Aida Cruz

Aida Cruz was a Filipino architect.

Life

Born in Laguna in 1922, Cruz's sculptor father, Amado, convinced her to become an architect instead of her original desire to be a dentist. Cruz graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in 1947 with a degree in architecture. She placed seventh in the licensure exam, making her the first registered female architect in the Philippines the next year.
Along with her husband Jose Del Rosario, a civil engineer, Cruz designed about 120 homes, edifices, and hospitals in the Philippines, including parts of the University of Baguio. She died in 2024.

Legacy

Beyond her work, Cruz is admired because she pursued a career in a male-dominated field at a time when women's rights were just starting to get recognized in the Philippines. Women's suffrage was only allowed in the country in 1937.