Publication

  • Fuller in Mexico!/Fuller en México!
    Daniel López-Pérez
    Author
    Arquine, 2015
  • GRANTEE
    Daniel López-Pérez
    GRANT YEAR
    2015

R. Buckminster Fuller, "Subdivisions of the Spherical Icosahedron," World Design Science Decade (1965–75), Phase I, Document 2, “The Design Initiative,” 1963. Courtesy of the R. Buckminster Fuller Estate.

Commemorating the 120th anniversary of R. Buckminster Fuller's (1895–1983) birth, Fuller in Mexico/Fuller en México! includes his "Mexico Lecture," in both English and Spanish for the first time, illustrated with its original slides and captions. The "Mexico Lecture" is one of the most comprehensive and concise autobiographical overviews of Fuller's career. It also launched Fuller's World Design Science Decade (1965—75), an ambitious ten-year program, drafted for the International Union of Architects (UIA) and focused on  revolutionizing existing models of architectural education. The World Design Science Decade proposed a shared research brief to be adopted by architecture programs globally. Although Fuller had demonstrated a lifelong commitment to education, the "Mexico Lecture" and World Design Science Decade offer a unique perspective on his belief in the latent potential of architectural education, and by extension, that of the discipline's broader social and political contributions.

Daniel López-Pérez earned his PhD in the history and theory of architecture at Princeton, and is assistant professor of architecture at the University of San Diego. From a Graham Foundation grant, López-Pérez was one of the codesigners and cocurators of the exhibition Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines from 196x to 197x. In 2009, he coedited The Function of Form, with Farshid Moussavi. In 2013, López-Pérez edited R. Buckminster Fuller: World Man, a study of Fuller's never-before-published inaugural Kassler lecture delivered at Princeton University's School of Architecture in 1966,  named a Design Book of the Year: Editor's Pick by Architect in 2013. López-Pérez was curator of and contributor to Network Patents, a week of lectures and exhibitions on R. Buckminster Fuller, as part of the OfficeUS program, for the US Pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014.