French architect Ludwig Godefroy discusses how working in Mexico has helped him to develop his concrete-heavy style in this exclusive interview.
Hailing from Normandy in northern France, Godefroy opened his eponymous studio in Mexico City in 2011 and has since become known for his distinctive Brutalist-style buildings that are often punctuated by geometric openings and passageways.
"Now I don't even know how to do architecture in France because it's been almost 20 years since I left my country," he told Dezeen. "I would consider myself much more of a Mexican architect now."
"It's given me a lot of freedom, because in France they would consider me as the Mexican and in Mexico they're considering me as the French," he added. "And I'm like, 'Well, consider whatever you want.' I'm in between, so I don't have to belong anymore." Ludwig Godefroy is a Mexico-based architect who works largely with concrete. Photo courtesy Ludwig Godefroy
Godefroy traces his affinity for Brutalism back to a youth spent playing in abandoned second world war bunkers in the small fishing village where he grew up.
"I got very into Brutalist [architecture] because of my sensibility for concrete, because of my childhood ? those bunkers," he said.
His interest in the style was further cemented by studying the work of highly influential Swiss-French modernist Le Corbusier, who was a major focus of the curriculum during his architecture courses in Paris.
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