Abraham Zabludovsky, 78; Renowned Mexican Architect

Abraham Zabludovsky, an architect described as “one of the most solid pillars of Mexican modernity in the 20th century,” has died. He was 78.

Zabludovsky died of a heart attack Wednesday, the Mexican news media reported.

Perhaps best known for his design of the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City and his renovation of the National Auditorium, Zabludovsky designed and constructed more than 200 buildings, according to fellow architects who eulogized him in published reports Thursday.

“Without a doubt, [Zabludovsky] was one of the architects that transformed Mexican architecture from the 1970s onward,” said Miguel Adria, a fellow architect and longtime friend.

Zabludovsky developed “an almost timeless language in which the use of very strong geometry and the elimination of almost all but one material helped architecture regain the symbolic and representative weight it had long ago,” Adria said.

Zabludovsky’s other important works include the National Education University and Mexican Library, both in Mexico City. He also designed the Mexican Embassy in Brazil.

Zabludovsky was born on June 14, 1924, in Bialystock, Poland, and immigrated to Mexico with his family three years later.

He became a naturalized Mexican in 1941, and studied architecture at Mexico’s National Autonomous University and the National School of Architecture.

Zabludovsky received Mexico’s National Arts Prize in 1982 and the gold medal at the World Architecture Biennial in Sofia, Bulgaria.

He is survived by his wife, Alinka, and three children, Gina, Jaime and Moises.