04 Post-Colonial Era

11/24/19
Historical timeline
Pre-colonial Spanish Rule American Rule Japanese Post colonial

Invasion modernity
Post-colonial modernity Rising from the ruins
The Legislative Building The Manila City Hall in the aftermath of war
(now the National Museum),
in a pile of rubble at the end of
the Battle for Manila’s
Liberation
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Makeshift dwellings and shantytowns mushroomed sporadically in

the urban areas in response to the shortage of housing. This type of
informal architecture was the period’s symbol of postwar survival.
Binondo, Manila’s commercial and trading Rizal Avenue, the entertainment and
district was reborn, and businesses boomed shopping hub of Manila, brimmed with
in the 1950s urban vitality in the atmosphere of
postwar optimism and economic
recovery in the mid-1950s
2
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The group of third-generation, modernist Filipino architects at the Architectural

Center, a building in Makati which resulted from their collaboration circa 1960s.
Post colonial modernity The capital dilemma
”The old colonial styles of architecture were not acceptable as models

for new independent nations, and indigenous or traditional
architecture was viewed as primitive, rural, and backward… The newly
independent Philippine state found in modern architecture and
modernism a way to divorce itself from the vestiges of colonization and
to create a new built environment that conveyed freedom from the
colonial past.” – Lico, G. (2008)
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Urban design and master plan for Quezon Quezon City, 2019
City, 1949
Constitution Hill
• In 1946, a search committee was formed to find a new site
• a 158 ha area in the Novaliches watershed was selected and
called Constitution Hill and National Government Center
• The three seats of government were to form a triangle at the
center of the complex
• It included a 20 hectare civic space referred to as the Plaza of
the Republic
Plan of the
Parliamentary Complex
4
taking the form of a Kalinga kalasag (tribal shield) as the centerpiece of the
whole composition. O n its left was a Brasilia-inspired dome-shaped build-
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7.35 Model of the Batasang
ing for the H ouse of Representative. The Senate H all, on the right, assumed
the form of a over-scaled M alay-roof with punctured glass skylights. M ore-
Pambansa Complex
7.36 M odel of the Batasang

Pambasa C omplex , showing
the unbuilt monumental land-
mark at the rear of the complex
known as the Monument to the
over, the formal and stylistic experiment of the Bureau of Public W orks
Bagong Lipunan .
7.37 Baguio Convention Cen-

earned scathing commentary from the League of Philippine Architects Col-
ter
laborative:
The Legislative group was designed in the M alayan style but the expres-
sion shown is purely artificial in nature. Sculptural treatments to the
building are not architectural in spirit. In spite of extensive research work,
M alayan Architecture has no basic personality and has the physical ap-
7.35 Model of the Batasang
pearance of an exposition
Pambansa Complex building. ( D esign M agazine M ay 1956, 7)
7.36 M odel of the Batasang
Pambasa C omplex , showing
H owever blemished by controversy and negative response from the design
the unbuilt monumental land-
mark at the rear of the complex
world, the project began

Bagong Lipunanits construction phase in February 1958. The first
Monument to the
known as the
.
building to be constructed
ter
was
Baguio Convention
7.37 Cen- the H ouse of Representatives of the Legisla-
tive Group. This was supposedly the tallest of all the buildings having 13
Model of the Batasang Pambansa
floors excluding roof deck with a total height of 52 meters from the base-
Complex, showing the unbuilt
ment to deck with a storey height of 4 meters. The width of the building
monument landmark at the rear of the
was 16 meters divided into one bay of 4 meters and two bays of 6 meters
complex known as the Monument to
the Bagong Lipunan
each, while the length of 88 meters was divided into 11 bays.
the prominent steeply sloping roof borrowed from traditional Philippine
Due to insufficient funds, construction activity stopped in August 1960,

architecture was strategically chosen to reinforce vernacular identity.
The truncated pyramidal roof motif and soaring gable roofs (taken from
leading
the Austronesian to thehouse
amphibious eventual abandonment
form) were grafted to the superstruc- of the entire project. What remained
ture of most state-sponsored architecture constituted the nativist trend of
of
the the project was the 11-storey structural steel framing, which cost some
period. Snatching the same pyramidal roof paradigm created by
at M t. M akiling, Jorge Ramos’s Baguio Convention Center attempts to
Locsin
P7.5 million. The steel framings were to remain exposed to the elements
transcode the roof of Ifugao fale , the windowless pyramidal Benguet dwell-
ing, into an huge congregational space.
9 until 1976 when the government of President Ferdinand M arcos revived the
VER N A C ULAR RE N AISSA N C E 479
plans for a parliamentary complex at the same site. The very same steel
framing would support the structure of the Batasang Pambansa, a building
designed by Felipe M endoza and completed in 1978.
the prominent steeply sloping roof borrowed from traditional Philippine

architecture was strategically chosen to reinforce vernacular identity.
The truncated pyramidal roof motif and soaring gable roofs (taken from
ctive of the H ouse the Austronesian amphibious house form) were grafted to the superstruc-
ative ture of most state-sponsored architecture constituted the nativist trend of
the period. Snatching the same pyramidal roof paradigm created by Locsin
n-storey structural at M t. M akiling, Jorge Ramos’s Baguio Convention Center attempts to
transcode the roof of Ifugao fale , the windowless pyramidal Benguet dwell-
g of the aborted ing, into an huge congregational space.
presentative in the
Perspective of the House of Representative and eleven-storey structural steel framing of the
P O ST-C O L O NIAL M O D ERNITY 387
aborted House of Representative in the 1960s
10
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Post colonial modernity The rise of suburbia and bungalow housing
People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC) developed new and expansive
suburban communities, including the design and mass-fabrication of low-cost bungalow
units
Government-built bungalows came in a variety of models
2-bedroom duplex bungalow 3-bedroom bungalow 5-unit row house
Kamuning Housing Project, 1940 These communities were designed in

Project 1 in Roxas District, 1949 accordance to Ebenezer Howard’s
Project in Quirino District, 1951 “Garden City”
Projects 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 in Quezon City
Project 16 in Caloocal City
11
Project 6 bungalow
housing in Quezon
City, 1950s
PHHC’s unitary planning feature could be discerned: a site for schoolhouses, a school
playground, a church, a hospital, a marketplace, commercial lots, and the residential district
itself– all of which were bisected by conveniently located, asphalted roads.
“Neighborhood unit” – a self-contained residential area bounded by major streets, with
shops at the intersection and a school in the middle – advocated by Clarence Perry for New
York City in the 1920s
12
6
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Philamlife homes,
Quezon City, the icon of
middle-class
suburbanization in
1950s
Rufino Residence, by Juan Nakpil in Forbes Bahay na bato-inspired interior of the Locsin
Park, Makati residence in Forbes Park
13
Post colonial modernity Architecture as statecraft
Winged figures of allegorical maidens,

each representing the three major
islands of the archipelago, were used
as finials for the Quezon Memorial
Monument by Federico Ilustre
GSIS Building, now abandoned and in Veterans Memorial Building, demolished

a state of deterioration in 2007
14
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Post colonial modernity Architecture as statecraft
Philippine Coconut Administration Manila International Airport, 1962 was

(PHILCOA), 1958 a buoyant rectangular reputed to be the largest and most
volume supported by stilts, was entirely modern in Southeast Asia
protected by a latticed screen of open-
work masonry to shield the internal
structure from heat and glare
15
Post colonial modernity Space-age and technology-inspired architecture
Church of the Holy Sacrifice, by Leandro

Locsin ushered in space age design Commercial Bank and Trust
Building, (now Allied Bank), near
Quezon Avenue Rotonda
Araneta Coliseum, Cubao Philippine Atomic Research Center, UP Diliman

16
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Post colonial modernity Modern liturgical spaces
6.63 T he a l t ar o f Vic t ori as

Chapel in Negros O ccidental.
The chapel was hailed as the
f irst m o d ern c h urc h i n t h e
country
6.64 Church of O ur Lady of

Perpetual Help in Baclaran
6.65 Santo Domingo Church in

Q uezon City
6.66 Union Church in Makati
Union Church in Makati by Architect Jose Maria

430 ARKIT EK T URA N G FILIPI N O Baclaran Church designed by Cesar
Zaragosa, graceful crown of a radial roof, a form Concio, modern façade that captured
gernerated from a monolithic concrete folded the complexity of Gothic architecture’s
plate that resembled the iconic anahaw leaf ribbed vaulting translated in concrete
17
Post colonial modernity Modern liturgical spaces

6.67 Aglipanyan Cathedral of
the H oly Child
6.68 Manila Mormon Temple
6.69 The construction of the

Cathedral of the H oly Child in
the late 1960s
432 ARKIT EK T URA N G FILIPI N O
Santo Domingo Church by Jose Manila Mormon Temple Iglesia ni Cristo by

Maria Zaragosa, in Quezon City by Felipe Mendoza, Carlos Santos-Viola,
deviates from the baroque reflects the trademarks follow patterns of
ornamentation and exploited the of Mormon temples with Gothic architecture in a
plainness of concrete using a its precipitous roof and modern interpretation
modern, unornamented rendition of impressive spires
Spanish Mission Revival
18
form wide overhangs. The roof was peaked with a cross. Behind the cross and
directly above the central aisle, the roof was lined with upright concrete planes
that were equally distanced.
9
All churches, or kapilyas, of the Iglesia ni Cristo (IN C) closely follow the pat-
terns of Gothic architecture that had been interpreted by modernists like Juan
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Tropicalizing international style and

Post colonial modernity the mania for brise soleil
6.78 Meralco Building
6.79 Insular Life Building (op-
posite page)
6.80 Rufino Building
6.81 Vermont Towers
6.82 United States Supplemen-

t ary O f f i c e B u i l d i ng o f t h e
United States Embassy in Ma-
nila
Capital Luis Gonzaga Building,

1953 Rizal Avenue and Carriedo
Street by Pablo Antonio,
successfully transformed modernist
box into a building that was suited
structure. The overall effect of the white sun baffles was a highly geometri-
Meralco Building, 1968 by Jose
cally textured black-and-white edifice. Rufino Building, 1960s
to the tropics by utilizing double Maria Zaragosa, first building to
Cresenciano C. D e Castro’s Vermont Towers (1966) in was a rectangular Makati by Architect Juan
edifice perforated by window openings defined by sun baffle-like moldings
rise along Ortigas Avenue had a
which maintained a balanced blending of horizontal and perpendicular lines Nakpil and Sons, used
sunshades on the exterior.
series of tapering mullions that
The use of open-work masonry, an ornamental or structural work that is white reinforced
defined the façade; sun breakers
perforated, pierced or lattice-like, offered a more delicate façade than the
brise soleil in the 1960s. Popularly known as pierced screen, they were concrete, elongated
with slight curvature to deflect
adopted as a sort of improvement over the brise soleil . The pierced screen
functioned mainly as a diffuser of light and doubled as a exterior decorative
light and sound
mesh. They were fabricated from perforated concrete or ceramic blocks, diamond sun baffles
pre-cast concrete, or aluminum bars.
19
The United States Supplementary O ffice Building (1961) along Roxas Bou-
levard, designed by American architect Alfred L. Aydelott of M emphis, Ten-
PO ST-C O L O NIAL M O D ERNITY 439
Tropicalizing international style and

Post colonial modernity the mania for brise soleil nessee, was one of the most noteworthy application pierce
6.79 Insular Life Building (op- Insular Life Building, nila. Aydellot visited M anila in 1955 to study aspects of P
posite page) and history in order to come up with an architecture of dip
1963 corner Ayala Avenue sensitive to Philippine customs, culture, and traditions. For
6.80 Rufino Building
and Paseo de Roxas by used the walled city of Intramuros as an iconographic refer
6.81 Vermont Towers
Cesar Concio, displayed a depicted in the thick sloping adobe stone walls facing o
6.82 United States Supplemen- gently curving façade portion of the building interspersed with narrow window o
t ary O f f i c e B u i l d i ng o f t h e cast concrete pierced screen surrounding the upper four sto
United States Embassy in Ma- entirely covered by tive of bamboo slats or blinds in the typical nipa huts.
nila
narrow vertical aluminum
projections that were set The pierced screen became popular not only as a ready-mad
close together within lating device but also as an ornamental contrivance that re
notonous planes and boxiness of modernist structures. The
square modules to applied on various building types ranging from residences
conceal the curtain wall buildings. An almost full-screened building, which was div
behind it modules, was the Phoenix Insurance Building (1960s) in Intra
by Gines Rivera. The Abelardo H all (1960), by Roberto Nove
sity of the Philippines was screened by honeycombed-like su
Vermont Towers, 1966 by Cresencio De Castro, was PO ST-C O L O NIAL
440 ARKIT EK T URA N G FILIPI N O

a rectangular edifice perforated by window openings
defined by sun baffle-like mouldings, which
maintained a balanced blending of horizontal and
perpendicular lines on the exterior
20
10
nessee, was one of the most noteworthy application pierced screen in M a-
nila. Aydellot visited M anila in 1955 to study aspects of Philippine culture
and history in order to come up with an architecture of diplomacy that was
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Post colonial modernity Redefining the metropolitan skyline
Manila Hilton Hotel,

1967 by Carlos Arguelles
and Welton Becket, at
22-storeys high was the
tallest building of its
time; tall slab rose above
a podium enclosed in a
12-meter solar screen of
timber slats; its roof
shaped like a native
salakot, which was an
attempt to crossbreed
modern and traditional
6.84 Reha bilit a tion and Fi-
nance Corporation
6.85 National Press Club
National Press Club Building, 1954 by Angel Nakpil, a

PO ST-C O L O NIAL M O D ERNITY 443
breakthrough in sculptural composition and derived its 3-

dimensional form from the unison of two simple geometries that
also defined the functional program of the building: elongated
hexagon (shops, offices, club); and transparent cylinder containing
the main stairs that spiraled around the core elevator shaft
21
Post colonial modernity Vernacular nostalgia and the adaptation of tradition
Cotabato Municipal Hall, by Juan Sulo Restaurant (location of current

Arellano, appropriated the Tausug Glorietta 3) in Makati, by Manosa
gable roof and pinnacled it with an Brothers
elaborately carved cross gable finial
based on the naga tajuk pasung
22
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Post-colonial modernity
23
24
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25
“Creating Architecture that

is both modern &
undeniably Filipino”
Leandro Locsin
(1928-1994)
26
13
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27
28
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Miss Universe 1974, the 23rd Miss Universe pageant, was held on 21
July 1974 at the Folk Arts Theater in Manila, Philippines.
It was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Asia.
29
Folk Arts Theater

(Tanghalang Francisco
Balagtas)
30
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The National Arts Center

Emerging from the picturesque forest of the legendary Mt. Makiling
31
32
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Philippine International Convention Center
33
Philcite
Star City
34
17
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Old Nayong Pilipino
35
36
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Philtrade, 1978
37
Population center
38
19
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“Architecture must respond

the local conditions.”
Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa

(1931-2019)
43
Coconut Palace
44
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7 . 70 A t e n e o Pr o f essi o n a l
Schools in Rockwell Center
7.71 San Miguel Headquarters

Building in Ortigas, Pasig
San Miguel
Headquarters
Building, Ortigas, Pasig
as coconut, bamboo, rattan, capiz shells, and other native texture in its
architecture and interior. H ere, M añosa’s hexagonally-moduled plan was
45 generated from the concept of the hexagonal cross-sectional pattern of lum-
beryard-cut coconut trunk.
Since then, he has promoted the return to the use of vernacular concept of
space and the utilization of native thatch, bamboo, coconut and other in-
digenous materials, thus launching a wave of neovernacular following in
the 1980s. H is notable works that steered the neovernacular current in-
clude the Shrine of O ur Lady of Q ueen of Peace at EDSA, the M ary Im-
maculate Parish , Pearl Farm Resort , M añosa Residence , Aquino Center ,
Manila Film Center by Architect Froilan
Ateneo Educational Building , Ateneo Hong Professional Schools , the Bamboo
M ansion , the Lanao Provincial Capitol among others. H is devotion to Phil-
ippine vernacular design has made him the most sought-after architect by
the Philippine state to design its pavilion in international expositions and
fairs.
The Paradigm Shift

The M odernism in the Philippines was beginning to lose its ground by the
1980s. The canons of modern architecture were seen to have created a se-
rial anonymous product, epitomized by the sterile box towers and concrete
blocks. There was a full-scale commendation of the M odernist movement.
This was a reaction against a building style now found to be boring, indif-
ferent to its surroundings, and devoid of historical and cultural associa-
tions. Such deficiency was momentarily mitigated by Regionalism’s contex-
tual approach which consciously incorporated the history, culture and tra-
dition of site in the design of buildings. But an all-pervasive style would
soon engulf the architectural landscape, serving as an antidote for modern-
ism renunciation of history and tradition. This began a new period which
liberated designers from the stern modernist paradigm and sanctioned an
“anything-goes” exuberance to craft pluralistic architectural expressions.
46
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47
Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services (BLISS)
48
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50
Gramercy Building by G.T. International Tower, Makati PBCom Tower

Jerde Partnership International By GF & Partners Architects, By Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP,
Roger Villarosa Architects & Recio + Casas Architects, GF & Partners Architects
Associates Gozar Planners Phils.
51
23
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One San Miguel tower Rufino Pacific tower, Makati Petron Mega Plaza
By Philip H. Recto Architects By Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
52
Pacific Plaza by Arquitectonica Robinsons tower by BSA Tower by R, Villarosa Architects

Recio + Casas Architects Hellmuth, Obata +
Kassabaum; W.V. Coscoluella
& Associates
53
24
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Rockwell Center, Makati by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) Ayala Tower by SOM, and Leandro
V. Locsin & Partners
54
25

04 Post-Colonial Era

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11/24/19

Pre-colonial Spanish Rule American Rule Japanese Post colonial

Post-colonial modernity Rising from the ruins

Post-colonial modernity Rising from the ruins

Makeshift dwellings and shantytowns mushroomed sporadically in

Post-colonial modernity Rising from the ruins

Post-colonial modernity Rising from the ruins

The group of third-generation, modernist Filipino architects at the Architectural

Post colonial modernity The capital dilemma

”The old colonial styles of architecture were not acceptable as models

Post colonial modernity The capital dilemma

Post colonial modernity The capital dilemma

7.36 M odel of the Batasang

7.37 Baguio Convention Cen-

world, the project began

Due to insufficient funds, construction activity stopped in August 1960,

the prominent steeply sloping roof borrowed from traditional Philippine

Post colonial modernity The rise of suburbia and bungalow housing

2-bedroom duplex bungalow 3-bedroom bungalow 5-unit row house

Kamuning Housing Project, 1940 These communities were designed in

Post colonial modernity The rise of suburbia and bungalow housing

Post colonial modernity The rise of suburbia and bungalow housing

Post colonial modernity Architecture as statecraft

Winged figures of allegorical maidens,

GSIS Building, now abandoned and in Veterans Memorial Building, demolished

Post colonial modernity Architecture as statecraft

Philippine Coconut Administration Manila International Airport, 1962 was

Post colonial modernity Space-age and technology-inspired architecture

Church of the Holy Sacrifice, by Leandro

Araneta Coliseum, Cubao Philippine Atomic Research Center, UP Diliman

Post colonial modernity Modern liturgical spaces

6.63 T he a l t ar o f Vic t ori as

6.64 Church of O ur Lady of

6.65 Santo Domingo Church in

6.66 Union Church in Makati

Union Church in Makati by Architect Jose Maria

Post colonial modernity Modern liturgical spaces

6.68 Manila Mormon Temple

6.69 The construction of the

432 ARKIT EK T URA N G FILIPI N O

Santo Domingo Church by Jose Manila Mormon Temple Iglesia ni Cristo by

Tropicalizing international style and

6.80 Rufino Building

6.81 Vermont Towers

6.82 United States Supplemen-

Capital Luis Gonzaga Building,

PO ST-C O L O NIAL M O D ERNITY 439

Tropicalizing international style and

Vermont Towers, 1966 by Cresencio De Castro, was PO ST-C O L O NIAL

440 ARKIT EK T URA N G FILIPI N O

Post colonial modernity Redefining the metropolitan skyline

Manila Hilton Hotel,

6.85 National Press Club

National Press Club Building, 1954 by Angel Nakpil, a

breakthrough in sculptural composition and derived its 3-

Post colonial modernity Vernacular nostalgia and the adaptation of tradition

Cotabato Municipal Hall, by Juan Sulo Restaurant (location of current

“Creating Architecture that

Folk Arts Theater

The National Arts Center

Philippine International Convention Center

Old Nayong Pilipino

“Architecture must respond