Modernist architect, engineer and educator / Venezuela
Cipriano Domínguez
Designer of the Centro Simón Bolívar towers and founder of the UCV architecture school1904–1995The architect
Cipriano Domínguez
Cipriano Domínguez was born in Caracas in 1904. He trained first as a civil engineer at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he also earned a doctorate in physical sciences and mathematics, and then studied architecture in Paris, where he came into contact with Le Corbusier. Back in Venezuela he worked for the Ministry of Public Works, designing schools and other public buildings.
He was part of the generation that brought modern architecture to Venezuela. He helped found the Venezuelan Society of Architects and the architecture school at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1945, and he led the design of the Centro Simón Bolívar, the twin towers of El Silencio that became a landmark of Caracas. He received the National Architecture Prize in 1990 and died in Caracas in 1995.
- Born
- 12 January 1904, Caracas
- Studied
- Civil engineering at the Universidad Central de Venezuela; architecture in Paris
- Key period
- 1940s–1950s, public schools and the Centro Simón Bolívar
- Teaching
- Founded the architecture school at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1945
- Recognition
- National Architecture Prize, 1990
Selected works
Buildings to know.
Photo: Jeragox, CC BY-SA 3.0
1948–1954 · El Silencio, Caracas
Centro Simón Bolívar (Torres del Silencio)
Two 32-story office towers joined by a low, curving podium of shops and terraces, raised on pilotis so pedestrians can pass beneath. Domínguez led the design team for this landmark of Venezuelan modernism.
Photo: Ruben Niño, CC BY-SA 3.0
1943–1946 · Parroquia Catedral, Caracas
Liceo Fermín Toro
A secondary school organised as a long main block with three parallel wings that form courtyards, inaugurated in December 1946. It is recognised as part of Caracas’s modern architectural heritage.
Photo: José Alfaro, CC BY-SA 4.0
1945–1946 · Mérida
Liceo Libertador (first stage)
A secondary school built in the Andes during his years at the Ministry of Public Works, part of the state’s push to build modern educational buildings across the country.
Image credits
- Torres del Silencio Caracas, by Jeragox, CC BY-SA 3.0. View on Wikimedia Commons
- LiceoFermínToro.jpg, by Ruben Niño, CC BY-SA 3.0. View on Wikimedia Commons
- Auditorium del Liceo.jpg (cropped), by José Alfaro, CC BY-SA 4.0. View on Wikimedia Commons
Sources
This profile is compiled from public sources and written in our own words.