Borja Huidobro

This artist and Chilean exponent of the European architectural vanguard has been internationally recognized for his work.

Francisco de Borja Garcia-Huidobro Severin, who is known as Borja Huidobro, was born in Chile in October, 1936. After doing his high school studies at Santiago’s San Ignacio School, he attended the Marine Academy in Valparaiso for one year.

As a teenager he took drawing courses under Chilean artist Nemesio Antúnez. He later studied Architecture at the Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, and subsequently taught in Chile, Cuba and France.

In Paris he joined the Atelier of Town Planning and Architecture, an avant-garde group in European architecture. Among his important projects is the Finance Ministry in Paris, one of the major works of the 1980s in Europe, built directly over the Seine. In Santiago he took part in the execution of the corporate building of Consorcio Nacional de Seguros (National Insurance Consortium), a landmark construction in the local architectural scene.

An internationally-recognized exhibitor, he has participated in numerous events, such as the Biennial of Venice and the Exhibition of the 5th Centennial of the Discovery of America in Moscow. In Chile, Borja Huidobro has been awarded the Gabriela Mistral Order of Merit and the National Architecture Award from the Chilean Government (1991), among others. In France he is a member of the French Society of Architects and of the Academy of Architecture. He has also been decorated as a Knight of the Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur (“National Order of the Legion of Honor”) and as an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (“Order of Arts and Letters”) and has received the Silver Medal and the Medal of Honor from the Academy of Architecture of France. He was also awarded the Latin American Vitruvio Architecture Prize in Argentina.