Carlos A. Santos-Viola

Carlos Antonio Santos-Viola (1912 to 1994) was among the first cohort to graduate from the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture in 1935. After graduation he worked in the office of Juan Nakpil, later formed a postwar partnership with Alfredo J. Luz that ran until 1955, and helped co-found the Philippine Institute of Architects in 1938.

He is best known as the architect of the Iglesia ni Cristo, for whom he developed a distinctive vocabulary of vertical spires and pointed arches that made INC houses of worship instantly recognizable. His most important commission, the INC Central Temple in New Era, Quezon City, was dedicated on July 27, 1984. Built in a Neo-Gothic idiom whose verticality was meant to point the faithful toward heaven, it seats roughly seven thousand people and anchors the church's central complex.

Beyond his INC work, Santos-Viola designed schools and Catholic churches, including Lourdes School and church commissions, applying the same concern for structures that not only look good but are also well made. His churches were built in communities across the Philippines, giving him an unusually national footprint for a single practitioner.