Community centre of El Rodeo de Mora by Fournier Rojas Arquitectos

Álvaro Rojas, A.I.A. was born in San José, Costa Rica in 1949.  He was educated in the United States at Brooklyn Technical High School, New York, where he received his Architectural Technical High School Diploma in 1968 and at the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies of the City College of The City University of New York, where he obtained both the Bachelor of Science in Architecture (1972) and the Bachelor of Architecture (1973) degrees.  He studied under the direction of prestigious architects such as Jonathan Barnett, Richard Dattner and Bernard Rothzeid.

He has taught Design Studio, Theories of Architecture and Construction at various architecture schools since 1977.  He is the founder and President of Universidad del Diseño-UniDis (University of Design), and since 1993 directs its Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Studies.  He has lectured extensively in México, the United States, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica. Some international speaking engagements are: in March 2004 at the Graduate School of Design/Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; in November 2005 in Tarija, Bolivia at the Bolivian National Architects Convention where he lectured on “Globalization and Professional Education of Architects”; In February 2006 he lectured at SCI-Arc, USC and Woodbury University in Los Angeles, California.  During the 2007 Fall Semester, he taught along with Peter Rowe and Mark Mulligan the GSD Harvard-UniDis Joint Urban Design Studio.  In March 2008 he was Guest Professor at the “Escola da Cidade” in São Paulo, Brazil where he also lectured on architectural education and the experiment at UniDis.  Recently, he was invited as Guest Juror at the School of Architecture of Woodbury University in Los Angeles, California.

During the past 35 years, Mr. Rojas has worked on significant architectural and interior-architectural projects such as: the Tennis Stadium and the Track and Field Stadium for the University of Alabama/Tuscaloosa (1973-75), Herald Center/New York (1983-85), Juan Santamaría International Airport/Costa Rica (1975-78), Omni Center/San José (1980-82), Banco Central de Costa Rica (1988-89).  He has been in charge of design, production of contract documents and construction supervision of numerous high profile interior architectural projects, including additions to the Canadian Embassy in San José, the New Canadian Embassy in San José, the New Canadian Embassy in Santiago/Chile, offices for AEC/World Bank in San José and the new offices of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in San José, Costa Rica.

Some recent projects are: Casa Williamson in Dominical, Costa Rica; Casa FoRo in Villa Colón, Costa Rica; the new headquarters for Van der Laat & Jiménez and the Catholic Church in Fortuna, Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica.
 
Mr. Rojas is the founder and managing principal of Fournier-Rojas ARQUITECTOS, a consulting firm that offers services in architecture, interior architecture, photography, graphic design, urban design and art.

 Mr. Rojas is President of the Organizing Committee of MUNDANEUM International Reunions on Architecture.  MUNDANEUM has been held in San José in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 with the participation of more than 100 of the top architects, urbanists and thinkers of the world.

He was the Coordinator of the Accreditation Committee of the College of Architects of Costa Rica and responsible for the drafting of the “Conditions and Procedures for the Accreditation of Architectural Programs.”

Recently, three projects by Alvaro Rojas and his partner Sylvia Fournier received Citation Awards in the World Architecture Community Awards program.

Sylvia Fournier is an architect, artist, photographer, graphic and jewelry designer born in San José, Costa Rica in 1968. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the School of Arts of the University of Costa Rica (1991) and a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree of the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies of Universidad del Diseño (1999) where she graduated with honors and received the Best Thesis Award.  She is a Registered Architect and  Active Member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica since 1999.

Ms. Fournier joined Fournier-Rojas ARQUITECTOS  in 1995 and in 2002 became a partner.  She has worked on numerous projects such as the Inter-American Development Bank Offices in San José, various interior design projects for the offices of Constructora Van der Laat & Jiménez in San Pedro, Casa Matamoros-Jiménez in Tres Ríos, Casa Williamson and Bali High Complex, both in Punta Achiote/Dominical; Casa Ayacucho in Dominical and several fair stands such as Ford National Automotive and M&J Real Estate, Inc.

Before joining Fournier-Rojas ARQUITECTOS she was a graphic and creative designer for newspapers such as “La Nación” and “La República”, both in San José.  She also was a photographer por “La Nación” newspaper.  Ms. Fournier is a freelance graphic designer and photographer.  She has received national awards for her art and photography work.

Ms. Fournier has been a Professor of various levels of Architectural Design Studios at the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies of Universidad del Diseño (University of Design) in San José.