Redefining the Técnico's task: Arquitectura Técnica and the Claim to Governance

This essay offers context for the establishment of the discourses of tech- nical architecture (arquitectura tecnica), integral planning (plani cacion integral), the appearance and rise of the tecnico, and mid-century Mexican architects’ jurisdictional claims in the realms of politics and governance. I show how certain architects working as planners during the 1920’s and a younger generation of socially conscious architects emerging in the 1930’s claimed that members of the profession had a duty to work in collaborative environments and to directly engage with the state not only as technical experts or specialists, but more importantly as general man- agerial gures as a means of advancing their professional prestige, so- cial agendas, and political aspirations. Furthermore, this work introduces the role of language in the expanding and at times divergent professional trends in Mexican architecture during the period. I explore the creation and use of neologisms and politicized terms such as plani cacion as well as the word “tecnico” in the professionalization of architecture and its in- tersections with Mexican political society and post-revolutionary state construction. I argue that the use of these words by certain members of the profession aided some in making claims to the responsibility and right to govern and eventually contributed to a collective mobility project that sought to ll political/administrative posts with architects/planners.

Asimismo, en este trabajo se explora el papel que jugó el lenguaje en el ámbito arquitectónico y en las tendencias que imperaban en aquella época; desde la creación de neologismos y términos politizados cómo: planificación, así como la palabra técnico, que se introdujo en campos como en la profesionalización de la arquitectura y en la sociedad política mexicana para la construcción del nuevo Estado posrevolucionario. Se sostiene que el uso de estas palabras por parte de ciertos miembros de la profesión ayudó a que algunos pudieran reclamar el derecho a gobernar y por ende su responsabilidad que, finalmente, contribuyó a un proyecto de movilidad colectiva que buscaba que arquitectos / planificadores ocuparan puestos políticos / administrativos. Palabras Clave: planificación, integral, técnico, técnica, construcción estatal, sociedad política, profesionalización, expertise, espacialización, management, administración Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance From the late 1930s to the mid 1950s, the Mexican state and its political structures underwent a process of consolidation that at once opened the doors of political society to a largely civilian leadership as it did enable the continuation of single-party rule for the greater part of the Twentieth-Century. 1 During this period, some members of the architectural profession -mindful of being in competition with other professions within the expanding bureaucratic-authoritarian state -sought to achieve greater political agency via achieving higher levels of leadership. 2 By the mid-century, certain architects had -at least momentarily -achieved just that. Carlos Lazo Barreiro (1914Barreiro ( -1955, who was until his death the head 3. The political projects of Lazo during his tenure at the scop are a major focus of my dissertation, The Integrated State: Architecture, Planning, andPolitics in Mexico: 1938-1958 Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo the architect within this bureaucratic labyrinth from the competition offered by alternative professional experts, largely composed of lawyers, engineers and, to an extent, economists. 4 This essay thus attempts to offer a response to the question: how did architects achieve such prominence as members of this increasingly bureaucratized ruling class? More importantly: how did architects -members of a profession of some privilege and respectability in Mexican society, but not traditional recruits for public office -manage to be persuasive in regards to their indispensability in the construction of Mexico's new political society? I argue that one of the strategies utilized by certain architects in their attempt to carve out a space for themselves within this society was the construction and mobilization of a professional language that allowed for the abstraction and expansion of its traditional areas of expertise. 5 Rather than focus on the built works of architects in this chapter, I privilege the written and spoken language of the Mexican architects participating in the discourse of the profession, since in the political field -to paraphrase Pierre Bourdieu-spoken speech and written texts are actions possessive of a special symbolic power which, in turn, can increase the power of the user. 6 In Mexico, words, perhaps more so than the images or buildings of the architect, were deeply engaged in a labor of representation that sought to form and realize their professional visions by mobilizing a consensus and a vote of confidence. Because the Mexican government was ostensibly of a republican nature, this consensus still required members from a broader public, including non-political elites, other professionals (including other architects) and, to an extent, the general electorate, as evidenced by the forums utilized by 4. The profession of the economist -a position that would later become synonymous with the label 'técnico,' was still ill-defined in Mexico prior to the late 1950s, though both foreign and home-grown expertise was rapidly defining a school of developmentalist economic thought that would propel the management of the Mexican state well through the last quarter of the Twentieth Century. For more on the emergence of economists in Mexico's political economic management, see: Sarah Babb, Managing Mexico: Economists from Nationalism to Neoliberalism, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001). Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance these certain architects to communicate their arguments for a more expansive (and perhaps not too disinterested) culture of political inclusion. 7 However, because inclusion within an exclusive group largely depends upon the will of its already initiated members, the language of politically driven architects primarily had to mobilize a vote of confidence from the pre-existing members of Mexican political society upon whom their rise to power ultimately depended. 8 By adopting the notion of técnico in the description of the professional role of the architect, Mexican architects began to identify their discipline as one of a technical, scientific and, above all, rational nature. This was, to an extent, a rhetorical move paralleling the language games of coercion, co-option, and the struggle for power in Mexican politics in the decades that followed its revolution (1910)(1911)(1912)(1913)(1914)(1915)(1916)(1917)(1918)(1919)(1920). Use of this designation was a critical component of a professional and political collective mobility project, which is to say that it was intended to increase the status of architects through the expanded definition of their work and body of knowledge. 9 Use of the term obfuscated the traditional and largely artistic boundaries of the profession's expertise that could impede their adjustment to and integration within the country's shifting 7. Mexican architects from the 1930s to 50s made extensive use of professional journals, professional conferences, magazines, newspapers and, by the 1950s, television to share topics from architectural discourse to a wider audience.  Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo political structures. In turn, it could distinguish the architects that opted for its use in a manner that shrouded them with an aura of modernity and a political-economical purpose that spoke to the larger project of industrialization and socio-economic development pursued by a number of governments after the revolution. In short, the language of the discourse of arquitectura técnica was constructed in order to expand the jurisdiction of architecture so as to qualify the profession as a whole -in the eyes of the established political leadership and, to an extent, civil society and a questionably enfranchised electorate as being eligible if not critical actors in modern Mexican statecraft.

The técnico: professional language and the emergence of a new concept
What was a técnico? And more importantly, who could be defined as one? To answer the 'what' and 'who' in the definition of the técnico during this period it is important to stress that the word 'técnico' was conceptually layered, re-brandable and, multivalent. 10 What the word Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance Century social scientists from the United States. 11 In this shift, the connotations of individual technique or purely investigative and consultative functions in the adjective form of the word began to break down. Instead, the word took on a complex meaning that referred to the general rules, procedures and skills required for achieving specific constructive goals, a systemic conceptualization of the individual utilitarian arts as a whole, as well as a concern for the material means of their production. 12 In a more localized context, the semantic development of this con- Marx has referred to as 'semantic voids' -an awareness of certain novel developments in society and culture for which no adequate name was yet available. 13 After the revolution, and especially during the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles (1924)(1925)(1926)(1927)(1928) and his pseudo-dictatorship known as the Maximato (1928Maximato ( -1934, the semantic void that existed due to the urgent need for a comprehensive reconstruction and industrialization of the war-torn country was gradually filled as new definitions were layered upon previous meanings of the word 'técnica'. 14 Técnica carried other connotations that lent themselves to the revolutionary leadership's constructive promises and the growing ethos of a general modernization that could be found in the language of its ideologues. Some of its adopters gradually applied a deterministic understanding of the concept of /técnica/ that was already present in the American English usage of the word 'technology' by the late 1920s. This interpretation firmly linked all matters related to técnica with the 11. Eric Schatzberg, "Technik Comes to America: Changing Meanings of Technology be- 14. For more on this period of reconstruction and its effects on architecture and construction, see: Patrice Elizabeth Olsen, Artifacts of Revolution: Architecture, Society, and Politics in Mexico City, 1920-1940, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo idea of progress. 15 As exemplified by its usage in early mid-century Mexican architectural discourse, the new professional categorization of the técnico emerged out of this general technical discourse as the qualified steward of this material advancement, thereby linking them with an expanded interpretation of political economy.
Political economy was a much more general concern during the early mid-century, however. It was a matter of direct inquiry, projection and construction for numerous disciplines and professional organizations in Mexico as they reassessed their priorities and areas of expertise after the revolution and during the global depression. To be labeled a /técnico/ provided a new means of professional prestige founded upon systematic training, expertise, registration and licensing. By the mid-century, as the Mexican state shifted towards a largely university educated civilian leadership, these credentials became prerequisites for entry into Mexico's traditionally exclusive political society. 16 As a result, numerous professions competed for inclusion within this emergent technical class as they sought the political ability to impose their idealized and, to an extent, self-serving, conceptualizations of economy, governance, and reconstruction upon the early post-revolutionary Mexican nation.
The early inclusivity of the concept and role of the /técnico/ was therefore as broad in as much as a profession could argue that their skill sets contributed to the "scientific" and "technical" aspects of the planning projects necessary for modern state formation. Given the inextricable ties between the early theorizations of the technical with the utilitarian arts, industry and engineering, it was of no surprise that the most successful amongst these professions were engineers. 17 Engineers usually held about ten percent of the nation's highest leadership positions The conceptualization of the técnico gradually and unevenly included a loosely interpreted 'cultural' component, particularly as Mexico's revolutionary leadership struggled to address issues of education, social responsibility, and national identity in the project of state reconstruction. Because of this, professions rooted in the social sciences gradually accrued technical merit. By extension, by invoking the notion of 'technique,' along with arguments as to the sociological merits of their work, artists and architects could be loosely affiliated with this technical identity so long as they could convince Mexico's established political society that their skill sets effectively contributed to the task of satisfying the demands of state formation and economic development.
The capability of these professions to make their arguments depended very much on the language that they used, however. For the architectural profession in particular, its interpretation, or rather, abstraction, of the word técnico was critical in this claim-making act of political speech.

Arguing the architect's role as a técnico
The Mexican architect's claim of the professional title of técnico has its origins in the profession's traditional relationship to the multivalent concept of técnica. This relationship has its origins in the late Nineteenth Century when the word was yet to be adopted as an adjective describing the nature of architecture itself, but rather was used to describe the working environments in which architectural practice was expected to operate. It was still loosely connotative of individual specialization and the cross-disciplinary study of the useful arts and applied sciences, as Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance 'technical' and specifically constructive professions during the periodnamely within the field of engineering as it expanded into the contested practice of building design. 20 The application of técnica as an adjective to describe architecture was at first indirect, and reflective of a lengthy polemic of professional jurisdictions and regulation between architects, engineers and unlicensed builders that had its origins in the Nineteenth Century. In this context, the Spanish word for engineering -ingeniería-was understood not only as a distinct professional label, but as a conceptual placeholder indicative of the defining attributes of técnica. 21 As successive revolutionary governments found themselves tasked with the major project of national reconstruction, a public dialogue emerged regarding a certain correlation: just as the organizational structure of the state needed to be repurposed or rebuilt, so too did its physical structures. This was a position that was volubly argued by Mexican architects. Expediency and efficiency became matters of concerns in the discussions of how best to rebuild the physically -as well as economically -damaged nation, Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance

Arquitectura técnica: social utility and political constituency
The architectural profession's claims to governance have their precedent in Mexico with the arrival of the modern planning movement. 23 As far as the mid 1920s, architect/planners such as Carlos Contreras Elizondo (1892Elizondo ( -1970 began to craft new roles for architects. Contreras's writings on national planning administration firmly placed them within the role of technical consultation. The ideal planner in his writings (which we can assume had an architectural background, and was likely a position that he was creating for himself) was in turn supposed to devote 23. Many of these proponents were architects acting as planners, some of whom were actively working and implementing their ideas in Mexico at the time. One of these was  Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo much of their efforts to management and advocacy. 24 In practice, however, these early planning bodies were designed more for pragmatistic or technocratic governance, rather than the decisionistic models followed by the authoritarian leadership of the revolutionary-era. 25 Despite this, the call for architects to engage in matters of governance by having a direct hand in social organization and political economy only became more explicit, especially after some of their members had already been given posts within various secretarías of the Mexican government.
In 1932, during the presidency of Abelardo L. Rodríguez (1889Rodríguez ( -1967 and the tenure of the socialist ideologue Narciso Bassols as head of the Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance sessed rational judgment and a direct political-economic responsibility. He emphasizes a materialistic view of the world, the role of technology and its effect on constructive techniques and the rationality of its human practitioners to economically resolve problems: Life imposes economic, social and material conditions. It falls upon técnica, with its means, to resolve it in the best manner: by the best way, the maximum of efficiency for the minimum of effort. This is to proceed reasonably. 27 He went on to elaborate on the arguably political role of the technical architect (arquitecto técnico) in this matter and his responsibility to fulfill individual and collective needs: "The técnico [is] useful to the majority... [he] serves the majority of needy individuals that only have material needs." 28 While O'Gorman treated the technical architect as an international archetype, there is little doubt that, when speaking of a técnico as the servant of a disadvantaged class, he was referring to himself and his fellow Mexican functionalists and their recent projects of note -public schools and mass housing -and how these were completed as an ostensibly altruistic service to the 'majority' of Mexico's citizens. 29 These pláticas where given in 1933 and were published in 1934 -an election year. While the value of the vote in Mexico was and remains in question today -Lázaro Cárdenas, after all was Plutarco Elías Calles handpicked candidate -it is quite possible that the utilization of this mass political and electoral language (e.g. 'majority') was related to political strategies 27. "La vida impone sus condiciones económicas y sociales y sus condiciones materiales. A la técnica con sus medios le toca resolverlas de la mejor manera. Por la mejor vía, el máximo de eficiencia por el mínimo esfuerzo. Esto sí es proceder razonablemente."  Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance 31. "...el concepto de técnica es dialéctico, es móvil, dentro de la superficie utilitaria de una sociedad. Técnica es, por tanto, en este sentido elástico, la serie de procedimientos que se necesitan para hacer alguna cosa, los cuales socialmente se están constituyendo unos a otros, de modo que varias técnicas distintas constituyen una más amplia, la que a su vez puede pasar a ser una de las que constituyen una más amplia todavía..." Alberto T. Arai, La nueva arquitectura y la técnica (Mexico City: DAPP, 1938), 8. 32. La arquitectura actual es una técnica compleja formada por varias técnicas menores; ella a su vez es una particualr de la gran técnica que es la vida humana... Las técnicas menores que forman el ángulo diedro de la arquitectura se dividen en dos grupos: técnicas que obran sobre la materia física y técnicas que obran sobre el hombre." Arai, La nueva arquitectura y la técnica 12-13. se están constituyendo unos a otros, de modo que varias técnicas distintas constituyen una más amplia, la que a su vez puede pasar a ser una de las que constituyen una más amplia todavía..." Arai, La nueva arquitectura y la técnica, 8. Arai's definition of the new architecture's preoccupation with 'Man' focused on a critical concept that would define the generation of Mexican architects and planners, to which he belonged, for the next two decades: The human-focused techniques of the new architecture are interested in the whole man, and they desire to develop within the other all of his psychological and physical life, all of his moral and biological life. That is to say, the new architecture, more so than any other in time, is interested in [the whole] man as such given that the conceptual and experimental techniques of our day allows for the most Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo minute and disciplined analysis that has in any epoch ever been able to be performed on man and his problems. Because of that, the new architecture will always be an integral architecture. 33 The critical political concept of integralism in the new architecture -which harkened as much to contemporary sociological theories of integration as it did to a Fordist vertical integration industry and Taylorist conceptualizations of scientific management -referred to a far reaching organizational system that sought to resolve material reality and human necessity: In short, the dialectical connections of techniques, from the perspective of the new architecture, are called order. Because of that, order is the thread or perimetral ribbon that delimits the technical reach of architecture and, at the same time, is the concept that integrates it in relation to each of its individual parts. The concrete application of order to a particular case is called composition. 34 Because this new integral architecture's ultimate area of jurisdiction was 'human life' -a term more reflective of biopolitical interrelations and processes -and this term was understood by Arai as the product of composition, he made a particularly poignant statement regarding the bounds of architectural expertise. While architects could still be technical 'specialists' by focusing on any of a number of lesser techniques within the architectural discipline, this particularism ultimately distract-33. "A la técnica humana de la nueva arquitectura le interesa el hombre completo, pues a éste le toca desarrollar dentro de aquélla toda su vida psíquica y física, toda su vida moral y biológica. Es decir: a la nueva arquitectura, más que a ninguna de otro tiempo, le interesa el hombre como tal, puesto que la técnica conceptual y experimental de nuestros días permite hacer los más minuciosas y disciplinados análisis que en época alguna se hayan podido hacer del hombre y sus problemas. Por eso, la nueva arquitectura siempre resulta ser una arquitectura integral." Arai, La nueva arquitectura y la técnica, 17.
Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance ed them from a higher calling of which they were capable: "to perform the position as governor of the complete architectural order". 35 What were the boundaries of the 'complete architectural order?' Arai's reference to the technical architect's gubernatorial function in matters of order had strong implications for how architects of his generation conceptualized the scope of their expertise, and in consequence the professional claims that they would make over the next two decades. Given their artistic skill to compose (a word that implies a degree of direction, and therefore leadership) and arrange the lives of men -the principal objects of a "complete" or "integral" architectural order -it is evident that Arai was suggesting that architects could directly manage a body of specialists directed towards a humanistic social project. But given the ambiguity of his concept of a "complete architectural order," we can perhaps deduce this phrase's implications of the ordering of an even greater social body. In that light, this document, taken together with O'Gorman's language suggestive of a political constituency, can be viewed as a younger 35. "...no quiere decir...que el arquitecto no pueda convertirse en un momento dado en especialista de una técnica particular que necesita dominar por alguna circunstancia y de ese modo contribuir a su perfeccionamiento; pero en tal momento habrá dejado, naturalmente, de desempeñar el cargo de gobernador del orden arquitectónico completo." Arai, La nueva arquitectura y la técnica, 15.
Albert José-Antonio lópez | Artículo generation of architects' specific call for members of the functionalist faction of the architectural profession to enter politics (which I define in this instance as the pursuit of a portion of power and leadership of a political organization). 36 The claim that a technical architect had a duty to govern by means of their 'integrated' understanding of human matters (especially within a national context) and their capability to compose an order Redefining the técnico's task: aRquitectuRa técnica and the claim to goveRnance