Juan Bernal Ponce (17 July 1938 in Valparaíso, Chile – 19 January 2006 in San José, Costa Rica) was a Chilean architect, artist, and university professor who spent half of his life in Costa Rica.

Subsequently, he entered the School of Fine Arts in Viña del Mar in 1954.

[4] Due to the relevance of his career, together with the volume of publications he constantly edited, he held the title of tenured Professor.

He also served as an art critic correspondent for Costa Rica's largest circulation newspaper, La Nación.

Among his most interesting works with his students were two- and three-dimensional studies of the golden ratio, spatial studies and plastic expression based on the painting "Las Meninas" by Velázquez, constructions of utilitarian objects inspired by design trends, and the construction of "Flying Apparatuses" inspired by the studies of Da Vinci, an exercise accompanied by a public flying session, which became an annual activity of the School of Architecture.