Architecture as teaching
Introduction
Maria Luisa de Min Marinotti Puggioni (Gorizia, 1921-2018) was an Italian architect who developed a prolific career in Mexico as a teacher, researcher and designer. He participated in the Master Plan of the University City "Ciudad Universitaria (National Autonomous University of Mexico)") of Mexico City, founded the Master of Architecture in Guadalajara "Guadalajara (Mexico)") and developed a methodology for architectural design. His legacy continues through his publications and the impact on generations of students.[1].
Biography
María Luisa de Min was born on December 27, 1921 in Gorizia, Friuli, Italy, into a family that did not view favorably her desire to study architecture. Her father, Francesco de Min Marinotti, considered that architecture was not a profession for women and preferred that she follow a teaching career like her grandmother. However, her mother, Angelina Lazzaro Fajan, supported her financially to enter the Polytechnic of Milan, while her father believed that she continued at the School of Fine Arts.
During his studies, he came into contact with the renowned architect Gio Ponti, a friend of his family, and during the Second World War he worked in the office of his uncle Giuseppe de Min (1944-1948). In 1948 she obtained the title of Doctor of Architecture with the thesis Restoration of the South Compressorium of the city center of Milan. That same year he began his teaching career as an assistant in the Department of Construction Sciences at the Milan Polytechnic.
In 1949, together with his parents, his sister and his brother-in-law, he emigrated to Mexico in search of new opportunities. They settled in Mexico City, where María Luisa met the chemical engineer Mario Antonio Puggioni, whom she married in 1953. A year later, her only daughter, Donatella, was born.
In Mexico he worked at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (1958-1967) and the University of Guadalajara (1968-1993), and also collaborated with various architecture studios.
He died on September 27, 2018,[1].
Path
Between 1951 and 1954 he collaborated in Mario Pani's Urban Planning Workshop, participating in the Master Plan for the UNAM University City, "University City (National Autonomous University of Mexico)"), one of the most emblematic works of modern Mexican architecture. He also worked in the production of murals for the Italian Mosaics factory, founded by his father, contributing to works by José Chávez Morado (, , ) and Diego Rivera ().