Teodoro González de León, Mexican architect, Died at 90

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Teodoro González de León was born on May 29, 1926, and died on September 16, 2016.

He was a Mexican architect.

He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) from 1942 to 1947.

Because of a scholarship from the French government, he worked in France for 18 months with Le Corbusier, from 1948 to 1949.

At that time, Teodoro González de León was involved mainly on the Unité d’Habitation project by Le Corbusier in Marseille and on the St Dié factory project.

As a student, he conceived the original concept and idea for the campus “Ciudad Universitaria” of the U.N.A.M., the main university in Mexico and that essence was developed by his own teachers and the great architects of the time.

The complex was part of the World Heritage as named by the UNESCO where several famous muralists – Diego Rivera, Juan O’Gorman – made important works.

From 1955 to 1965, Teodoro planned an urban planning series and made several construction plannings.

Following 1969, his work was influenced by Abraham Zabludovsky.

Together, he designed several public buildings between 1974 and 1982, amongst them the Delegación Cuauhtémoc, the COLMEX building, the seat of the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (INFONAVIT), the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and the Museo Rufino Tamayo.

From 1984 to 1987 he designed several distinctive buildings in Villahermosa, amongst them in cooperation with J. Francisco Serrano Cacho the administration center.

Together with Serrano Cacho, he also designed the Mexican embassy in Berlin-Tiergarten (2000–2001).

He also designed the Palacio de Justicia Federal in Mexico City and the mixed-use development Reforma 222 containing two of the 30 tallest buildings in Mexico City.

He was a numbered member of the Academia de Artes from 1984 on, and beginning in 1988 was member of the Colegio de México.

González de León was an honorary member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA) and an emeritus academic of the Academia Nacional de Arquitectura. He was also an honorary doctor of the UNAM.

Teodoro González de León passed away at 90 years old.