Shaping Transformation Exhibition

Mexico City, Mexico

2023

Shaping Transformation was conceived as an exhibition of both reflection and dialogue—a means to trace a narrative around an almost century-long legacy of architectural and urban practice. The exhibition was paired with a large-scale publication, documenting the work of Sordo Madaleno across three generations. Edited by Barry Bergdoll—architectural historian, professor at Columbia University, and former Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art—the book was anchored by scholarly depth, with contributions from Kenneth Frampton and Martha Thorne framing the critical, international and historical impact of work that helped shaped the identity of Mexican urbanity.

Models on display in the Shaping Transformation exhibition at the Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City, documenting the work of Sordo Madaleno.

The exhibition took place at the Palacio de Iturbide, giving chronology to the practice’s work, underscored by the wider historical trajectories it formed part of. Crucially, it situated Sordo Madaleno’s architecture within the broader evolution of Mexico’s urban landscape, assembling more than sixty projects—from early works to ongoing proposals—through the display of drawings, models, archival material, and film.

Structures on display at the Shaping Transformation exhibition at the Palacio de Iturbide in Mexico City, documenting the work of Sordo Madaleno.

Both the exhibition and publication framed projects as part of a continuous urban narrative, a story shaped by shifting social, economic, and environmental conditions. From early modernist explorations to large-scale civic, cultural and commercial projects, the notion of transformation is seen as applicable to the minutiae of the everyday, domestic scene, as well as the large context of the urban. The exhibition emphasised transformation as an ongoing condition, positioning architecture as both a response to and a catalyst for urban change.