate studies in Housing and Urbanism at the Architectural Association in London, as well as studies in Philosophy and Aesthetics. His work is characterized by an approach that combines conceptual reflection, constructive precision, and a careful reading of context, understanding architecture as a cultural discipline with a public impact. He has maintained a longstanding academic career as a professor of Architectural Design Studio at the School of Architecture of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, complemented by teaching appointments abroad at institutions such as MIT, IUAV University of Venice, and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

His work has been featured in numerous international biennials and exhibitions, including the Venice Architecture Biennale. It has also been published in journals such as ARQ, Architectural Review, A+U, and Casabella. He has received several major distinctions, including the Eero Saarinen Lecture at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture awarded by the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the RIBA Award for International Excellence, and his appointment as a RIBA International Fellow.

→ Wednesday, May 6; 6:00 p.m. Mexico City time (UTC−6).

Watch here

6 May, 2026

Sebastián Irarrázaval

Architecture stories and dynamics

Throughout the history of the Luis Barragán Chair, we have had the privilege of hosting Pritzker Prize winners and other prominent figures in architecture, such as Shigeru Ban, Ricardo Legorreta, Eduardo Souto de Moura, and Glenn Murcutt.

In this new phase, our aim is to explore what it means to practice architecture today, in a global context marked by the climate crisis, social inequalities, and the urgent need to build spaces that respond to collective needs. Inspired by the legacy of Luis Barragán, who found beauty in the mundane and transcendence in simplicity, we propose a space for sharing based on empathy, generosity, and a willingness to rethink our professional practice.

Gallery of speakers