History of Architecture 04

Essay 04

Topic: American Colonial

Duration: 1 week

 Essay
 600 – 750 words
 Word document, A4 size
 Font: Times New Roman
 Font size: 12
 1.5 Spacing
 1” margin all sides
 Name and section, top left corner
 Title

Guide Questions:

Discuss

1. The last years of Spanish Colonialism

The Spanish colonization in the Philippines brought such poverty, violence, misery to us Filipino. But it also
contributes us a lot of good things. They improved and helped our country in many ways. Even though the Filipino
experienced the inhumanity of the Spaniards but still they influenced us the way of their living and until today we still
used and make those influences in our daily lives. The only thing that we can in the Spanish Colonization is that we felt
different emotions.

2. The Arrival of the Americans in the Philippines

Jumping from Spanish colonial period to American colonial period, the architecture of the Philippines obviously
changed and took on different styles. The Filipino architects were largely influenced by Western culture, evident in
their use of Neo-Classic, Art Deco, International, and Romantic designs.

3. City Beautiful Movement

4. The Pencionados

The Pensionado Act is Act Number 854 of the Philippine Commission, which passed on 26 August 1903. Passed by
the United States Congress, it established a scholarship program for Filipinos to attend school in the United States.
The program has roots in pacification efforts following the Philippine–American War. It hoped to prepare the
Philippines for self-governance and present a positive image of Filipinos to the rest of the United States. Students of
this scholarship program were known as pensionados.
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/cotabato-state-university/social-physiology/a-brief-history-of-
philippine-architecture/28337941
 The "first generation" Filipino architects were born when colonial officials supported them to
study architecture and engineering in the United States which is the Act 854 of the Philippine Commission,
which was approved on August 26th, 1903, is known as the Pensionado Act. It was approved by the US
Congress and created a scholarship program for Filipino students to study in the US. The program has its
origins in post-Philippine-American War pacification initiatives. It intended to give the rest of the United
States a favorable impression of Filipinos while preparing the Philippines for self-government. Pensionados
were the students of this scholarship program. They integrated Beaux Arts components - beautiful
proportions, optical corrections - with influences of modernity and the principles of usefulness and honesty
of architecture with the maestros de obras Arcadio Arellano and Tomas Arguelles.

In the late 1920s and 1930s, the "second generation" architects, especially Andres Luna de San
Pedro, Fernando Ocampo, Pablo Antonio, and Juan F. Nakpil, emerged and introduced the Art Deco, also
known as style moderne. It was named after the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs
and Industriels Modernes, where the design was first shown. Art Deco design highlighted modernism's
transformation into fashion. It offered both handmade luxury products and mass-produced goods, but the
idea was to create a modern, anti-traditional elegance that signified wealth and refinement. It is
distinguished by extravagant exoticism and embellishment, as seen by the façade of the following
buildings: the ELPO building-Nakpil Pylon, the Metropolitan Theater, the Santos House, and the Mapua
House.

The use of the Art Deco style in the Philippines can be seen as both a colonizer's attempt to
impose power and a colonized people's display of resistance.