TOA NOTES - FINALS - Based On Mr. Patrick Abellana's Notes

November 17, 2023.
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE
“IT STARTS WITH THE NATIVE PHILIPPINE HUT”

- Normal European building size (4-5 storey buildings) are rare
- Tiny huts with gaudy advertisements dominate the cityscape
- The hut can be widely observed in Philippine architecture but usually in poor quality -
shoddy manner.
FIRST PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE ARCHIPELAGO
● BAHAY KUBO, STILT HOUSE
- Transferable in case of natural disasters
IT IS THE BASIC FORM OF PHILIPPINE RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

- Built on stilts – it recalls a floating space
IFUGAO BAHAY KUBO:

- Pyramid-like huts on stilts in a way that floating
space almost completely covers the walls. NO
WINDOWS.
- Had only ONE ROOM composed of smaller rooms -
SPACES IN SPACE
- Other parts of the Philippines have other types
THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE - 02
DIGITALIZED NOTES FOR FINALS LECTURES
- CEBU:
- Have TWO rooms: sala (living room) and cosina (kitchen)
- Use ties instead of carpenter joints to connect elements of wooden
structures. Might come from bamboo construction
(EXCURSE: CONTEMPORARY HUT, OR SHELTER RESEARCH
- After the 2013 year's natural disasters (earthquake and giant supertyphoon), intensive
"hut" research started to create shelters that are reasonable, and efficient, yet able to
provide comfort for the inhabitants.
- The University of San Carlos in Cebu is at the forefront.
- The research is based on national tradition. Even before the Spanish conquest, the
Philippines had residential building types built with technical knowledge and aesthetic
sensitivity. Even Japanese shelter architects, such as the famous Shigeru Ban used to
visit.
- In a workshop with Japanese students of the university, an experimental shelter was built
which was conceived on a scientific basis. In realization, the university and the religious
order behind it have built thousands of shelters in the typhoon and earthquake-affected
areas.)
“The Spanish Colonizers Needed Time To Understand The Wisdom Of “Bahay Kubo”
SECOND (1.2.) PHASE OF PHILIPPINE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS.
- The Colonizers Imported Europe-Type Solutions For Their Residential Architecture

- At the beginning of the Spanish colonization (16.-17.century), the Spaniards built similar
BRICK HOUSES as they had in Spain.
THIRD (1.3.) PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

- Understanding of local conditions
- Realized rigid materials could not stand load after earthquakes and typhoons
- Limited brick material to exterior walls for thermal insulation
FOURTH (1.4.) PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

- They noticed buildings of the locals do not collapse easily after natural disasters.
- Adapted STRUCTURAL KNOWLEDGE inherited from “primitive” buildings
- Wooden poles were used for carrying loads of upper floors and roof
FIFTH (1.5.) ‘PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
- Later, the role of bricks continued to decrease, with a limitation to the perimeter walls of
the ground floors
- The Casa Gorordo in Cebu City manifests the ultimate status of this evolutionary process.
“BAHAY NA BATO” = "stone built house."
2.1 A PURELY EUROPEAN BUILDING: SAN AGUSTINE CHURCH IN MANILA

(1607)
FIRST (2.1) PHASE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: A

PURELY EUROPEAN BUILDING: SAN AGUSTINE CHURCH IN MANILA (1607)
● INTRAMUROS - San Agustine Church in Downtown, Manila

- One of the earliest Catholic church buildings in the Philippines.
- It shows the European architectural ideas and patterns introduced by the first European
missionaries as the launching of Spanish colonial architecture in the Philippines.
- A great example of when Spaniards still thought that their architecture could be fully
applied in the Philippines being unaware of the country being prone to natural disasters
1. EUROPEAN INFLUENCE
- This church is unique as it presents the European influence in full strength.
- This community in the capital city of the Philippines had the proper financial background
for carrying it out with the ambition as it was usual in Europe.
- The FIREPROOF STONE VAULTS prove this. They were applied here, but they became
rare after adaptation to local conditions.
2. MEDIATED THROUGH LATIN-AMERICA
- It also presents influences from Latin America.
- Since the Spaniards used to come here not directly from Spain, but from Mexico.
(There were no Suez and Panama Channels yet. The colonizers had to arrive on
the East/coast of Mexico, go through the land, and again set off at the West coast.)
- In the first years of the new colony, Catholics in the Philippines were under the
Archdiocese of Mexico.
- Therefore, Father Klassen indicates two Mexican examples as direct patterns: the
Yuririapundaro Monastery and the Mexico City Cathedral with two towers (1563).
began in Mexico City's cathedral facade of the two towers.
3. AN ADDITIONAL CATALYST FOR ADDED LOCAL TASTE: CLIMATIC CHALLENGES

IN THE PHILIPPINES.
- Even this early monument shows how local conditions additionally modified the imported
European architectural patterns.
- Consideration of earthquake hazards in the tropical heat and the threat of pirate attacks
by sea.
- Not mindless copying but self-inspired alterations characterize the Philippine sacred
architecture.
SECOND (2.2.) PHASE OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: ADAPTATION

TO LOCAL CLIMATIC CHALLENGES.
- Local architects had to handle the problems on their own because (even in comparison
with Mexico) they had to make up on their own for the lack of material and cultural
resources, while Mexico (and in particular the mother country) got these easier. This
special challenge was positive for Philippine architecture as a unique and ingenuine
Philippine architectural culture came into existence.
- The shortcomings acted as a catalyst to the local architecture that had to rely increasingly
on local resources than was the case in Europe or Latin America. On the other hand, the
shortcomings of those times are sometimes burdensome even today for the Philippine
architectural heritage management. These buildings constitute a SECOND PHASE OF
CATHOLIC CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
1. ADAPTED TO CLIMATIC CHALLENGES: “EARTHQUAKE BAROQUE?”
- "Earthquake Baroque" = unique architectural details brought about by the need for
protection against earthquakes.
- That is why the churches are low, with thick and strong lateral buttresses, almost buttress
walls which keep safe the already thick walls.
- Before concrete and steel structures, thick walls of the church building structures delivered
protection against earthquakes.
2. ADAPTED TO DEFENCE REQUIREMENTS

- Not only earthquakes but also the more conventional maritime piracy was not appropriate
for building churches of significant height.
- Fortress churches on the shores of the island of Cebu form a chain of defense.
- The towers can be seen from neighboring towers and the sea as well. The tower is
separated from the church naves, in an "Italian campanile method”, for the case of an
attack to better observe the surroundings.
- After World War many church extensions, buttresses, and outer walls were demolished
and completed with previously non-existent side aisles with only pillars instead of the side
walls.
- This enlightens natural ventilation but might disturb the integrity of the structure.
THIRD (2.3.) PHASE OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES:

MULTICULTURAL INFLUENCES (CEBU CATHEDRAL)
Father Klassen believes that the contemporary main facade of

the Cebu Cathedral is a NEO-CLASSICAL INTERPRETATION
of a Baroque Cebu Cathedral facade.
The CLOVER-SHAPED PEDIMENT is the most valuable part

of the facade where he would discover Rococo, Gothic,
Renaissance, and Islamic formal features.
In Coseteng's understanding, it is an eclectic striving that

believes that the cathedral church has to host "everything".
● “INDIGENOUS EXPRESSIVENESS”.
- The parish church of Naga presents the incorporation of Islam, Chinese, and other motifs
into the Christian missionary architectural culture so that the Christian doctrine could be
planted into the local ancient (and thus non-Christian) artistic conception.
- Fr. Coseteng calls this synthesis an "indigenous expressiveness”. Success brought about
by adaptability to local culture.
3.1. FIRST PHASE OF AMERICAN INSPIRATION: HISTORIC STYLES
COMBINED WITH MODERN ACHIEVEMENTS
- When American builders and architects arrived in the Philippines, they had a strong
pioneering attitude. For many of them, Spanish buildings were too European, and native
buildings were primitive. Similarly to the Spaniards, they also tried to introduce what they
thought was contemporary.
- America's attitude towards the Philippines was different from that of the Spaniards. As a
country committed to Modern democracy, they considered colonialism as temporary. In
fact, after the 1930s, they made preparations to give independence to the Philippines
which was recognized in 1946.
3.3. RECONSTRUCTION OF HISTORICAL STYLES
4.1. FIRST GENERATION FILIPPINO ARCHITECTS: FRENCH BEAUX ART
TRADITION WITH FILIPINO DETAILS
● JUAN ARELLANO (1888-1960)
- Although good, many local architects were just following the colonizers. (Previously the
Filipino architects went to Spain to study, as it was the colonial power)
- Juan Arellano (1888-1960) can be regarded as the first generation of Filipino architects
who tried to introduce Philippine forms and climatic features in his architecture.
- According to architecture historians, Arellano is considered to be the first pioneer of the

modern style of the Philippines.
- Not modern minimalism
4.2. SECOND GENERATION OF FILIPPINO ARCHITECTS: SIMPLIFIED REFINEMENT
● JUAN NAKPIL (1899-1986)

- The most important second-generation Filipino architect is Juan Nakpil.
- The full accomplishment of the new campus had to be performed by the second
generation of Filipino architects, like Juan Nakpil (1899-1986).
- These designers did not go only to America for studies, but also to other developed
countries, like those in Europe.
- This was the time when Europe's architectural revolution spread to the United States,
where many German-born International Style architects received shelter after Hitler came
to power in Germany.
- Studied in France.
- SIMPLIFICATION and REFINEMENT
- Nakpil's works also gradually shifted to SIMPLIFICATION and REFINEMENT
direction.
- The second generation focused on HERITAGE CONSERVATION.
- Juan Nakpil reconstructed the famous old Quiapo Church.
4.3.THIRD GENERATION OF FILIPINO ARCHITECTS: A RETURN TO THE “FLOATING
VOLUME"
● LEANDRO LOCSIN
- UNIVERSITY CHAPEL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

- Locsin designed a significant object (university) that became a meeting place of
famous architects of the first and second generation of Filipino architects.
- The circular chapel with an altar in the center was at that time a progressive move.
- Supported by the president, Ferdinand Marcos, who later introduced an
authoritarian system.
- FLOATING VOLUME
- Mainly combines Filipino geometric detail motifs with his basic theme
"FLOATING VOLUME” (Klassen p310). This used to be one of the basic features
of vernacular residential architecture in the Philippines which favored houses on
stilt or posts.
- THEATER OF PERFORMING ARTS, MANILA.

- "At the time | was designing the theater, | was obsessed with massive forms. |
wanted something massive yet light. The two things may sound contradictory, but
| felt we could do something that would not be overbearing. I had to have a certain
floating feeling. " (Klassen, p 315, quoting Polites, 1977:13).
4.3. ANOTHER THIRD GENERATION FILIPPINOARCHITECT: RETURN TO
CULTURAL INTEGRATION
● JORGE RAMOS
- First five-star hotel in dictator Marcos's home province.

- Marcos commented on it as follows: an example of "CULTURAL INTEGRATION IN
TOURISM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT” (Klassen, P333, Times Journal, Oct 12, 1984)
- Although large parts of the Philippines do not apply bricks in the Northern province of
Ilocos, the architects used this material to express the culture of the province.
- Made efforts to combine TRADITIONAL THOUGHTS and MODERN CONTENT
4.3. ANOTHER THIRD GENERATION FILIPPINO ARCHITECT: THE ORGANIC
WAY, OR: RETURN TO THE VERNACULAR
● FRANCISCO "BOBBY MANOSA”
- COCONUT PALACE
- This architect became famous at one blow when he was commissioned by Imelda
Marcos, the wife of the dictator, to design a "Coconut Palace" which had to be
constructed with traditional materials and Philippine forms.
- SAN MIGUEL BREWERY

- Later, Francisco Manosa, along with his brother, made one more attempt to make
Filipino traditions available and usable for today's people in a different way.
- This is the famous headquarters of the San Miguel Brewery.
- Recall the Banawe Rice Terraces.
- The architects considered this as a very Filipino motif and transformed it into an
office building for the San Miguel beer company in Ortigas, Metro Manila.
5.1.POSTMODERNISM
- The beginning of Postmodernism in the Philippines = Overthrowing of Marcos’ dictatorship

(1986)
- Events encouraged postmodernism:
● ECLECTIC
- chooses motifs from different stylistic systems without the obligation to
accept the whole system.
- A breeze of intellectual freedom.
● ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, ORTIGAS CENTER, MANILA (1986)

- The first big Postmodernist structure in the Philippines
- The designer was SOM (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) with the local representative
AR. ENGRACIANO MARIANO.
- AR. ROGELIO VILLAROSA became the prophet and chief performer of Postmodernism.
5.2. HIGH-TECH TOWERS
- Planned usually by FOREIGN COMPANIES in collaboration with “ARCHITECTS OF

RECORD".
- This is not only legally necessary, but also because the local offices until recently
did not have enough experience in planning of huge and very modern buildings.
- These architects of record became today the biggest local architecture firms.
- Experience from the field leads to investors and developers which leads to the
development of large foreign offices and the arrival of foreign architect
- designed by the Coscolluellas Architects, originally designed by Skimore, Owings and
Merill.
5.3 TRANSPARENT ARCHITECTURE
- Transparency and openness are not only aesthetic categories but also basic conditions
for NATURAL VENTILATION.
- It is also rooted in the RELIGIOSITY of Filipinos who are able to recognize a deeper
meaning behind what happens in life. One of the important new trends in Philippine
architecture is the strive after transparency.
5.3.1. TRANSPARENT MINIMALISM
● OPENNESS LIMITING SUSTAINABILITY

- Today, Le Corbusier's five points (pilotis, open plan, free facade, ribbon windows, roof
garden) could hardly be achieved in the homeland of the great architect.
- Although their physical and mental openness is appealing, this openness would limit the
sustainability of such a structure.
● NATURAL VENTILATION
- This is different in the Philippines where openness is not only an important character
feature of the people but also essential for maintenance. It is thorough openness that
allows natural ventilation, while the European model of closed buildings would require
expensive and unhealthy artificial ventilation.
● OVERVIEW AND CLARITY

- Transparency supports overview and clarity, thus here it is one of the virtues of
architecture. The transparently interwoven spaces can be combined in many ways and
this will increase their use value. The picture presents the University of San Carlos Cebu
architecture and art faculty building. (Architect: EPEA Architects).
5.4. DECONSTRUCTIVISM
- There are architects categorized by researchers of contemporary architecture as

'deconstructivists’, on basis of clear stylistic characteristics. Indeed, the fragmented,
incomplete, movements imitating shapes dominate their plans.
- Often the influence of deconstructivist star architects can be discovered in their works. But
most of them are reluctant to accept this classification.
- Many people call them rather "modernists", maybe because they use modern materials
with a precision of typical for modern times. One of the most important representatives is
Alexius Medalla. Our next picture shows a residential building designed by Medalla.
5.5. FOREIGN INSPIRATIONS: “MEDITERRANIAN” AND “ZEN”
- the trend called "Mediterranian” is connected with Italy and sometimes Greece.
- The other trend called "Zen" pays admiration to Japan.
5.6 UNDER THE EARTH

- Due to tradition, the Philippines is mostly characterized by low-height buildings.
- Recently, high-rise buildings have appeared.
- Building underground is new.
6.1. FIRST PHASE OF URBAN DESIGN, AMERICAN PERIOD: BEAUX ART
PATTERN: BURNHAM'S URBAN DESIGN FOR THE CAPITAL CITY, MANILA
- Urban planning and design of large cities took place only during the American occupation
(since 1898). Famous urban planner Architect Daniel Burnham came here who had
already made plans for successful American cities like Chicago and San Francisco.
6.2. SECOND PHASE OF URBAN DESIGN: FILIPPINIZATION: THE INDEPENDENT

ADMINISTRATION MOVED TO QUEZON CITY
- While Manila was designed by Daniel Burnham based on the principles of Beaux Art, in
the years after the planning, the conscious urban planning weakened, Whole cities
were destroyed in WWII.
- The reconstruction progressed very often slowly.
- The state administration moved from Manila to Quezon City. It was the neighboring town
with more sufficient areas for a "fresh start". After the war, the formal elite government
university, the University of the Philippines also moved there. Later, the government
returned to Manila, Quezon City, however, proved to be inadequate for modern business.
6.3. THIRD PHASE OF URBAN DESIGN: MODERNIST MINIMALISM: THE BUSINESS

CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES MOVED TO MAKATI CITY MAKATI
The political and especially the business

district continued developing in Makati
City, still Metro Manila. This new city was
erected at the old Manila airport site.
The triangle runways triangle constitutes

today the central highways of Makati.
Inside the triangle, the area has remained
"empty", that is a recreation area, but it will
be built in soon.
Makati is a rationally organized city,

without any nostalgia.
November 24, 2023.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE
“INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE”
● INTROSPECTION
- Self-observation; reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires, & sensations

- It is a conscious and purposive process relying on thinking, reasoning, and examining
one's thoughts, feelings, and, in more spiritual cases, one's soul.
- Contemplation of one's self
- Human self-reflection.
- Introspection is like the activity described by Plato when he asked,
"...why should we not calmly and patiently review our own thoughts, and thoroughly
examine and see what these appearances in us really are?
- Antonym of Extrospection – the observation of things external to one's self.
- Essentially GEOMETRIC and

MINIMAL
THE ESSENCE OF AN INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE
1. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST A WORLD OVERLOADED OF SIGNS AND

INFORMATION
“The world is overloaded with signs and information, representative of things that nobody
completely understands, because they are in turn nothing but signs representative of other
signs. The real thing remains hidden. Nobody can ever see it”. (Peter Zumthor)
Summary/insights: Due to the abundance of signs and representations, the real meaning
is obscured – hidden from plain sight.
"The aim of my design Is to impart rich meaning to spaces through natural elements and
the many aspects of daily life. In other words, I try to relate the fixed form and compositional
method to the kind of life that will be lived in the given space and to local regional society. My
mainstay in selecting the solutions to these problems is my independent architectural theory
ordered on the basis of the geometry of simple forms, my ideas of life, and my emotions as a
Japanese.” (Tadao Ando)
Summary/Insights: Tadao Ando aims to harmonize the physical structure and layout of
spaces with how people live in them, considering their local culture and society. This is shown
through Tadao Ando’s choice of simple geometry. He hopes to allow simple shapes and his
personal cultural experiences to shape his designs.
2. IT ACCEPTS EMPTINESS OF THE PURE ARCHITECTURAL FORM. BUT IT DOES NOT

WANT TO REMAIN EMPTY (as Deconstructivists do)
- THEREFORE, INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE FILLS THE “EMPTY” WALLS WITH

SENSITIVITY, in particular with LIGHT.
Insights: Silent architecture harnesses emptiness without the feeling of being empty. Such
is achieved through the use of natural light and how it plays a role in taking up volume in a given
space.
“At the center of architecture, there seems to be empty space. You can't plan emptiness,
but you can draw its boundaries, and so empty comes to life.” (Peter Zumthor)
“LIGHT WRITES ON OBJECTS”
Insights: Light shows us what things look like by shining on them. It's like light leaves a
mark on objects, helping us see and understand how they appear -- a visual representation or
imprint on objects. It conveys the notion that light plays a crucial role in revealing and defining the
appearance of things by interacting with their surfaces. "writes" metaphorically implies that light
leaves an inscription, shaping our perception of the objects it illuminates.
EMPTINESS AND PERFECT FORMS IN VARIOUS ARCHITECTURAL TRENDS
● MODERNIST MINIMALISM - rational consciousness

- YES - Perfect Forms (square and circle)
- NO - Emptiness
● DECONSTRUCTIVISM - subconscious, irrational, empty
- NO - Perfect Forms
- YES - Emptiness
● ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE - heal our empty and often meaningless subconscious
- YES - Perfect Forms
- YES - Emptiness (to fill it with light)
KENNETH FRAMPTON’S OBSERVATION
- Kenneth Frampton describes these principles as "creating introspective microcosms

to stand against the urban chaos of the late modern world.”
Insights: For me, this phrase means creating calm and quiet places on purpose to balance
out the noisy and busy city life. Creating a designated environment where you can think and be
peaceful in the middle of all the chaos.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE
1. INTROSPECTIVE AWARENESS
- it is offered as an antidote to the uniformity of contemporary urban life. While it is
connected with a LOCAL culture and tradition, but also fully committed to GLOBAL
modernity.
2. MINIMALIST CHARACTER
- It is part of a “Second Modern”, but very different from a “High=Tech”.
3. UNIVERSAL
- the buildings seem universal in their balance of introspection and assertiveness.
4. A CONSCIOUS FUSION of EASTERN AND WESTERN ARCHITETURE

- It is NOT A DENIAL of sources from the History of Architecture (as High-Tech does)
5. INCLUSION OFf NATURE

- presence of Nature and use of natural rhythm and resources (sustainability)
6. INCORPORATION OF ALL HUMAN SENSES
- light, wind, temperature, smell, etc.
7. INSPIRATION FOR MEDITATION, REFLECTION, SILENCE.
8. CONSCIOUS CONTRADICTIONS
- Between cold, hard materials recalls that humans are soft and warm.
- Between lights and shadows.
9. GEOMETRIC
- compositions of squares, circles, and angles in unpredictable patterns.
10. MASSIVE WALLS
TADAO ANDO IN RONCHAMP
- Architect Tadao Ando writes of his first visit to Le Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp that,
“Because of the overwhelming spatial experience, which penetrated deep into my soul, | had to
escape after staying less than one hour. | was awestruck by a light unprecedented in my life.”
- Ando describes this first visit to the chapel at Ronchamp as “AN ARCHITECTURE OF
LIGHT”. Upon a subsequent visit to the chapel, Ando was witness to the monastic chants
being performed in the chapel and wrote,
“Listening to the voices comfortably echoing around the space, thought the architecture was for
the song.“
- The unique experiential circumstance that allows Ando to be overwhelmed by a different

architectural layer each time he visits a project is essential to experiencing architecture;
“Every time I visit [Ronchamp], I discover a new aspect of it affecting a different sense.”
PETER ZUMTHOR VISITS ANDO’S CHURCH OF THE LIGHT
- What emerged was an architecture of silence that “exists to be seen and experienced
and not to be talked about,” he says.
- This is why Peter Zumthor — whose cave-within-a-tower Bruder Klaus chapel, recently
opened at Mechernich near Cologne, is the true successor to Ando’s early work — was
so deeply affected after visiting Ando’s Church of the Light ten years ago that he shaved
off his beard.
A PREDECESSOR: LOUIS KAHN
Silence to Light
Light to Silence
The threshold of their crossing
Is the Singularity
is Inspiration
Where the desire to express meets the possible
is the Sanctuary of Art
is the Treasury of the Shadows
Material casts shadows, shadows belong to light.
Insights: This passage explores the interconnectedness of silence and light, emphasizing
the transformative moment when they intersect – the Singularity. This intersection represents
inspiration, where the desire to express is materialized. It suggests that artistic inspiration and the
shadows cast by material objects are linked to both silence and light. The passage denotes the
relationship of both shadow and light; that the things around us (material) create shadows, and
these shadows are influenced by light.
TADAO ANDO
"I do not believe architecture should speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in
the guise of sunlight and wind speak.”
‘Minimalist Architecture is the perceptual therapy to chaotic surroundings’

(Tadao Ando)
Insights: The simplicity and order of minimalist design can have a calming and organizing
effect on our senses when we are surrounded by disorder and complexity in the environment.
The idea is that minimalism provides a visually clean and uncluttered space that may help alleviate
the sensory overload often associated with chaotic surroundings.
ANDO’S INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE
1. SHUTTING OUT CHAOTIC URBAN SURROUNDINGS

- but admitting light and an intimate representation of nature — was seen as a form
of resistance mediating between universal modernization and rooted cultures
everywhere.
2. USES INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS OF OUR TIME

- steel, glass and, gloriously, concrete
- to make dense, compressed, poetic spaces unlike any that had been before.
“I wanted to make concrete more beautiful than the natural stones,”
- Ando’s quilted concrete, with its undulating tatami modules, ripples like muscle beneath a
skin tattooed with bolt holes. Skin you want to touch, a surface unique in world
architecture, that comes alive in the light, made sleek with all the narcissistic perfection of
a professional bodybuilder.
ANDO’S LIFE AND ARCHITECTURE
- Worked as a truck driver and boxer before architecture, despite never having taken
formal training in the field.
- He works primarily in exposed cast-in-place concrete and is renowned for exemplary

craftsmanship which invokes a Japanese sense of materiality, junction, and spatial
narrative through the pared aesthetics of international modernism.
- Tadao Ando's work is known for the creative use of natural light and for architecture that
follows the natural forms of the landscape (rather than disturbing the landscape by
making it conform to the constructed space of a building).
- Ando has not got a formal architectural education. His openness to nature taught him.
JAPANESE HORIZONTALITY AND WESTERN VERTICALITY — CAN THEY
BE UNITED?
“...The geometric coordination of the Pantheon's form and the vertically-oriented thrust of
Piranesi's space contrasts sharply with what I think of as the tradition of Japanese architecture.
The horizontality of Japanese architecture is pronounced, and its spaces are ungeometric
and uncoordinated. It is virtually ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT FORM, and ARCHITECTURE
CREATES SPACE MERGED WITH THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT..
I now realize that the problem of how these two conflicting concepts of space could be merged
and sublimated in one building has preoccupied my thoughts and guided my work for many
Years." (Ando)
- This synthesis is full of contradictions, as the paradigm of Japanese and traditional

Western architecture are mutually exclusive, but Ando does everything to achieve his goal.
(Rudolf Klein)
TRADITIONAL REDUCTIVE SYMBOLISM
- By designing the Tomishima House in Osaka in 1973, Tadao Ando was introduced to the
society of Japanese architects.
- CONTRAST THE NEW WAVE
- In contrast to the dominant trend, called the 'new wave' of Japanese architecture,
he attempted to reexamine and modify the formal geometric structural ideas of
modernism.
- TRADITIONAL REDUCTIVE SYMBOLISM

- Traditional reductive symbolism often involves the use of simplified and
essentialized symbols to represent profound concepts and teachings.
- Ando did this by introducing metaphysical concepts and producing fantasy
effects in architectural design. Inspired by the Japanese classical architecture in
Osaka and Tokyo, Ando was very concerned about a more balanced,
humanistic, and poetic approach to architecture. Ando applied the traditional
reductive symbolism of Buddhism and Taoism in his religious and non-religious
designs. He also adapted the inner courtyards of traditional Osaka houses to new
urban architecture.
- SIMPLE GEOMETRY AND OPEN DESIGN.

- Using simple geometry and transparency of Japanese houses, he designed open
stairways and bridges to lessen the sealed atmosphere of the standard city
dwelling. What we see in Ando's architecture, in terms of history, reminds us of
Jameson's definition of the nostalgic form of postmodern culture.
Synthesis: Ando’s Tomoshima House in Osaka allowed him into Japanese society
challenging the 'new wave' by reexamining modernist ideas. Drawing from traditional Japanese
architecture, he aimed for a balanced, humanistic approach, incorporating reductive symbolism
from Buddhism and Taoism. His designs featured simplicity and transparency, introducing open
elements to counter urban confinement—a departure from prevailing trends toward timeless
design principles.
ANDO CRITICIZED BOTH MODERNISM AND POSTMODERNISM
- In "Toward New Horizons in Architecture,’ Ando criticized modernism and

postmodernism by declaring their failure in Japanese architecture.
- He claimed that modernist architecture had become mechanical and postmodernist styles
endeavored to recover the formal richness that modernism appeared to have
discarded. This effort undeniably was a step in the right direction—utilizing history, taste,
and ornament—and restored to architecture a certain concreteness. Yet this movement,
too, has quickly become mired in hackneyed expression (overused), producing a flood of
formalistic play that is confusing rather than inspiring.
1991 TADAO ANDO BEYOND HORIZONS IN ARCHITECTURE
‘Without sentimentality, I aspire to transform place through architecture to the level of the
abstract and the universal’
- ABSTRACTION
- A faith in abstraction and logic permeates the work and writing of self-taught
architect Tadao Ando (b 1941, Osaka). Recipient of the Pritzker Prize in
architecture in 1995, Ando has taught at Yale, Columbia, and Harvard Universities.
- His buildings include

● Koshino House
● Studio Ashiya,
● Church and Theatre on the Water Tomamu 1987
● Children’s Museum, Himeji, 1989.
- Architectural thought is supported by abstract logic.

- By abstract, I mean to signify a meditative exploration that arrives at a
crystallization of the complexity and richness of the world, rather than a reduction
of its reality through diminishing its concreteness. Were not the best aspects of
modernism produced by such architectural thinking?
Summary/Insights: Not meaningless abstraction but abstraction to express meaning and

richness.
- DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AND BEYOND MODERNISM

- The most promising path open to contemporary architecture is that of development
through and beyond modernism. This means replacing the mechanical, lethargic,
and mediocre methods to which modernism has succumbed with the kind of
abstract, meditative vitality that marked its beginnings, and creating something
thought-provoking that will carry our age forward into the twenty-first century. The
creation of architecture that can breathe new vigor into the human spirit should
clear a road through the present architectural impasse.
Summary/Insights: This could mean that contemporary buildings need to be more exciting
and creative than what modernism has become. It is a call to go back to the thoughtful and
meditative ideas modernism started with, so we can make interesting structures that bring fresh
energy to our time and push us into the future. It's about breaking free from the usual and making
a path that's way better than what we have now.
ARCHITECTURE OF SURPRISES
- SURPRISE AND ORIGINALITY
- Ando's architecture is an assemblage of artistically composed surprises in space
and form. There is never a predictable moment as one moves through his
buildings. He refuses to be bound by convention. Originality is his medium and
his personal view of the world is his source of inspiration.
- The Pritzker Architecture Prize honors Tadao Ando not only for works completed
but also for future projects that when realized, will most certainly further enrich the
art of architecture
TRANSPARENT LOGIC
- CONTEMPLATION
- Architectural creation is founded in critical action, It is never simply a method of
problem-solving whereby given conditions are reduced to technical issues.
Architectural creation involves contemplating the origins and essence of a
project’s functional requirements and the subsequent determination of its
essential issues. Only in this way can the architect manifest in the architecture the
character of its origins.
- GO BEYOND WHAT IS SOUGHT

- The serious designer must question even the given requirements and devote
deep thought to what is truly being sought. This kind of inquiry will reveal the
special character latent in a commission and cast a sharp light on the vital role of
intrinsic logic, which can bring the architecture to realization. When logic pervades
the result is clarity of structure, or spatial order — apparent not only to perception
but also to reason. A transparent logic that permeates the whole surface beauty,
or mere geometry, with its intrinsic importance.
Summary/Insights: It is expressed how designing should require contemplation and

internalizing the purpose as well as thinking beyond mere requirements to determine the true
essence of a project.
ABSTRACTION
- The real world is complex and contradictory. At the core of architectural creation is the
transformation of the concreteness of the real through transparent logic into spatial
order. This is not an eliminative abstraction but, rather, an attempt at the organization of
the real around an intrinsic viewpoint to give it order through abstract power. The starting
point of an architectural problem — whether place, nature, lifestyle, or history — is
expressed within this development into the abstract. Only an effort of this nature will
produce a rich and variable architecture.
- In the Row House (Azuma Residence), Sumiyoshi, I took one of three wood row houses
and reconstructed it as a concrete enclosure, attempting to generate a microcosm within
it. The house is divided into three sections, the middle section being a courtyard open to
the sky. This courtyard is an exterior that fills the interior, and its spatial movement is
reversed and discontinuous. A simple geometric form, the concrete box is static; yet as
nature participates within it, and as it is activated by human life, its abstract existence
achieves vibrancy in its meeting with concreteness.
Summary/Insights: Architecture transforms the complexities of reality into spatial order

through transparent logic and abstract power, maintaining richness by abstractly organizing
concrete elements. In the Row House project, a wood row house became a concrete enclosure
with a courtyard, blending static geometry with nature's vibrancy and human activity.
NATURE
- I seek to instill the presence of nature within an architecture austerely constructed by

means of transparent logic. The elements of nature — water, wind, light, and sky - bring
architecture derived from ideological thought down to the ground level of reality and
awaken manmade life within it.
- The Japanese tradition embraces a different sensibility about nature than that found in the
West. Human life is not intended to oppose nature and endeavor to control it, but rather
to draw nature into an intimate association in order to find union with it.
- One can go so far as to say that, in Japan, all forms of spiritual exercise are traditionally
carried out within the context of the human interrelationship with nature.
- This kind of sensibility has formed a culture that deemphasizes the physical boundary
between residence and surrounding nature and establishes instead a spiritual threshold.
While screening man’s dwelling from nature, it attempts to draw nature inside. There is
no clear demarcation between outside and inside but rather their mutual permeation
- Today, unfortunately, nature has lost much of its former abundance, just as we have
enfeebled our ability to perceive nature. Contemporary architecture, thus, has a role to
play in providing people with architectural places that make them feel the presence of
nature. When it does this, architecture transforms nature through abstraction, changing its
meaning. When water, wind, light, rain, and other elements of nature are abstracted within
architecture, architecture becomes a place where people and nature confront each other
under a sustained sense of tension. I believe it is this feeling of tension that will
awaken the spiritual sensibilities latent in contemporary humanity.
Summary/Insights: The author aims to incorporate nature into architecturally simple

structures through transparent logic, utilizing elements like water, wind, light, and sky to bridge
ideological concepts with practical reality. In contrast to Western approaches, Japanese tradition
seeks a harmonious relationship with nature, emphasizing a spiritual connection rather than
control. This cultural sensibility blurs the boundaries between living spaces and nature, creating
a spiritual threshold. In contemporary times, as nature diminishes, the role of architecture
becomes crucial in reconnecting people with nature, transforming it through abstraction to evoke
a sustained sense of tension and awaken spiritual sensibilities.
PLACE
- The presence of architecture — regardless of its self-contained character — inevitably

creates a new landscape. This implies the necessity of discovering the architecture that
the site itself is seeking . . .
- I compose the architecture by seeking an essential logic inherent in the place. The
architectural pursuit implies a responsibility to find and draw out a site's formal
characteristics, along with its cultural traditions, climate, and natural environmental
features, the city structure that forms its backdrop, and the living patterns and age-old
customs that people will carry into the future. Without sentimentality, | aspire to transform
place through architecture to the level of the abstract and universal. Only in this way can
architecture repudiate the realm of industrial technology to become ‘grand art’ in its truest
sense. (pp75-76)
Summary/Insights: Architecture, by its mere presence, creates a new landscape. It

emphasizes the need to discover and draw out a site's essential characteristics, including cultural
traditions, climate, and living patterns. They aspire to transform places into the abstract and
universal, elevating architecture beyond industrial technology to achieve true 'grand art.'
ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE
A Western Way
PETER ZUMTHOR
"In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that
goes far beyond form and construction.”
THINKING ARCHITECTURE
- In this book Peter Zumthor expresses his motivation in designing buildings that speak to
our feelings and understanding in so many ways and that possess a powerful and
unmistakable presence and personality. The book is illustrated throughout with color
photographs by Laura Padgett of Zumthor's new home and studio in Haldenstein.
“To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as
composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and
sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing
anything, just being. The sense that I try to instill into materials is beyond all rules of
composition, and their tangibility, smell, and acoustic qualities are merely elements of the
language we are obliged to use.
SENSE emerges when I succeed in bringing out the specific meanings of certain materials
in my buildings, meanings that can only be perceived in just this way in this one building.
When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which | am going to design a building, when |
try to plumb its depths, its form, its history, and its sensuous qualities, images of other places
start to invade this process of precise observation: images of places I know and that once
impressed me, images of ordinary or special places, places that I carry with me as inner visions
of specific moods and qualities; images of architectural situations, which emanate from the
world of art, or films, theater or literature.”
Summary/Insights: Buildings can be beautiful in a quiet way, embodying qualities like

calmness, strength, and warmth. Zumthor strives to give materials a special meaning in each
building, going beyond the usual design rules. He focuses on understanding a site deeply,
considering its shape, history, and feelings. Personal memories and impressions of other places
- images - also influence the design process, adding a unique touch to each building.
PETER ZUMTHOR, ATMOSPHERE
- Atmospheres is a poetics of architecture and a window onto Peter Zumthor's personal

sources of inspiration.
- In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Peter Zumthor

describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his
houses.
- Images of spaces and buildings that affect him are every bit as important as particular
pieces of music or books that inspire him.
- From the composition and “presence” of the materials to the handling of proportions and
the effect of light, this poetics of architecture enables the reader to recapitulate what
really matters in the process of house design.
- Materials react with one another and have their radiance so that the material composition
gives rise to something unique. Material is endless. (Material Compatibility)
DAYLIGHT IS A SPIRITUAL QUALITY
- “Thinking about daylight and artificial light I have to admit that daylight, the light on things,
is so moving to me that I feel almost a spiritual quality. When the sun comes up in the
morning - which I always find so marvelous, absolutely fantastic the way it comes back
every morning - and casts its light on things, it doesn't feel as if it quite belongs in this
world. I don’t understand light. It gives me the feeling there’s something beyond me,
something beyond all understanding. And I am very glad, very grateful that there is
such a thing.”
(The Light of Things)
- Peter Zumthor has described what constitutes an architectural atmosphere as "this

singular density and mood, this feeling of presence, well-being, harmony,
beauty...under whose spell I experience what I otherwise would not experience in
precisely this way."
TENSION BETWEEN INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR
- Something else very special that fascinates me about architecture. A fantastic business,
this. Architecture takes a bit of the globe and constructs a tiny box of it. And suddenly
there's an interior and an exterior. Brilliant!
MULTIPLICITY AND MEMORY: TALKING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE WITH PETER ZUMTHOR
- For Zumthor there is a strong connection between reality and living. This brings him to
be oriented towards the concrete, imagining “things” and not “theories”. Emotion reveals
the “authentic core” of things.
- From emotion, he passes on to remembrance and memory, which are the central threads
in Zumthor's research.
- The world is overloaded with signs and information, representative of things — Zumthor
wrote — that nobody completely understands, because they are in turn nothing but signs
representative of other signs. The real thing remains hidden. Nobody can ever see it
- Zumthor's architecture has nothing to hide from us: It is a direct sign that doesn’t throw
back to other meanings. His architectural gestures remain dipped into the surroundings
and don't subjugate them to disputable formalisms. It's no accident that his work is
frequently categorized as minimal. Minimalist work always depends on a spectator,
therefore it isn't autonomous (or best, self-referenced), and it gives the impression of
containing something, to be empty inside. At the center of architecture, there seems to be
an empty space.
- You can’t plan emptiness, but you can draw its boundaries, and so empty comes to life».
So architecture is emptiness, and if the architect wants to produce beauty, he has to work
on light and vibrations (sonorous, tactile...) that spread in this absence. Zumthor gives
particular importance to the “METAPHYSICAL SILENCE” and its peculiar and precise
characteristics, akin to poetry. As George Steiner writes, «Silence is an alternative. When,
in the polis, words are filled with barbarism and lies, nothing talks as strongly as non-
written poetry.
- The process used by Zumthor to reach the memory is the ARCHITECTONIC

DRAMATIZATION maybe it's the only possible way to remember, because it's only
through emotions that mankind can remember. The monument, as a symbol, is not
conceived by Zumthor, who imagines the building as a real place, not a content
falsification.
“To build a monument, — as he said — where every politician put up his plaque or his wreath, is
the first act of forgetfulness”
Summary/Insights: Zumthor’s architecture is direct and has nothing to hide. It makes use
of metaphysical silence as a catalyst for meditation and emotion. Along with dramatization, his
works are authentic and seek to evoke emotion as through emotion and experience, we
remember. Thus, he seeks to make his architecture memorable and to speak to its users as if a
memorandum in and of itself.
“To build a monument, — as he said — where every politician put up his plaque or his
wreath, is the first act of forgetfulness.” This simply means that architecture should not be for the
self but for the people. In modern times, we tend to forget the purpose and essence of architecture
which is for its users. Similar, to a politician who puts up his plaque signifies self-centeredness
which contradicts and forgets the real essence of what makes a politician. Instead, an impact is
made through memory which is associated with the feeling in the moment it is conceived. Thus,
architecture should seek to amplify emotion and experience to make an impact.

TOA NOTES - FINALS - Based On Mr. Patrick Abellana's Notes

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November 17, 2023.

“IT STARTS WITH THE NATIVE PHILIPPINE HUT”

FIRST PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE ARCHIPELAGO

● BAHAY KUBO, STILT HOUSE

- Transferable in case of natural disasters

IT IS THE BASIC FORM OF PHILIPPINE RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

IFUGAO BAHAY KUBO:

(EXCURSE: CONTEMPORARY HUT, OR SHELTER RESEARCH

SECOND (1.2.) PHASE OF PHILIPPINE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS.

- The Colonizers Imported Europe-Type Solutions For Their Residential Architecture

THIRD (1.3.) PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

FOURTH (1.4.) PHASE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

2.1 A PURELY EUROPEAN BUILDING: SAN AGUSTINE CHURCH IN MANILA

FIRST (2.1) PHASE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: A

● INTRAMUROS - San Agustine Church in Downtown, Manila

3. AN ADDITIONAL CATALYST FOR ADDED LOCAL TASTE: CLIMATIC CHALLENGES

SECOND (2.2.) PHASE OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: ADAPTATION

1. ADAPTED TO CLIMATIC CHALLENGES: “EARTHQUAKE BAROQUE?”

2. ADAPTED TO DEFENCE REQUIREMENTS

THIRD (2.3.) PHASE OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES:

Father Klassen believes that the contemporary main facade of

The CLOVER-SHAPED PEDIMENT is the most valuable part

In Coseteng's understanding, it is an eclectic striving that

● JUAN ARELLANO (1888-1960)

- According to architecture historians, Arellano is considered to be the first pioneer of the

● JUAN NAKPIL (1899-1986)

- UNIVERSITY CHAPEL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

- THEATER OF PERFORMING ARTS, MANILA.

- First five-star hotel in dictator Marcos's home province.

● FRANCISCO "BOBBY MANOSA”

- SAN MIGUEL BREWERY

- The beginning of Postmodernism in the Philippines = Overthrowing of Marcos’ dictatorship

● ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, ORTIGAS CENTER, MANILA (1986)

- Planned usually by FOREIGN COMPANIES in collaboration with “ARCHITECTS OF

5.3 TRANSPARENT ARCHITECTURE

● OPENNESS LIMITING SUSTAINABILITY

● OVERVIEW AND CLARITY

- There are architects categorized by researchers of contemporary architecture as

5.5. FOREIGN INSPIRATIONS: “MEDITERRANIAN” AND “ZEN”

5.6 UNDER THE EARTH

6.2. SECOND PHASE OF URBAN DESIGN: FILIPPINIZATION: THE INDEPENDENT

6.3. THIRD PHASE OF URBAN DESIGN: MODERNIST MINIMALISM: THE BUSINESS

The political and especially the business

The triangle runways triangle constitutes

Makati is a rationally organized city,

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE

- Self-observation; reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires, & sensations

- Antonym of Extrospection – the observation of things external to one's self.

- Essentially GEOMETRIC and

THE ESSENCE OF AN INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE

1. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST A WORLD OVERLOADED OF SIGNS AND

2. IT ACCEPTS EMPTINESS OF THE PURE ARCHITECTURAL FORM. BUT IT DOES NOT

- THEREFORE, INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE FILLS THE “EMPTY” WALLS WITH

“LIGHT WRITES ON OBJECTS”

● MODERNIST MINIMALISM - rational consciousness

KENNETH FRAMPTON’S OBSERVATION

- Kenneth Frampton describes these principles as "creating introspective microcosms

CHARACTERISTICS OF INTROSPECTIVE ARCHITECTURE

4. A CONSCIOUS FUSION of EASTERN AND WESTERN ARCHITETURE

5. INCLUSION OFf NATURE

6. INCORPORATION OF ALL HUMAN SENSES

7. INSPIRATION FOR MEDITATION, REFLECTION, SILENCE.

10. MASSIVE WALLS