Edgar Montealegre Brenes was born in Costa Rica in 1943. He graduated from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C in 1966, and then travelled to Glasgow, UK, where he undertook a Diploma in Industrial Management at the University of Strathclyde. After completing his studies, he returned in 1968 to his home country, where the University of Costa Rica and the UK government were engaged in talks for the creation of a School of Architecture. Otto Koenigsberge, the Head of the Department of Development and Tropical Studies, at the Architectural Association (AA), London, was asked by the UK Minister of Overseas Development to visit Costa Rica on a fact-finding mission. Under the aegis of the UK/Central American Technical Assistance Arrangements programme, Koenigsberger visited Costa Rica from April 14th – May 4th, 1970, interviewing specialists and holding talks with UCR. His subsequent report and recommendations were submitted to the Rector and Board of Trustees of UCR in April 1970. Both a Spanish and an English language copy remains within the AA Archives today. As part of this process, Koenigsberger was able to offer a number of scholarships for Costa Rican architects to study at the AA’s Department of Development and Tropical Studies and Edgar Brenes was selected, alongside young, influential architects, Jorge Bertheau, Felo Garcia and and Santiago Crespo. This Costa Rican contingent began their studies at the AA in September 1970, within the Department’s new ‘Teaching Methods Course’, and were tutored by Mario Novella. Together they worked on a joint dissertation, drawing up their formal proposal for a pedagogical and administrative system for the new Architecture School at UCR. After returning to Costa Rica in 1971 both Brenes, Bertheau and Garcia were tasked with developing the new School. A Professor at the School since 1971, his academic research was focussed upon means of developing and advancing construction processes, his studies also informing the national seismic code in the 1990s. He served as an advisor to the University Rector in the early 1990s, was the co-ordinator for the Professional Licensing Examination Commission, and from 2005-2007 was Director of the Masters Programme in Tropical Architecture. Alongside academia, Brenes has continued to practice. Amongst his most significant works are the adaptive reuse of an air terminal building into the Costa Rica Art Museum (1977-1978), with Jorge Bertheau, and the School of Architecture building on UCR campus.
Sources:
- Architectural Association Student Register, 1970-71. AA Archives
- ‘A School of Architecture For Costa Rica. Report submitted to the Rector and Board of Trustees of the University of Costa Rica by Otto Koenigsberger, Consultant, United Kingdom / Central American Technical Assistance Programme. San Jose, April 1970.’ AA Archives
- Solano-Meza, Natalia. ‘Against a Pedagogical Colonization: The Case of the School of Architecture at the University of Costa Rica.’ Charrette, Volume 4, Number 2, Autumn 2017, pp. 40-58(19)
- Solano-Meza, Natalia. “Aesthetics of Comfort: A Third Moment in Costa Rican Histories of T...” ABE Journal. Architecture beyond Europe, September 2, 2020. Accessed 24th Jan. 2026: https://journals.openedition.org/abe/8146?lang=it
