Ernesto Bilbao

Doctor in Philosophy in Architectural History, The University of Texas at Austin
Master of Architecture, Rice University
Bachelor of Architecture, Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Ernesto Bilbao is an assistant professor at Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, where he teaches advanced design studios and History and Theory of Architecture. He holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, an M.Arch from Rice University in Houston as a Fulbright Scholar, and a B.Arch from Universidad San Francisco de Quito. He is also the founding principal of Estudio Ernesto Bilbao, based in Quito, Ecuador, which focuses on landscape architecture and architectural design. His studio’s most important projects feature the transformation of Quito’s old airport into a public park through the Master Plan of Parque Bicentenario (Quito, Ecuador, 2012–2016), derived from his winning proposal for the Parque del Lago International Design Competition (with Robert Sproull Jr., 2008); and Jardín del Cacao y Chocolate (2012–2018), located in Arosemena Tola, Ecuador (Honorable Mention in Quito, Ecuador’s 2020 Pan American Biennale of Architecture). His Ph.D. dissertation examined the close relationship between the development of Quito, Ecuador’s old airport between 1920–1960 and the significant role that air transportation had in shaping Quito’s urban and rural landscapes and in bringing new beliefs in modernity to Quito’s population.

Interest areas in research and practice:
Ernesto Bilbao’s ongoing research agenda focuses on processes of modernization and post-colonization, twentieth-century modern architecture in Latin America, decolonization theories, and history and theory of landscape architecture.