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Martelinar, Mexico City, 2008 (HDV video, 04:09 min) Martelinar - from spanish word "martillo", hammer - is a surface-decorating technique invented by a mexican architect Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon. He built buidings from concrete, but afterwards he didn't like the look of it and asked local workers to make holes by hammer in the concrete surface to make it look more "humane". Martelinar became his signature style and buildings such as Museo Tamayo, Auditorio Nacional are the best examples. During the 80's martelinar became so popular in Mexico that when the Mexican Embassy in Berlin was built they decided to use this technique, however, there were no workers in Europe who would be able to do it. Finally, they found some Polish workers who were willing to think about doing the job, but they didn't do it with hammers but instead used drills. So the result was a bit different. >>> video preview |