José María Zaragoza | |
---|---|
Born |
José María V. Zaragoza December 6, 1912 |
Died | 1994 (aged 81) |
Nationality | Filipino |
Alma mater | University of Santo Tomas |
Occupation | Architect |
Buildings |
|
Projects | Quiapo Church (1968 expansion) |
José María V. Zaragoza (December 6, 1912-1994) was a Filipino architect.
Zaragoza took up BS Architecture at the University of Santo Tomas where he graduated in 1936. He placed 7th in the licensure exams in the 1938.
He also had a diploma in liturgical art and architecture from the Rome-based International Institute of Liturgical Art. At the Hilversun Technical Research Center in the Netherlands, he obtained a diploma in comprehensive planning.
During the earlier years of his career, Zaragoza had meetings with American architect Frank Lloyd Wright culminating with a visit to Wright' atelier in Arizona in the United States in 1956. However, unlike his contemporaries, Zaragoza looked into European architecture for inspiration instead of drawing from American architecture.
Zaragoza was involved in designing several religious buildings such as The Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tala, Caloocan completed in 1950; the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City and the Villa San Miguel in Mandaluyong both which was finished in 1954; the Pius XII Center in Manila completed in 1958, and the expansion of the Quiapo Church completed in 1984, a project met with some controversy.
He was invited by Brazilian architects Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa to be one of the guest architects in designing Brasília, which was planned to be the new capital city of Brazil.
Zaragoza derived traditional forms from Spanish colonial architecture and combined it with simple, unornamented designs of the International style. This design was evident in the arcades of the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City.