Working In An Architecture Office

between the twilight of domination and the eve of independence

Abstract

In the aftermath of Spanish period in the kingdom of Guatemala, an event marked
the change between the craft work and the professional work of the architect, an
evolution from the artisanal architecture to the architecture of studio. At the end of
the eighteenth century and on the eve of independence, a Spanish professional of
the illustration, and his draughtsman, installed an architecture office. The initial goal was to design a city and its main buildings, but they did more than that. A study of the furniture and equipment they used will help to understand how the architect's work was executed. The books they brought with them are evidence of their formation and can represent the encounter with the beginnings of the Neoclassical in Guatemala. The Earthquakes have destroyed much of his physical work, but the documents have managed to preserve important moments for the history of architecture. Two hundred years later, from testamentary processes, with the support of other documents will be interpreted what is described in these, to reconstruct the work that was done in what was perhaps the first architectural office in Guatemala.