Augusto Tobito Archive

The Augusto Tobito Archive (AAT) was acquired by Colección C&FE in 2013. It is mainly composed of two sections: a set of documents that give an account of his practice as a professional architect and educator, and an important architectural library from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Augusto Tobito was born in Rubio, Táchira state, Venezuela, in 1921, he graduated as an architect from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1947). He teaches and works at the Colombian Ministry of Public Works, where he is appointed Chief Architect of the Bogotá Regulatory Plan, which allows him to meet Le Corbusier and work alongside him.

In 1953 he traveled to Paris and joined Le Corbusier’s atelier, where he teamed up with Iannis Xenakis and André Maissonier. While there he participated in important projects (not all of them carried out), such as the Housing Unit submitted to the competition for the Reconstruction of the Center of Berlin, the Residential Complex for Meaux, the Sports Center for Baghdad, and the Governor’s Palace and the Parliament of Chandigarh, among others.

In 1959 he completed his work in Le Corbusier’s atelier and together with his wife, the Swiss photographer Barbara Brändli, they settled in Caracas. Here, he was invited by Carlos Raúl Villanueva to teach at the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. At this university, he led important innovative work in architectural education, including incorporating the themes of ecology and the environment into the curricula.

Parallel to his academic work, he undertook architectural and construction projects throughout the country, including the Hospital Perférico de Catia in Caracas, the Escuela de Enfermeras de Valencia, the Hospital Universitario de Mérida, and the Complejo Socio-Educativo Hebraica in Caracas, and others.

During the 1980s he was an advisor to the Corporation for the Development of Tourism on planning, urbanism, and architecture in the state of Nueva Esparta.

He passed away in Geneva in 2012.