Aaron Betsky introduces Enrique Norten, noting his education at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and Cornell. Norten practices mostly in Mexico City. He lectures widely across North America, and has taught at SCI-Arc.

Norten presents some early residential projects, House N and House O. With both these houses, Norten stresses the restrictive site conditions and the use of materials. House N generates tension between opposing elements, and uses traditional materials in a modernist manner. House O is more purely modernist and emphasizes planes that give a sense of dynamism.

Norten describes an auto dealership, the Televista Dining Hall, a housing complex “Brasil 75,” and a marketplace in central Mexico City. The auto dealership required integrating a number of dealers into one building, and then creating retail space. The Televista Dining Hall had to be a very lightweight structure since it was built on top of an existing garage. “Brasil 75” had a tight budget, so materials were deployed to give it a distinctive character.

Norten presents a cultural center at Lindavista, which he characterizes as repetition due to structural rationalism. The Insurgentes theater involves the intersection of masses creating a variety of spatial conditions. The Televisa services building in Mexico City is an iconic urban building that centralizes a variety of functions in a unified space.