Universidad del Diseño

The independent Costa Rican architecture school, Universidad del Diseño (UniDis), is to close. The school, which opened in 1993, has focussed on sustainable design, building in context, and engaging with architectural communities beyond the country's borders.

Twelve other private architecture schools have opened in the small country in the last 16 years. Offering cheaper course and less program, they have slowly broken UniDis. Teachers there now work pro bono and the founder, architect, Alvaro Rojas, has been tipping his own money into the ailing school. In its short time, it helped build the profile of architecture in Costa Rica through its internship exchange with Renzo Piano's Building Workshop and others, and through its Mundaneum forums.

ARCH RECORD Aug 05, 2009
ARCH RECORD 2007
Universidad del Diseño