Martín Domínguez Esteban

This exhibition explores the life and works of the architect Martín Domínguez Esteban. Domínguez had a brilliant career in Spain during the 20s and 30s realizing, with the architect Carlos Arniches and the engineer Eduardo Torroja, the Zarzuela Hippodrome in Madrid (1935); a fundamental work in the formal development of Modernist architecture in Europe. As a student, he lived in the Residencia de Estudiantes of Madrid — a university college in the liberal Oxfordian tradition — where he participated in one of the most influential generations of contemporary Spanish culture, but one that was condemned to exile due to the takeover of the totalitarian regime that was victorious in the Spanish Civil War.

As an exile in Cuba, Domínguez rebuilt a distinguished architectural practice, where he realized important works like the Radiocentro with Del Junco and Gastón, and the pioneering FOCSA high-rise residential block, with Gómez Sampera and Bestard. A firm believer in liberal democracy, with the triumph of the socialist revolution in Cuba in 1959, Domínguez was again forced into exile in 1960. Until his death in September 1970, he dedicated himself to sharing his knowledge and cultural insights in Cornell University's architecture program during what proved to be a transformative period for the school. In 1978 the AAP faculty of that time — including professors Rowe, Hodgden, Shaw, Richardson, Schack, and Pearman — dedicated the Martin Domínguez Award for Distinguished Teaching in his name. 

This exhibition is organized by Pablo Rabasco and Martín Domínguez Ruz as part of the Preston H. Thomas Memorial Lecture Series.