Spaces of Reproduction

In the latest installment of the CCA’s year-long investigation “Catching Up With Life,” Frida Escobedo explored domestic workers’ living quarters and the role of architecture in structuring private life. The points of departure for Escobedo were two events in 2018: the release of the film Roma by Alfonso Cuarón that tracks the days of a live-in domestic worker in the neighborhood of the same name in Mexico City, and the Mexican Supreme Court’s decision to recognize domestic workers’ rights and social security. Through testimonials from domestic caregivers and floor plans of the Roma house drawn by Floor Plan Croissant and Casa Estudio designed by Luis Barragán and redrawn from her GSD studio Domestic Orbits, Escobedo questioned the invisibility of reproductive labor—most frequently performed by women—and their mirrored hiddenness in residential design. The small antechambers in Casa Estudio that allow movement among rooms without being seen were highlighted in neon green, revealing layers of performance within private space. “One of the important questions is why do we keep doing this?” Escobedo asked, “Many people recognize the work of Barrágan, but it’s always about the proportions, the color, the materials, etc. We forget that there are strategies that have to do with the configuration of space… it is rearticulating something that is highly traditional.” The grafting of decades-old feminist theory and the years-long research by Escobedo onto of-the-moment cultural programs underscores the slowness of inscription of thought not only in cultural consciousness, but built space. She noted, “What is really surprising to me is that every time we try to create to new architectures—we have seen [this in] the work of Mario Pani—the work is exactly the same thing. He did the first condominium building in Mexico City, but the domestic quarters are still hidden from view. The only way to enter those spaces is from the parking area.”