Leandro Valencia Locsin: Filipino architect 9783035620931, 9783035620924

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Leandro Valencia

filipino architect

Leandro Valencia

Jean-Claude Girard Birkhäuser

filipino architect

Table of Contents



Preface by Bruno Marchand, EPFL Professor

11

Preamble

13

General Framework

7

15

35

Renaissance Man The Life and Disappearance of Locsin: A Final Project

Monumentality Redesigned Abstract and Far-reaching: Sculptural Buildings at the Service of a Message 38

The Question of Monumentality in the Post–World War II Period

39

Waiting for the CCP: Structural Thinking

39

Structure as Architectural Expression

43

Floating Masses, Abstraction, and Structural Continuity

43

The Forerunner of the National Theater

46

Idealization of the Roof: Two Projects

48

Abstraction and Structure

51

The National Imagination: The Origin and Rise of Nationalism

54

The Arrival of the Marcoses in Power

54

Locsin Appointed CCP Architect

55



The Site of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP): Of Reclaimed Land

57

The National Theater: A Sculpture under the Sun

61

Organic Continuity: “A Hollowed-Out Sculpture”

68

An Acropolis for Art and an Agora: Two Projects

68

Volumes under the Sun: A Museum

69

Folk Arts Theater: A Covered Agora

73

The PICC: Suspended Concrete at the Service of the Image

76

The Entrance Hall

77

Suspended Concrete

81

The Largest Hotel in the Philippines

81

A Misleading Structural Statement

83



Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibition: A Temple for Commerce

17

The Disappearance

19

The Final Project

21

Geographic and Political Context of the Philippines

22

Major Historical Periods and Architectural Models

23

The Precolonial Period and the Vernacular Housing Model

88

Masses under the Sun: Another Museum

23

The Spanish Period (1565–1898): A Unifying Religious Power and the Importation of a Style

90

“Hollowed-Out Sculpture”



The American Period (1898–1942): The Importation of a Culture and the Arrival of Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) in the Philippines

24

25

William E. Parsons: The Search for Continuity

26

The Destruction of Manila

26



Modern Architecture in the Philippines: Architects Facing Independence

28

The Influence of the Modern Movement

28

Neovernacular

28

The Post–World War II Art Scene in the Philippines: The Artists of the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG)

93

International Influences: The Learning Period From Tange to Johnson via Wright: Tradition, Classicism, and Organicism in the Philippines 95

The Trip to Japan in 1956: Tradition and Modernity

97

Japanese Thoughts: The Monterrey Apartments

100



The 1959 Trip to the United States: Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, and Paul Rudolph

101

Classical Thoughts: Philip Johnson

103

Religious Buildings: Four Projects

108

Purposeful Columns

Locsin’s Entrance

113

The Colonnade in an Institutional Building

29

Life of Leandro Locsin (1928–1994) : From Negros to Manila

117

Poetic Rationality: Oscillations

30

Teachers and Training

120

Organic Thinking: Frank Lloyd Wright

Fernando Zóbel: The Mentor and the Beginning of the Collections

120

The First Hotel and the Appearance of the Exploded Plan

123

Organic Aspirations in Urban Centers

29

31



133

Development of a Language The Villas of the First Period (1958–66): Character, Design, and Materials at the Service of the Domestic Living Space

Ground Changes Design Continuity and Transition: The Relationship to the Land Redrawn

137

Place in Locsin’s Work, and the Historical Models

225

Walls Emerging from the Ground

137

The Vernacular Model and the Bahay Kubo

231

The Philippine Pavilion: An Enveloping Ode to Progress

138

The Spanish Period and the Appearance of the Bahay na Bato

241

Pure Geometric Shapes

139

The American Period and the Importation of the Tsalet Style

139

The Postwar Period and the Appearance of the Bungalow

140

Makati and the Development of Villages

140

The Methodological Classification of Residences

141

The Residential Bungalow Format: Starting Point of a Domestic Evolution

141

148



249

Vernacular Building Local Material and Style: Buildings Subject to Local Conditions

Secondary Residences: Between Traditional Style and Modern Construction

255

Buildings in Symbiosis with Their Location

263

Eaves Revisited

265

Between Vernacular Tradition and Modernity: Three Hotels

266

Large Houses: Formal Eclecticism

277

Roofs as Symbols

279

Pyramid-Shaped Projects

284

Punctuate the Landscape

251

The First Projects: Development of the Bungalow Model and the Appearance of the Patio The Influence of Japanese Architecture: Appearance of the Pitched Roof



1959–62: The Transition Period and the Disappearance of the Bungalow Format

152

Large One-Story Residences: Tripartite and Articulated Plans

152

The First Large Residence with a Tripartite Plan

153

Spatial Complexity and the Beginnings of Philippine Architecture

157

The Articulated Plan and Philippine Flexibility

291

First Chapel Project

158

The Architect’s Residence: A Pivotal Project

293

The Actors of Construction

164

The Culmination of the One-Story Plan

294

Location and Typology

164

The Exploration of a Design

299

The Construction Site and the Contribution of David Consunji

166

A Last Bungalow?

302

The Inauguration

167

Two-Story Houses

168

The Tuason Development and Japan

171



The Emergence of the Family Home and the Influence of Wright’s Prairie House

174

Articulated Floor Plans

176

Return to Classical Expression

305

An Overture to the World

309



Epilogue by Leandro Y. Locsin Jr.

150

179

223

289

Back to the Beginning The Holy Sacrifice Chapel: A First Project

Facades in Motion Sunshades, Slopes, and Curves: Climate-Response Devices The Displacement of the Center, Makati and the Villages (1957–75)

182



Appearance of the Sunshade: The First Administrative Buildings in Makati

186

A Concrete Frame

187

Undulations

312

Bibliography

189

Catching the Light

314

Architectural Works

190

Full-Depth Facades

317

Timeline of Works

202

Eaves as the Main Motif: The Oblique in Facade

215

Inclined Facades

318

About the Author

218

Tumuli: Buildings as Tumuli

319

Acknowledgments

184

Preface

I often like to compare architectural research of a historical nature to detective work. The parallel is both amusing and enlightening: with the skill of Sherlock Holmes, the researcher must, hypotheses formulated, chase after clues and interpret them, find exhibits, spend entire nights searching through dusty archives; the objective being to obtain evidence to better grasp the facts and, ultimately, to clarify the enigma (or solve the mystery). Even if the object of their investigations differs, researchers and detectives adopt a similar approach to obtain convincing results; in both cases such an approach implies a scientific method of investigation made up of exact observation, an assiduous search for information, the organization of data, and rigorous reasoning based on a certain knowledge. This parallel is particularly relevant in the case of JeanClaude Girard’s research on Leandro Locsin. He has been familiar with the work of the Filipino architect for some time, but during a sabbatical stay with his family in Manila in 2013, the discovery in situ of some of Locsin’s breathtakingly radical creations had the effect of an electric shock, triggering an immediate need to know more about the originator, and about the inspiration behind such architecture. Locsin is certainly a well-known architect, with a long career, numerous achievements, and a perfectly justified reputation, recognized by his peers and rewarded by prizes. Even though his career has been the subject of a few publications and academic studies, it is clear that no research has been based on a systematic and exhaustive examination of his office’s archive—an approach that is essential for a historical and theoretical understanding of the architect’s work and thought. The availability of drawings, photos, models, and administrative documents, among other materials, from the Locsin family—as well as access to the library and even to some of the architect’s personal objects—allowed Jean-Claude Girard to begin work on the basis of material that was largely unpublished, consisting of a set of primary sources that had never been assembled before. But, as is often the case, the archive is neither complete nor completely reliable, and doubts remain about the interpretation of certain documents. It is at this point that we can return to the aforementioned parallel with Sherlock Holmes. Donning his detective mantle, Jean-Claude Girard conducted an investigation to fill in these gaps: he had to find other sources, cross-check them to verify their validity, hypothetically reconstitute a more exhaustive list of works, go in search of undocumented objects, consult maps and satellite views, visit and visually appreciate the sites, photograph them, etc.—all this in order to respond to the imperatives of historical investigation: to document, to attribute, and to date.

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

7

Although fastidious, this methodical and meticulous work has notable virtues: in this case, it has brought to light new avenues of understanding and new critical perspectives, resulting in part from the confrontation of the designed and built work with remarks made by the architect at the time of conception. For Jean-Claude Girard, it was a question of tracing unknown paths and correcting or enriching existing knowledge; for Locsin’s work is complex and refers in particular to the intersection of different languages and cultures: Filipino, of course, but also Japanese and Western—above all, American. While architects profile their production through the prism of the art and architecture of their time, it should be noted that Locsin’s generation is particularly receptive to American culture, assimilated through the assiduous reading of recognized magazines (which document the latest achievements of the masters, sometimes still at the project or construction stage), or through travel. Among the preferred destinations was the United States, the new focal point of modernity in the post–World War II period. Locsin went there in 1959. His encounters with Philip Johnson and Eero Saarinen in New York and Detroit, Paul Rudolph’s work at Yale, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s at Taliesin West were fundamental in their impact on his work. As Jean-Claude Girard demonstrates, this trip firmed up Locsin’s choice of reinforced concrete as a material that stands out for its potential suitability to Philippine culture. During this trip he was successively confronted with Johnson’s classicism and formalism, which he adapted to various religious or administrative buildings; with Wright’s organicism, transposed in particular in the domestic spaces program; and with Saarinen and Rudolph’s plasticity, which he interpreted with virtuosity. However, another initiatory journey must also be mentioned: the trip to Japan in 1956 and the visit to some of Kenzo Tange’s works, a moment of great introspection on the importance of tradition and the vernacular and the difficult synthesis to be made with the modernity of contemporary projects. These influences lead us to detect an affirmed mannerist tinge in Locsin’s architecture, rooted in the work of the great masters of the first generation and some of their followers. But to proceed “in the manner of” is not limited to simply copying; on the contrary, it gives us the possibility to measure the originality of a work in relation to its model. This way of proceeding is neither systematic nor unequivocal, often assuming contradictory aspects by correlating, for example, traits of certain models with others belonging to other formal systems. When he confronted the American form-givers, as historian Reyner Banham calls them, Locsin revealed his own sensitivity and ability to adapt the essential features of such architecture to the local, social, economic but also climatic contexts. There remain 8

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

nagging questions that he could not—and did not want to— avoid: What is the identity of Philippine architecture, framed in an emerging hyperglobalization? What is his own cultural and artistic vision of this same identity, oscillating between extremes, the vernacular on the one hand and modernity on the other? For any architect, these questions are fundamental; for Locsin they were all the more compelling because he obtained, at a precise moment in his career, public commissions of great magnitude, which were meant to represent the predominance of political power and the affirmation of a new national and institutional collective feeling. It is certainly important to anchor these projects and achievements in a historical and thematic understanding of the facts: throughout his work, Jean-Claude Girard has done so, revealing to us in this book new connections through chosen words that have structured his thinking as a researcher. His viewpoint has nevertheless remained that of an architect. This double profile historian/architect must be underlined here. For it is not enough to get hold of unpublished archives: one must also confront the indepth study of the material, technical, and functional characteristics of the architectural objects, with particular attention to the details, the implementation, the materials used, and their own quality. The reading of historical documents was thus accompanied by another reading, sensitive to the materialities, an approach that is always edifying and which proves fundamental in the case of the strongly plastic and tactile work of the Filipino architect. Beyond this plasticity, diverse and complex, remains the feeling of the continuity of the work. It is forged from the same radicalism and abstraction, from the same expressive and rational minimalism, from the same care in the treatment of materials and details, and, finally, from the same exploitation of the sculptural springs of the architectural forms. As Jean-Claude Girard shows us through this book, Leandro Locsin remains today one of the most singular and fascinating architects of his generation.

Bruno Marchand, EPFL Professor Lausanne, October 2021

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

9

Preamble

This book is the follow-up to a doctoral thesis defended at the EPFL in 2018, [1] itself the result of research that began in February 2013 while my family and I were living in Manila, capital of the Philippines. It focuses on the career of Leandro Valencia Locsin (1928– 1994), an architect whose work, with few exceptions, is located mainly in the Philippines. For analytical reasons the text of the thesis is structured according to building function and chronology of design or construction. However for the book, I’ve opted for a structure based on thematic chapters, which allows the grouping of buildings from different periods, hosting sometimes totally contrasting functions. Thus, as the work of an architect involves permanent thematic iterations, Locsin’s work is transcribed here according to chapters whose content allows one to compare works that may appear at first sight to be unconnected. If the thesis remains the reference work in terms of cataloguing and rigorous analysis, it seems right to me to return to a structure that allows one to wander more freely through a rich and complex output, starting with the early projects in order to show the overall continuity. This makes it easier to approach a complex and multifaceted body of work and to capture the formidable creative capacity of an architect who, throughout his life, sought a new Philippine architecture.

1

Girard 2018.

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

11

General Framework

The aim of this monograph is to show that Leandro Locsin succeeded in producing buildings that are characterized by their roots in the Philippines, even though they stem from a range of influences both vernacular and international. It is undeniable that the post–World War II period offered unique conditions, as the Republic of the Philippines faced its hardwon independence, together with unprecedented changes in urban planning and construction. The country’s reconstruction, particularly that of Manila, involved the systematic use of reinforced concrete. This was the only material capable of meeting the demands of function and urban-planning, and it opened up a new field of formal experimentation. The international architectural context also offers a new framework where the question of the recognition of local cultures contradicts the dogmatism of the modernity of the CIAM. The newly acquired freedom sees the emergence of buildings in which the exploration of forms and the use of textures—as found in Eero Saarinen, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Paul Rudolph—is juxtaposed with the rationality of the skyscrapers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In this panorama, Locsin managed to avoid copying projects published in magazines by integrating in particular responses to the local climatic conditions and by reference to the architectural history of his country. His knowledge of vernacular culture gave him a solid conceptual foundation where basic principles—such as cross-ventilation or protection against climatic elements—directed his projects toward solutions which could be described as more pragmatic because above all, they respond to contextual questions. Locsin was then fortunate enough to access large-scale commissions, whether for the government of the Marcoses or for the powerful Ayala family. This allowed him not only to explore themes related to the question of monumentality or abstraction but also to consider great scope and formal expression. The use of classical thought through principles of symmetry and order, among others, provided him with a formal framework in which he could focus more specifically on spatial continuity and materiality. Although public projects are a unique opportunity to explore these themes, analysis of the archives has shown that there was no clear break in production when these orders arrived; on the contrary, there are similarities between projects having different purposes. In the chapters of this book I look at issues as diverse as monumentality, abstraction, classicism, organicism, materiality, and the vernacular. In addition I discuss the development of an architectural language, supported by the analysis of selected buildings.

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

13

Renaissance Man The Life and Disappearance of Locsin: A Final Project

The Disappearance “Renaissance man,” “master builder,” “poet of space,” “kasimanwa,” “architects’ architect,” “national artist”: such are the terms used by the press to describe Leandro Valencia Locsin when he died on November 15, 1994, following an illness. This posthumous recognition shows the interest in the creator of the famous Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, for instance, whose career will have marked the architectural landscape of the Philippines in the post–World War II period. The literature devoted to his work is not abundant however, although it does include a few works that relate the national and international dimension of the architect. [1] In addition there are a few texts by Locsin himself, including two interviews, in which he gives some keys to understanding his reflections, and more particularly the influences of the great masters, and of historical anchoring. When he died, Locsin left more than 240 projects, at least half of which were completed, dealing with religious, domestic, institutional, and administrative space. [2] In the 1990s he had also begun working on high-rise buildings such as the Office Tower [3] (1993) in Makati, and condominium developments. [4] These were soon to become one of the dominant urban figures in the megacities whose production was to explode in the 1990s. Locsin’s production in this field is not significant, as he died at the moment when these high-rise developments were beginning to arrive in the office. [5] However, certain projects, such as the last unrealized one, the Aquino Center, [6] synthesize numerous themes characterizing Locsin’s work. [7] Chua Commercial Condominium, partial section

Office Tower in Makati in collaboration with SOM

1

Among the most important one can cite is Klassen 1986.

2

See Girard 2018, catalog of the work.

3

In association with the American office Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

4

Condominiums are co-ownership buildings of apartments sharing common services normally located on the lower floors or at the top of the building. See Czarina Saloma and Erik Akpedonu, “Eating in Vertical Neighborhoods: Food Consumption Practices in Metro Manila Condominiums” (in Sahakian et al. 2016, 91–106), which describes how condominiums have rapidly become a type of housing intended, unlike in Europe, for a wealthy middle class who can take advantage of common services in the buildings. This configuration is a consequence of the congestion in megacities due to the increase in traffic, of which Manila is one of the most striking examples.

5

There are two residential buildings of this type, the St. Michael Tower (1989) in Baguio and the Chua Commercial Condominium (1990) in Manila. For a detailed description see Girard 2018.

6

The Monastery of the Transfiguration in Malabay is often considered to be Locsin’s last project, as it was finally completed by the office after his death. However, records show that studies of the monastery began in February while those of the Aquino Center began in June.

7

The date indicated on the plans mentions October 17, 1994, less than a month before Locsin’s death.

RENAISSANCE MAN

17

Plans

Sections

18

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Final Project Aquino Center San Miguel, Tarlac 1994

We are going to start with the latest project found in the archives in

→

order to highlight the themes developed in the following chapters. Located in Tarlac City, the Aquino Center consists of a museum intended to commemorate the life of Senator Benigno Aquino, who was assassinated on August 21, 1983, on his return from exile, and his wife, Cory, who would go on to become the Philippines’ first woman president (1986–92). They were originally from Tarlac, and had come to symbolize the opposition to the Marcos regime. In addition to the exhibition areas, there is a theater, conference and work rooms, a library, and guest rooms used by delegates during seminars organized over several days. The commemorative significance probably guides the choice of exterior image and of the location. Locsin chose to divide the facility into two parallel blocks 180 m long by 21 m wide, each with three floors, separated by a 12 m wide largely outdoor space. In order to reduce its visual impact, two-thirds of the building is buried; from a distance, only the roof emerges from the site. On the scale of the landscape, the completely opaque roof story seems to be delicately placed on the two hills at each end of the project, connecting them in the manner of a bridge. It is therefore a project whose horizontal form

Site plan, elevations

seeks to create a dialogue between architecture and nature, but on the scale of the landscape, in order to reveal its variations in form and create a link with the location. [8] For the Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, whom Locsin met at the Expo ’70 World's Fair in Osaka, building in the manner of a bridge allows a dialogue with the landscape’s topography “to reveal the rich contours of even the most level prairie.” [9] From the outside, the abstraction of the project makes it impossible to read its purpose or to clearly identify whether it is not simply a civil engineering structure. All the functions are turned inward and open onto a central linear space that connects the two volumes. At the center of

Model

the composition, in a very classical manner, is a plaza with a pool from which the two main structures are reached, on one side the museum and on the other the conference rooms. All of the public functions are located on the intermediate floor between the lower floor, where the technical areas are located, and the roof level, which is partly occupied by the guest rooms, the rest being left empty for a planned future extension. The superimposition of functions is made possible by a system of reinforced concrete beams placed every 4 m. These have varying spans according to the layout of the facility. The large cross sections are presented so as to give an idea of the desired ambience for the rooms by indication of textures and shadows. Locsin seems to be paying a last homage to Paul Rudolph, whose images were abundantly published in the 1970s.

Perspective

In this last project, Locsin revisits themes that have been dear to him throughout his career—as disparate as abstraction, monumentality, significance, classicism, and topography—and succeeds in proposing an

8

9

In the 1970s, some architects became interested in this theme, such as Vittorio Gregotti when he built the University of Calabria (1972) or the dwellings in Cefalù (1976), which he designed as dikes in the landscape. We can also evoke the landscape megastructures that Arthur Erickson designed in Canada, first the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (1965) and then University of Lethbridge in Alberta (1972).

institutional architecture linked to the local conditions of production in the Philippines without making any concession to the question of function. In order to understand this achievement, it is necessary to go back and study the parameters, particularly the political and geographical, but also the cultural, which influenced his thinking as an architect.

Erickson 1975, 161.

RENAISSANCE MAN

19

Philippines

South China Sea

Java Sea

Philippine Sea

Geographic and Political Context of the Philippines The Republic of the Philippines is part of the Southeast Asian region. [10] It is an archipelago of 7,641 islands bordered to the east by the Philippine Sea and to the west by the South China Sea. Three groupings of islands constitute the main regions, which are represented by the three colors of the Philippine flag. These are Luzon, where the capital Manila is located; the Visayas, in the center of the archipelago; and Mindanao, in the south, which borders Indonesia. In 2015 the population exceeded 100 million inhabitants, whereas in the 1947 census, at the end of the war, it was barely 19 million, confirming one of the highest growth rates in the region, according to the United Nations. [11] The surface area of the Philippines is about 300,000 km2 and the official average density is 337 people per square kilometer. This average varies considerably depending on the regions, provinces, and cities, with a population density of 20,000 per square kilometer in Metro Manila; up to 27,000 in Makati, the economic center of the country; and as high as 71,263 in Manila City. [12] Thus the urban and architectural demands will change according to the local environment, showing great differences when analyzing Locsin’s production. From a geological point of view, the Philippines is the result of the collision of several tectonic plates whose movements have created an island landscape characterized by hills and volcanoes, the most active of which is Pinatubo, located in the southeast of the island of Luzon. These collisions have also caused enormous underwater faults, the closest of which is the Philippine Trench, and the best known of which is the Marianas Trench, which will regularly expose the archipelago to earthquakes, forcing the inhabitants to adapt their construction methods to resist the telluric movements. From a climate point of view, the Philippines is subject to a tropical regime characterized by two main seasons, the dry season from December to May and the rainy season from June to November. Temperatures vary according to the month, ranging from 24°C in January to 28°C in May, but the feeling of warmth is accentuated by a very high humidity level of up to 85 percent in September. [13] Large variations appear when observing climate data from different regions. In addition to earthquakes and tropical weather conditions, the Philippines is on the route of typhoons that originate in the Pacific Ocean. These hit the archipelago head-on, as it is the first obstacle in Typhoons

their movement from west to east. They bring violent winds and recurrent floods that have the capacity to devastate entire regions in a few hours. When Locsin wrote one of the rare texts devoted to the architecture

10

Southeast Asia is geographically located south of China, north of Australia, east of India and west of New Guinea.

11

https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/quickstat/national-quickstat/all/*. Accessed September 7, 2021.

12

13

14

https://www.psa.gov.ph/content/philippine-populationdensity-based-2015-census-population. Accessed September 7, 2021. Government source. https:// web.archive.org/ web/20151115114718/ https://kidlat.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/index.php/climate-of-thephilippines. Locsin 1964, 19.

RENAISSANCE MAN

of his country, it is through the climate question that he approached the subject. “As expected, the first consideration of the Filipino builder and certainly the most evident in his architecture, which is after all an outgrowth of man’s desire to protect himself from the elements, is the climate and resulting flora. […] All these conditions, plus the fact that the Philippines is in the tropical belt and therefore subject to excessive heat, dampness, and humidity, have not only molded the development of architecture, but also have limited our knowledge of its history by leaving little if no vestiges of the past.” [14] 21

Here he touches on two fundamental points for understanding Philippine architecture. The first is, as it were, a reminder that climatic conditions have shaped the country’s architecture, which has adapted to meet extreme demands. One could take this assertion for granted, but recent real estate developments, particularly in Metro Manila, show that market rules impose construction methods that are totally at odds with the local culture. By seeking to respond to the demands of a clientele bathed in foreign culture as conveyed by various media such as magazines and the Internet, these developments reveal neighborhoods whose inspiration is to be found outside of the country or in an idealized past [15] which Gerard Lico describes as a “disjunction of our links with the past.” [16] The second is that climatic conditions are also the source of destruction of a constructed memory that makes the Philippines partially disconnected from a vanished past. This process of destruction and disconnection was illustrated in an extreme way, but this time due to external factors, when Manila was bombed during World War II and had to face reconstruction.

Major Historical Periods and Architectural Models The current political organization is based on the 1987 Constitution, which in its first article states that “The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” [17] The Constitution also regulates politics organized by the executive power, symbolized by the president and his ministers, and by legislative power, represented by Congress, which comprises the Senate and the House of Representatives. These two powers can be contradicted by popular law through initiatives and referendums. At the national level, a large number of political subdivisions of independent entities make up the political landscape of the Republic: “The territorial and political subdivisions of the Republic of the Philippines are the provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.” [18] This organization gives a great deal of autonomy to the regions and is characteristic of a country whose economic and political center is Metro Manila but where minorities are represented by local political institutions, the smallest of which is the barangay, a neighborhood-wide association. Yet while these issues are addressed in the text of the 1987 Constitution following the dismissal and exile of Ferdinand Marcos, this has not always been the case in Philippine history, which is marked by periods of colonization. The longest, under the Spaniards (1565–1898), lasted more than 350 years and was followed by the arrival of the Americans at the beginning of the 20th century, who governed the country until the arrival of the Japanese, who took power in 1942 until the Philippines

15

See Sahakian 2014.

gained independence in 1946.

16

Lico 2008, 528.

17

See the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Article II, Section 1.

18

1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Article X (Local Government, General Provisions), Section 1.

19

Today, however, only a Muslim minority in the Sulu Archipelago to the south still claims autonomy from the power of Manila.

20

Of the other 10 percent, 4 percent are Muslim, and the remaining 6 percent are animists. See Rodell 2002, 6.

The Philippines are not an exception in the context of Southeast Asia and beyond, on the contrary they are part of a general movement toward national independence that would affect many countries. Unlike some such as India, the archipelago would not be divided into religious regions, [19] especially since the Spanish period made it possible to unify the Filipino people under Christianity, which today is the religion of about 90 percent of the population. [20]  22

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Precolonial Period and the Vernacular Housing Model The period before the arrival of the Spaniards is characterized by a type of dwelling called a bahay kubo or nipa hut, literally a palm hut, which is totally adapted to the environment both from the point of view of its configuration and its construction. Detached from the ground, it offers protection in case of flooding in lowland areas and protects from humidity as well as from the cold ground in mountainous areas. Its simple structure of bound wood is flexible enough to withstand earthquakes, and the material, bamboo, is found in abundance in the archipelago’s forests. Bahay kubo

This type of house on stilts is not unique to the Philippines and is found in the climatically similar regions of Southeast Asia. While this model is spread throughout the archipelago, urbanized areas gradually developed or even abandoned it in favor of structures influenced by Western models. When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, they inherited a vernacular construction style derived from the regional building tradition. However, their influence would bring about a change in the approach to construction, especially with the emergence of representative religious buildings and more luxurious housing. The Spanish Period (1565–1898): A Unifying Religious Power and the Importation of a Style It was Magellan (1480–1521), the great Portuguese explorer, who first discovered the Philippines in 1521, and it was Miguel López de Legazpi (1502–1572) who officially attached it to the Spanish empire in 1565 before founding Manila in 1571 by overthrowing the sultanate in place since the 15th century. The period that began was above all marked by the conversion of the people to the religion of the empire and by the construction of numerous churches throughout the country. The separation of religious and political powers was not effective and led to the construction of buildings whose purpose was to serve

Bahay na bato

Spanish domination. For Locsin, “Church and State were united, and worked powerfully as one in the Christianization and political organization of the Philippines. The bulk of Filipino-Spanish architecture is vivid testimony to this. It is composed mainly of churches, religious buildings like the conventos and other forms of liturgically inspired constructions.” [21] The Spaniards used solid materials such as stone to give a sense of permanence to their buildings, but the danger of earthquakes necessitated constructive adaptations and the emergence of a new style: “earthquake-baroque.” [22] This is characterized by sturdy constructions with solid walls flanked on the periphery by buttresses to ensure stability in the event of movement. The architectural testimony of this period is therefore mainly made up of religious buildings whose style was directly imported from Europe, but as Locsin pointed out, if the constructional principle evolved to respond to local constraints, so did the style, which underwent numerous adaptations and gave rise to new motifs: “The designs for the churches were essentially imported, though in fact they were generally executed from memory or from prints which offered little or no details for the sides of the building or the back. Consequently, this gave the Filipino and Chinese craftsmen the liberty

21

Locsin 1964, 22.

to improvise and introduce their ideas. Sometimes they were content

22

Locsin 1964, 22.

with leaving the sides and the back of the church free of details while

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23

the facade was ornately decorated.” [23] Although religious buildings were to occupy an important place in the built environment of this period, the Spaniards also developed a new type of dwelling, mainly for a prosperous urban population, by developing the traditional house on stilts. Called bahay na bato, this residential model also underwent many changes to meet local constraints. This is how Locsin describes this model: “Stone was used for the ground floor and its walls, but the latter were not bearing walls. Instead, like the nipa hut, the entire structure was supported by posts. The initial characteristic of lightness was preserved by the use of wood for the whole second floor and protruding it beyond the limits of the first floor.” [24] While the Spanish period was marked by the predominance of religious power throughout the archipelago, North Americans would devote themselves to the unification of institutions, thanks to the widespread use of English as the official language. The American Period (1898–1942): The Importation of a Culture and the Arrival of Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) in the Philippines For Paul Rodell, the Americans, in contrast to the Spanish fraternity, “seemed more likely to eliminate all aspects of Filipino culture than had the efforts of Spanish friars, who had controlled the country for hundreds of years.” [25] This was achieved in particular through the use of English as the main language for trade and the dissemination of education. In this sense, while the Spaniards succeeded in converting almost the entire country to Catholicism, the Americans, for their part, succeeded in imposing a single language to encourage the dissemination of their ideas. From an architectural point of view, the Spaniards ceded the Philippines to the United States in 1898, [26] a new period began with the importation Neoclassical building / Post Office Building, Manila

of a stylistic model which was no longer concerned with the construction of religious buildings but rather of institutional buildings. The neoclassical model provided by the schools of fine arts was to spread throughout the country, particularly when Cameron Forbes, then President Roosevelt’s delegate for the Philippines, [27] appointed Daniel Burnham [28] in 1904 as

23

Locsin 1964, 22.

Burnham was then recognized as the leader of the “City Beautiful”

24

Locsin 1964, 24.

movement, whose protagonists considered the fine arts style to be

25

Rodell 2002, 17.

the only one capable of restoring beauty to cities, and whose first

26

This transfer of power was formalized between Spain and the United States by the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, which took absolutely no account of the declaration of independence proclaimed by the Philippines on June 12, 1898, and which led to the beginning of an American-Philippine war lasting about four years. For a detailed description of these years of revolution and the transfer of colonial power between the Spanish and the Americans, see the very beautiful text by Nick Joaquin, “Red as in Revolution,” in Cordero-Fernando and Ricio 1978, 22–47. In it, he describes in great detail the political maneuvers that led to what he ironically calls “the Philippine love affair with America.”

27

Cameron Forbes was then appointed governor general of the Philippines from 1909 to 1913. This appointment would ensure the implementation of Burnham’s proposals thanks to the friendship that the two men would keep; see Hines 1974, 210.

28

Burnham embarked for the Philippines on October 13, 1904, when he had just completed the San Francisco plan.

adapting the city of Manila to the changed conditions brought about

29

Hines 1974, 197.

by the influx of Americans, who are used to better conditions of living

30

Wright 1957, 33.

than has prevailed in those islands.”

31

Wright 1953, 62.

32

Daniel Burnham in Hines 1974, 200.

the architect in charge of the new plans for Manila and for Baguio. [29]

major event was the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which he coordinated as chief architect. It was a huge success and provoked a reaction from Frank Lloyd Wright, for whom Burnham’s architecture would postpone the advent of organic architecture by 50 years [30] and was one of the devastating elements in the importation of standardized foreign cultures. [31] Burnham was convinced of the merits of his enterprise and considered it necessary to implement new models in order both to move colonized countries forward and to meet the immediate needs of the colonizers: “As advocates, likewise, of ‘progressive’ planning for American cities, it seemed natural and proper that those progressive urban programs should be implemented in American areas overseas […]

 [32]

24

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

However, Burnham, who agreed to work in the Philippines for free for philanthropic purposes, [33] would qualify his statement in the report he transmitted on June 28, 1905, to the secretary of war William H. Taft with a view to providing guidelines for the future development of the city of Manila. In the paragraph devoted to the methods of future construction he wrote: “The first consideration in determining architectural style is the question of adaptability to local conditions. In any given locality the things already existing as a result of long experience are likely to prove the best. In Manila, this general rule seems to apply with special force. The wooden houses with overhanging second stories and continuous window screens are convenient, practical, and artistically admirable.” He later concluded his report with: “In a tropical climate costly structures put up with granite, marble, or other building stones in the manner of public buildings in America and Europe would be out of place. Flat walls, simply built of concrete (with steel reinforcing rods to resist earthquake), and depending for the effect upon beautiful proportions rather than upon costly materials, are from all points of view most desirable for Manila.” He concludes by pointing out the quality of the architecture developed under the Spaniards, which could hardly be improved, and implicitly recognized the importance of the existing buildings, especially the bahay na bato, which were an appropriate response to local conditions. [34] William E. Parsons: The Search for Continuity To ensure the implementation of the Manila plan, the architect William E. Parsons was appointed in 1905 by Daniel H. Burnham as a consultant to the government, a task he carried out until his departure from the Philippines in 1914. Although trained at Yale and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and practicing in New York at the time of his appointment, Parsons approached his task in the same way as Burnham suggested in his report, namely by drawing inspiration from Spanish and Philippine constructions. Thus, for Thomas Hines, Parsons’ ability to integrate local contingencies allows him to produce “buildings of warmth, efficiency, and engaging simplicity. Utilizing the vocabulary of indigenous Spanish-Philippine Manila Hotel

architecture, Parsons’ buildings usually had plain, broad surfaces of solid pastel colors and were usually topped by handsome tile roofs. His most dominant architectural elements, both functionally and aesthetically, were the broad, deep archways and the shaded porches and covered loggias that connected the cool interiors of his spacious buildings with the light and the heat of the tropical climates.” [35] The exhaustive list of Parsons’ projects is difficult to establish with precision, but the pages Gerard Lico devotes to them describe a large part of his production [36] while Andrew Rebori gives a relatively complete overview of Parsons’ work during his stay. Above all, it provides interesting information on the approach Parsons took when he arrived in office, particularly with regard

Manila Hotel with the addition by Leandro Locsin

to the choice of building materials. “I found that in my first interviews regarding plans, officials were concerned first in obtaining maximum floor space and had little regard for durability. The first step was to induce

33

Moore 1921, 231.

34

Daniel H. Burnham, in Report on Proposed Improvements at Manila (1905), reproduced in Moore 1921, 194–95.

35

Hines 1974, 211.

Philippine hardwood, which nature has prepared to withstand the

36

Lico 2008, 256–74.

ravage of the tropical climate better that any imported wood. The next

37

William Parsons in Rebori 1917, 311.

step brought reinforced concrete as the standard form of construction.” [37]

RENAISSANCE MAN

the government to discontinue the use of Oregon pine, which is tempting food for the anay (white ant), and to encourage the development of

25

Unlike the Spaniards, Parsons intervened from the outset with an attitude concerned with a search for continuity and which would in fact leave its mark on the architectural landscape of the Philippines. Its most emblematic building is the Manila Hotel [38] built in 1912, in which new technologies such as the elevator and the telephone would be used for the first time. [39] 

The Destruction of Manila The American period ended tragically with the capture of Manila by the Japanese in 1942, followed by a war that led to the liberation of the country by the Americans at the cost of thousands of civilian deaths, notably during the extermination process organized during the Japanese occupation. The Bataan Death March, considered a war crime, resulted in more than 20,000 deaths when American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to march day and night without water to reach Camp O’Donnell, 100 km from Manila. [40] The great Battle of Manila, which lasted from February 3 to March 3, 1945, to liberate the country from the Japanese shackles, gave rise to numerous atrocities. Trapped between street fighting and bombing, more than 100,000 Filipino civilians died in a few weeks. Some authors, notably Gerard Lico, estimate that Manila was the third [41] most destroyed city of World War II, even though the Philippines was not a country officially involved in the world conflict. Others estimate that the street fighting was among the bloodiest of World War II. Although this grim ranking is difficult to verify scientifically, it shows the extent of the destruction suffered by the country, especially Manila, which would have to be totally rebuilt. Beyond the atrocities and the deaths, a cultural and particularly architectural heritage disappeared forever from the landscape of Southeast Asia, in the midst of which Manila, called the “Pearl of the

Manila after the war

Orient,” lost its status as a melting pot of civilizations that had crossed paths there throughout history. Intramuros, the old city, would be totally razed to the ground except for San Agustin Church. The Republic of the Philippines, proclaimed independent in 1946, faced a reconstruction whose scope exceeded the financial means at its disposal but which also questioned the need for memory and national identity.

Modern Architecture in the Philippines: Architects Facing Independence 38

Locsin would moreover be one of the defenders of the hotel, saving it from demolition by renovating and enlarging it.

39

See Lico 2008.

40

This figure varies according to the authors, depending on the many soldiers who survived the march but died after arriving in Camp O’Donnell.

41

Rodell considers that Manila is just behind Tokyo and Dresden in the extent of destruction. See Rodell 2002, 18.

American influence continued to exert itself both commercially and

42

Lico 2008, 375.

culturally on the archipelago.

43

The treaty, ratified by the Philippine Congress just after independence, formalizes US reconstruction assistance to the Philippines with a clause giving Americans the same rights to exploit natural resources as Filipinos.

For Lico, independence would allow architects to free themselves from colonial domination. But, as he rightly notes, “it is paradoxical to note, however, that while modernism was viewed by non-Western societies as a means of creating an identity free of Western colonial images, modernism itself was sourced from Western ideas. In this way, Western domination subtly continued.” [42] Combined with the Bell Trade Act, [43]

26

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

In his book Architecture in the Philippines, Winand Klassen proposes a classification that groups important architects into three generations according to their date of birth, taking the independence of 1946 as the pivotal year, which he defines as a new milestone in Philippine history. As he points out, “the arbitrariness of the date becomes immediately apparent when we realize that some of the ‘prewar architects’ remained quite influential during the first years of World War II.” [44] It is true that some architects, born before the beginning of American colonization, continued to practice in the postwar period, [45] but the situation represents a unique condition both from a political point of view, with the declaration of independence, and from an architectural point of view, with the magnitude of the task of reconstruction. Thus, in the first generation, Klassen includes Juan and Arcadio Arellano, Tomás Mapúa, and Antonio Toledo; in the second generation, Carlos Baretto, Pablo Antonio, Fernando Ocampo, and Juan Nakpil. Finally, in the third generation, the one closest to Locsin, we find José María Zaragoza, Alfredo Luz, Francisco Mañosa, Felipe Mendoza, Cesar Concio, and Angel Nakpil. It is interesting to note that Klassen does not mention Locsin in the group of the third generation yet dedicates an entire chapter to him in his book, confirming the special place Locsin occupied in the debates of the time. Locsin partially takes up this classification in his 1989 interview, but he is less rigorous, as he first mentions only the first generation of Filipino architects defined by Klassen, adding Andrés Luna de San Pedro and Tomas Arguelles, the father of Carlos Arguelles, who was to become a key figure of modernity in the Philippines. Then he makes a much less defined but nevertheless interesting group in which he places Cesar Concio, Gabby Formoso, Alfredo Luz, Pablo Antonio, Antonio Sindiong and Angel Nakpil, specifying that the last three were professors at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) when he was a student. Despite much research, this is the only mention Locsin makes of the professors, but it is not clear whether he followed their teaching directly. To this group should be added Carlos Arguelles, who became dean of the faculty in 1954, the year following Locsin’s graduation, and Federico Ilustre, who was influenced by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012). This classification has the merit of giving a first glimpse of the architectural scene, but it should be refined by other criteria such as the training followed, international influences and the evolution of the style of certain architects when they come into contact with international production. For example, of the 20 architects mentioned above, 16 followed a university course in the Philippines before going on to study at US and European universities. Their stylistic influences are therefore not only the consequence of models imposed by colonizers, such as the neoclassicism of the Americans, but also come from the influence of Filipino architects, more precisely those who have followed a fine arts course and, in some cases, traveled overseas before returning to the Philippines.

44

Klassen 1986, 297.

45

Juan Nakpil (1899–1986) comes to mind.

RENAISSANCE MAN

27

The Influence of the Modern Movement Some architects would from the outset design structures directly influenced by modernity while adapting them to local conditions. Once again, the capital Brasilia designed by Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa was a source of inspiration for some, such as Federico Ilustre (1912–1989), who excelled in the use of sunshades as elements dominating the composition of facades, while taking up certain elements of the Brazilian master such as the columns of the Palácio da Alvorada. [46] The first airport in Manila, which Ilustre completed in 1962, remains one of the most successful examples of the facade composition using added elements. The two great protagonists of the international style are certainly Carlos Arguelles, son of Tomas Arguelles, and Alfredo Luz. Carlos Arguelles (1917–2008) graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1939 and went to the United States to study at MIT. Upon his return, he taught at UST and became its dean in 1953. His buildings demonstrate extreme rigor in the geometric use of sunshades, which are often prefabricated. This is the case for the Philam Life Building designed in 1961, the periphery of which is wrapped in horizontal metal slats, making it one of the most emblematic examples of the international style in the Philippines and whose model should probably be sought Philam Life Building, Carlos Arguelles (1961), Manila

after in the architecture of Eero Saarinen’s administrative buildings. Neovernacular  In this eclectic landscape the singular figure of Francisco Mañosa (1931– 2019) stands out, whose approach evolved from an international style to a neovernacular style that gave him a special place. [47] Graduating from UST the same year as Locsin, Mañosa went to study in Japan before returning to work in his native country with his brothers. One of the family agency’s first projects was the Ignacio Arroyo residence (1960) with its curves in reinforced concrete shells that dominate the roof and which once again recall the influence of Oscar Niemeyer. However, Mañosa’s architectural style would evolve to reinterpret the vernacular tradition of his country both from a typological point of view and in the use of local materials. The project that launched this new approach was the Sulo Restaurant (1962) in Makati, whose roof shape was inspired by Malaysian buildings, and the Mary Immaculate Parish Church (1986) for a small rural community. The latter explored the idea of architecture adapted to local conditions to such an extent that it is difficult to know whether an architect was involved in the design of the building. Other projects followed, culminating in the request by Imelda Marcos to design the Coconut Palace (1978), which demonstrated the constructive capacities of the palm tree and its derivatives, while the San Miguel Corporation Building (1976) reinterpreted the landscape structures of the Cordillera rice fields. The Post–World War II Art Scene in the Philippines: The Artists of the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG)

46

Apropos of this see Ana Tostões, Comment magnifier les choses. Le Corbusier, le Brésil ou l’oasis, in Viati Navone 2014, 301–10.

creative impetus. [48] This materialized in numerous exhibitions and for

47

The term neovernacular is used in Lico 2017.

some, this period also marks the beginning of their personal collection

48

For a vision of the evolution of the artistic and architectural scene in the Philippines and to understand the situation in the 1950s, see Smith 1958.

Manila’s artistic scene at the beginning of the 1950s saw the emergence of a large number of personalities who would give the Philippines a

of works of art. 28

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

This was the case for Locsin, who, while still a student, frequented the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG), a contemporary art space that had a considerable influence on the artistic development of Manila. [49] Originally, this place was not intended to be an art gallery but only a promotional office. Founded by eleven women at the end of 1950, Promotions Incorporated took offices in the Binondo district of Manila. Run by Lyd Arguilla (1914–1969), the aim was to promote companies through advertising, but it soon became a place where friends came to meet and talk. To embellish the empty walls, Arguilla hung paintings by artist friends, which soon attracted the attention of customers. The idea of an art gallery germinated and became effective in 1951 when the offices were moved to a location not far from Taft Avenue and Herran Street. Throughout its 18 year history, PAG was the gathering point for the cultural intelligentsia of Manila which sees the emergence of numerous talents. [50]“It was an exciting time in the Philippines art scene because all the artists were very active and were all experimenting. At the time of the PAG, people like Arturo Luz, Fernando Zóbel, Hernando Ruiz Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, and Romeo Tabuena would get together at the gallery and exchange ideas.” [51] Among them, Arturo Luz, the architect’s brother, went on to work on many projects with Locsin, while Arturo Luz in his studio, 2013

Fernando Zóbel, who was not only exhibited in the gallery but also a vice president for the Ayala Corporation, would really launch the career of the young architect. The gallery would move several times and closed its doors for good in 1969 when Lyd Arguilla died of cancer.

Locsin’s Entrance [52]  Freshly graduated from UST in 1953, Locsin enrolled to study at Harvard, following in the footsteps of some of his peers by studying abroad. He abandoned this plan, however, because upon leaving UST he received a number of orders that enabled him to open his own practice. The architectural landscape of the Philippines at the time was marked by a mediocrity which was re-transcribed in a speech by Angel Nakpil, in 1956, emphasizing that architects involved in the profession were looking for elements capable of responding to the new paradigms of the time. [53] “The present situation of Filipino architecture must therefore be recognized and accepted as a stage in the course of its natural development. It is still too premature to expect a clear and concise indignity in our architecture.” [54] Locsin began his career in a climate favorable to architectural exploration and had the opportunity to 49

For a complete history of the PAG, see Kalaw-Ledesma 1987.

50

Kalaw-Ledesma and Guerrero 1974 shows the founding role of the PAG in the struggle of Philippine art in the face of postcolonialism.

51

Leandro Locsin in Paras-Perez 1990, 127.

Leandro Valencia Locsin was born on August 15, 1928, in Silay, a town

52

This title is taken from the chapter that Klassen devotes to Locsin in his book; see Klassen 1986, 304.

on the island of Negros Occidental, to Guillermo Locsin and Remedios

53

Angel Nakpil (1914–1980) headed the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Santo Tomas. This speech follows by one year the construction of the National Press Club (1955) which he built in Manila and which is directly inspired by the teaching of Gropuis.

Philippines, did not prevent Locsin from being close to his family, but it

54

Nakpil 1956, 7.

nevertheless had a considerable impact on the education of the young

55

Locsin 1985, 3.

boy who, thanks to his grandparents, would benefit from early exposure

RENAISSANCE MAN

express himself through rapid access to large-scale commissions. Life of Leandro Locsin (1928–1994) : From Negros to Manila

Valencia. The eldest of seven children, his grandparents “borrowed me when I was around four months old and I lived with my grandparents ever since that time.” [55] This family situation, far from being rare in the

29

to art and especially music. His grandfather was a former governor of the province of Negros Occidental and an avid music lover. “He was a very musical person. He loved music. His means of entertainment is the movies, concerts and the opera. And it is this, I think, I was very much influenced by this because I got to love music and all the things that he had exposed me to and I guess this has a very real impact … on what I am today.” [56] Silay was at the time the center of sugar cane production, which provided considerable income, but it was also a cultural center, which earned it the nickname “Paris of Negros.” Music, which he initially planned to study, played a central role in Locsin’s life; he began playing the piano at the age of eight, when his grandparents moved to Manila in 1935 to enroll him in the Catholic school De La Salle. He stayed there until war broke out in 1941; he then returned to Silay as fighting for control of the country took place in the north. After the war, Locsin returned to Manila and graduated from De La Salle in 1947. He then began a double training in art and law at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila (UST). “I wasn’t quite sure exactly at that point what I wanted to do. So, I … I decided to go for a Bachelor of Arts degree, and I went under the pre-law.” [57] At the same time he also studied music at UST. In 1949, one year before graduation, he decided to stop his musical training and join the Faculty of Architecture full-time. This was due in part to Locsin’s growing attraction to, and time spent at, the Architecture Faculty, but also to the fact that, while a good pianist, he never considered himself a virtuoso pianist. [58] His son Andy corroborated this in an interview with BluPrint magazine; the pivotal moment came with his father’s friendship with fellow piano student Ben Tupas, one of the Philippines’ child prodigies; “Somewhere along the line, my father realized that, unfortunately, he wasn’t gifted with the chops that his friend had.” [59] Teachers and Training Locsin spent four years in the UST Architecture Faculty, obtaining his master’s degree in 1953. At the time, several institutes were providing architectural training, such as the Mapúa Institute of Technology and the University of the Philippines at Diliman in Quezon City. Despite research and interviews, there is no information about the professors whose teaching he directly followed, nor about the projects Locsin designed as a student. However, the Faculty of Architecture at UST was dominated at the time by important figures such as Carlos Arguelles, Angel Nakpil, and Pablo Antonio, who were firmly convinced of the importance of a new Philippine architecture influenced by the modernity they discovered during their studies abroad, particularly in the United States. Angel Nakpil wrote: “The development of an architecture that will have distinct

Building of the Architecture Faculty, Santo Tomas University, Manila

Filipino characteristics will not depend on the revival of past Malayans forms, nor will it derive any impetus from the use of allegorical motifs such as tribal shields and carabao heads. […] Neither will the intrinsic merits of our architecture be brought by isolating ourselves in our nationalism since there are no boundaries for arts and progress.” [60]

56

Locsin 1985, 4.

Locsin was part of this current of thought which considered the study

57

Locsin 1985, 4.

of history as a necessity capable of inscribing projects in a historical

58

Villegas 1989, 30.

continuity without literally imitating ancient forms. The situation of

59

Layag 2014, 108.

tabula rasa from which Manila emerged in the postwar period would

60

Nakpil 1956, 7.

30

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

orient architecture toward questioning the origins and appropriateness of the use of tradition in a contemporary reinterpretation. For Locsin “the past is very important. There’s a Filipino saying: you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you came from. It’s important for the young architect of the future to involve himself, immerse himself, in tradition and history. To develop a knowledge of his national heritage.” [61] Although little is known about his university training at UST, the first highlight of this period is the final work he devoted to the sacred space, more specifically to a church “that would be modern, unusual, very different.” [62] During Locsin’s studies, Fernando Zóbel visited the UST during an exhibition of student work. A particular project caught his attention and created a kind of first contact between the two men. “Locsin was still a student at the University of Santo Tomas when I first met him. Rather, first I met his work and admired it. […] Most of the projects were very skilled and, not surprisingly, showed that the students looked hard at current trends in architecture. Only one project had a distinct Philippine look to it. In those days, this came as a total surprise.” [63] The other works seemed to propose only projects stemming from international influences, with no link to the local context. The other highlight of this period of Locsin’s university training was his work as a draftsman for the Ayala Corporation, the company in charge of the development of Makati, the capital’s new economic center, which had just started. Locsin’s work is not of great interest because he was asked to design the road system, but the person who hired him, Fernando Zóbel, was to have a considerable impact on the young architect’s career.

Fernando Zóbel: The Mentor and the Beginning of the Collections Locsin learned from Lyd Arguilla that Fernando Zóbel, then involved in the development of Makati, was looking for a road designer. Locsin applied, got the job, and worked every morning on the plans for the future administrative center of the capital, in parallel with his university courses, which took place in the afternoon. Although Zóbel (1924–1984) was an important artist of this period, [64] he was also a member of the powerful Ayala family, and divided his time between his art and a vice-presidency of the Ayala company. Born in Manila, his early years were spent between the Philippines and Spain. After studying medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, he went to Harvard in 1946 and studied literature, history, and art for three years. Zóbel had no formal artistic training and began painting under the tutelage of Fernando Amorsolo (1892–1972), considered one of the most important painters in the Philippines, for his work on rural landscapes. Zóbel quickly moved from a representational style to one based on abstraction; his series Saetas, in which he used syringes to achieve lines of surgical precision, is one of the most striking manifestations of the 1950s. 61

Leandro Locsin in Villegas 1989, 35.

On his return to Manila, Zóbel not only continued his activity as a painter,

62

Villegas 1989, 35.

but also supported the emerging art scene which met at the PAG, where

63

Fernando Zóbel, foreword to Polites 1977, 7.

he exhibited in 1957. He also taught at the Ateneo de Manila University

64

See Paras-Perez 1990, which traces the different evolutions of the artist through interviews, and shows the impact he had on the postwar Philippine art scene.

and became a key figure for a whole generation of artists and critics.

RENAISSANCE MAN

31

Locsin and Zóbel met at the PAG in 1952, and their friendship would have important consequences for the young architect’s future career. The two men shared common interests in art and architecture, but also in Japan and ancient pottery. Zóbel quickly became a mentor for Locsin and gave him access to his private library, which contained thousands of books. This luminary, whose interests extended far beyond the artistic discipline, inspired Locsin to open his mind by exploring a wide range of influences, from Filipino art to Chinese porcelain. According to Locsin, it was Zóbel who pushed him to open an architectural practice in order to have access to direct commissions from the Ayala family. This resulted in Locsin’s abandoning his plan to study at Harvard in order to launch his career. Finally, it was Zóbel who, in 1956, took Locsin to Japan for the first time and enabled him to discover the country’s riches. “Just before the planning of the Monterrey Apartments, Fernando and I took a trip to Tokyo. We went to museums, antique shops, Japanese gardens, looked at architecture. It was really in a way a trip of looking at art and I learnt from that particular trip.” [65] Locsin found in Zóbel a role model with a holistic view of culture whose mind was open to the study of many seemingly unrelated fields. Thus Locsin’s collection of Chinese porcelain grew over the years until he met his future wife, Cecilia Yulo, who shared his passion, and with whom he published a book on the subject in 1967. [66] Locsin also developed a fervent interest in seashells, which by the end of the 1960s led to a considerable collection of thousands of pieces, influencing the organic nature of certain projects. As Zóbel wrote, “to art historians, the Locsins are the owners of a magnificent collection of Hispano-Philippine paintings and religious images, as well as discerning collectors of modern Philippine art.” [67] Their collection is one of the most important in the Philippines and demonstrates the couple’s interest in their country. Locsin’s great knowledge of culture would serve as a catalyst when he took charge of the construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on Manila Bay.

32

65

Leandro Locsin in Paras-Perez 1990, 132.

66

Locsin and Locsin, 1967.

67

Fernando Zóbel, foreword to Polites 1977, 7.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Monumentality Redesigned Abstract and Far-reaching: Sculptural Buildings at the Service of a Message

“Architectural structures are gigantic sculptures.

Locsin’s best-known production is undoubtedly the creation of the

Except that you go inside architecture, you live

Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). The center is located on

inside it; with sculpture you look around, you

Roxas Boulevard, which stretches along Manila Bay. The abstract and

appreciate it from the outside.”

monumental silhouette of its National Theater still stands out in the

Leandro Locsin [1]

frenzy of the surrounding traffic. These public facilities were built during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos (1917–1989), who came to power in 1966, and were closely followed by First Lady Imelda Marcos (1929–). Intended to provide a range of functions linked to the community, the CCP gave Locsin the opportunity not only to work on large-scale programs but above all to propose buildings with which the Filipino people would be able to identify. As previously mentioned, the independence proclaimed in 1946, after more than 350 years of colonization, was characterized by a country devastated by the bombardments of the liberation, leaving Manila in ruins. Reconstruction started with the urgent need for infrastructure, requiring huge investments by a country in a weakened state. To cope with this situation, President Manuel Roxas (1892–1948) signed the Philippine Rehabilitation Act in 1946, granting the same rights to American citizens as to Filipinos, in exchange for economic aid of more than $600 million. [2] Although colonization officially ended in 1946, the United States continued to exercise economic and cultural control, and collaboration with certain public works offices contributed to the rehabilitation of neoclassical buildings in their original state. [3] For Winfield Scott Smith, who published a book devoted to the various arts of this period, “the initial impact of any Filipino urban scene upon the onlooker is one of architectural immaturity and confusion. A jumble of whimsies and imitations ranging from Pretentious Classic through Pseudo-Renaissance to Self-Conscious Modern produces a far from favorable impression. At first glance this chaotic assortment of architectural styles appears to be caused by what must be a deplorable lack of a clear-cut philosophy on the part of the designers and by the ignorance and apathy of the public.” [4] Reconstruction in the immediate postwar period was characterized by a general mediocrity, and it was not until the early 1950s that the effects of American financial aid were beginning to be felt. Third-generation architects, most of whom were trained in the United States, took advantage of this to propose a new architecture, still heavily influenced by the international climate but also by the vernacular. Locsin asserted that at the beginning of his career there was a palpable inferiority in relation to the rest of the world’s architecture, especially that of the United States, which was dominated, on the one hand, by the works of Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore Owings & Merrill, who used steel construction as a means of architectural expression and, on the other, by figures such as Eero Saarinen and Paul Rudolph, who gave reinforced concrete a new field of expression. Locsin followed in the footsteps of an international line of thought which saw the emergence of buildings with strong sculptural references. The solid floating volumes

1

Villegas 1989, 35.

that Locsin exploited aesthetically go beyond the scale of the user,

2

Manuel Roxas was the first president of the independent Philippines. His two-year reign is also the shortest in the country’s history.

establishing a dialogue with the city and the distant landscape while

3

Lico 2008, 367.

4

Smith 1958, 50.

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

proposing the integration of a new monumentality.

37

The Question of Monumentality in the Post–World War II Period In the construction of the CCP Locsin faced the challenge of defining a sustainable presence in a changing environment. For this, he used a formal language based on massive-lightness, generating a feeling capable of stimulating the visitor and acquiring “this lasting presence,” as enunciated by William Curtis. For him, Louis Kahn (1901–1974) was the master of monumentality because, by relying on a pantheistic vision, he was able to create forms with strong symbolic value while giving them a mystical character linked to abstraction. In his article on the place of monumentality in modern architecture, he states that Kahn “seems to be related to intensity of expression, elemental formal power, dignity, and gravity: In a phrase, it is a matter of lasting presence.” [5] Already in 1908, Adolf Loos had postulated that the commemorative monument, together with the tomb, is one of the only elements that could be described as art. He quickly recognized the importance of a theme that would preoccupy critics and architects, especially in the period following World War II, and lead them to try to define and understand this notion. This need for clarification led to the organization of a symposium, which in 1948 resulted in the publication of discussions in which several speakers took part—Sigfried Giedion, José Luis Sert, Fernand Léger, Françoise Choay, William Curtis, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Peter Collins—seeking to give an orientation to monumentality in the postwar context. [6] This symposium highlights the sensitivity of the theme; Giedion, Léger, and Sert published a text, “Nine Points on Monumentality,” in which they postulated the need of every society to refer to symbols, a need that had been neglected by modern architecture. Monumentality became the object of new proposals which saw, for example, the office building being identified with a palace. A whole section of the architectural production of the post–World War II period, with its ever-increasing demand for administrative buildings, thus developed, taking into account the external image and its impact on the city. [7] The monument is by definition a place of commemoration, for which the built space becomes the support of a past to which the community can refer. In modern societies, nationalism has used the monument to compensate for the gradual disappearance of the religious community or the dynastic kingdom as a frame of reference. [8] For Paul Zucker, monumentality has not been sufficiently recognized by modern architecture, which is why he gave the floor to five personalities who brought their vision of this theme. In addition to Giedion, who believed that monumentality is capable of countering the eclecticism of certain projects—of which the first prize at the Palais des Nations in Geneva (1927) is a perfect illustration—Louis Kahn gave his point of view in a text entitled “Monumentality,” in which he considers monumentality to be a quality capable of providing a sense of eternity. Drawing on the teaching of classical thought, he advocates the search for a new monumentality by adapting the constructive means specific to our time,

5

Curtis 1984, 65.

such as standardization and prefabrication, taking up themes from

6

See for example The Architectural Review, no. 621 (1948).

modern architecture. [9]

7

See Charollais and Marchand 1996, 48–53.

8

Anderson (1998) 2004, 26.

9

Blake 1960, 577–88.

38

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Twenty years later, Mies van der Rohe in the United States continued his research on large spatial containers achieved through a precise drawing of the structure which led to the Neue Nationalgalerie (1968) in Berlin, in which the abstraction obtained through the visual simplicity of the static solution fits in with the vision of restraint and elegance emphasized by Locsin. [10] The development of the Miesian concept of universal space—for which flexibility is a goal—would be taken up by Locsin in projects such as the CCP’s Folk Arts Theater (1974).

Waiting for the CCP: Structural Thinking Structure as Architectural Expression Commercial Credit Corporation Building Makati 1960

Although the official commission for the CCP by Imelda Marcos dates

→

to 1966, Locsin was already researching the use of structure as a basis for developing a new monumental image, particularly for buildings intended for utilitarian purposes. In 1960 he had received the commission for an administrative and commercial building, the Commercial Credit Corporation Building (CCCB). Located in Makati, on Buendia Avenue, one of the main arteries crossing the city from east to west, [11] the building is designed with two main floors, in the middle of which is a mezzanine partially open on the ground floor. The general layout of the plan is a rectangle structured according to a regular 7 m grid.

10

Villegas 1989, 32.

11

The avenue is now called Senator Gil Puyat Avenue; the building has been demolished.

The facade composition is based on two horizontal panels, showing a colonnade on the ground floor in front of the glazing, while on the upper floor two awnings support a system of metal sunshades.

View of the facade

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

39

The load-bearing structure is designed to enhance the functional interpretation of the facade. The cross section shows that the position of the pillars on a broken line makes it possible to create offset supports to bear the structure of the second floor, which, free of any intermediate support, offers an open space of 63 by 21 m. The large span is made possible by means of beams placed on the colonnade, hidden behind a raised parapet so as to conceal the sloping roof and reinforce the notion of the building’s horizontal layering. Set on its plinth, the Commercial Credit Corporation Building resembles a temple on its pedestal, thus linking the building to classical expressionism. But here Locsin begins to explore a composition based on the opposition between a mainly transparent ground floor, giving an impression of lightness, and an

Section

upper floor consisting of a mainly opaque volume. This composition would be taken up again in the CCP buildings.

First floor plan

Detail of the facade →

40

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Perspective of the entrance facade

Perspective of the entrance facade

42

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floating Masses, Abstraction, and Structural Continuity The two projects that follow, although never completed, are part of a family of projects where the questions of floating volume, abstraction, and symmetry foretell the CCP and, as such, have their full place in the evolution of Locsin’s work. Fiat Motor Building Quezon City 1961

→

From a historical point of view, many articles consider the Philippine American Cultural Center (PACC) to be the project on which Locsin based the design of the National Theater at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). [12] However, the archives appear to show that the Fiat Motor Building (FMB), a car dealership with a showroom for the sale of cars on one side and mechanical workshops on the courtyard side, already indicates work on monumentality and structure, albeit on a more modest scale. The plans for this project exist, but no cross sections or facades. However, there are eight perspective drawings, the viewpoint of which is focused on the entrance facade, showing the architect’s interest in the impact of the building on the street. The program is divided into a building extended on a main level, with the volume raised by a mezzanine floor. It is on this part that Locsin concentrates the studies in the form of perspectives, proposing a glazed ground floor with slender columns supporting the upper floor, which is formalized as a closed monolith housing office space. As with the Commercial Credit Corporation Building, the motif is that of a massive volume placed on a base of discrete columns in the foreground, in front of the glazing. But in this case, the columns are the subject of several studies as to their shape, which, with a rectangular cross section connected to the beams supporting the volume of the upper floor, flare toward the top and connect continuously to the slab as the studies progress. In the final perspective, which is represented in its entirety, the upper volume seems to emerge from the floor to form a formal and structural unit with its supports, while at the same time revealing a majestic canopy. The question of monumentality is an unavoidable one in this project because, for the first time, Locsin creates an image whose proportions and dimensions seem to want to affirm a presence that stands out from the context. Symmetry is clearly sought after, and the crowning of the upper volume by the roof is reminiscent of classical architecture. Although the monumental image seems somewhat far-fetched for a car dealership, this project is an important milestone in Locsin’s production, as it became a reference in the development of a project he started around the same time, the Philippine American Cultural Center. The Forerunner of the National Theater

Philippine American Cultural Center Quezon City 1961

On June 17, 1961, Act No. 3062, approved by the government of Carlos

→

P. Garcia, laid the legal foundations of the Philippine American Cultural Foundation, whose main purposes are “to help preserve, enrich and develop Philippine culture for the general well-being of the Filipino people; and to bind closer the ties of friendship between the United States of America and the Philippines.” [13] The program is therefore conceived as a tool that makes it possible to

12

It was through this project that he was noticed architecturally by the Marcoses, who then entrusted him with the construction of the CCP.

organize events such as exhibitions and conferences, as well as events that

13

Republic Act No. 3062 (1961), Department of Finance, Manila.

in order to promote Filipino culture and maintain American-Filipino links.

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

require a large hall capable of accommodating about a thousand people

43

The Philippine American Cultural Center (PACC) is designed as the center of a symmetrical composition organized around a pool and completed on one side by a library and on the other by an art center. The main access to the site, located in Quezon City, is via EDSA Avenue, from which visitors would arrive at the cultural center by a road following a very solemn, symmetrical layout that clearly announces the public character of the building. This staging is reinforced by the ornamental pool with arboreal borders that reflects the main facade and places the annex buildings in the background. In June 1961 a first version, probably the most radical, was proposed. In the foreground it places an opaque volume on the entrance facade, supported by a series of curved columns rising from the ground. In the background we can see the stage block about three times taller than the entrance volume in order to contain the fly loft. The evolution of the project shows two phases, which gives valuable indications of Locsin’s creative preoccupations in relation to a public building at that time. [14] The archives show the evolution of the project over almost two years, from June 1961 to March 1963, through numerous perspectives, plans, sections, and elevations, all highly developed for each version. Certain principles of organization and composition were very quickly established and vary in a formal way, with Locsin seeking to find a simple but expressive exterior image. In terms of typology, the building develops according to the sequence of covered external portico, double-height foyer, and auditorium with the stage block at the rear. This functional organization is in place from the first studies and would be reused in the National Theater. Perception of the actual scale of the building is difficult because Locsin did not introduce any elements such as windows or doors, and the entrance sequence, with its combination of different devices— symmetry, pool, raised level, suspended mass, wall thickness—makes the approach to the building solemn and leaves no doubt as to the emblematic quality of its status. For political reasons, the PACC was never built, but it shows Locsin’s interest in certain themes, notably in monumentality and abstraction.

14

Only the variant close to the FMB and the future National Theater is described here. For a complete overview of the variants see Girard 2018.

Situation plan →

44

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Idealization of the Roof: Two Projects Before moving on to the CCP study, it is interesting to analyze a project which, located north of Manila, does not at first glance seem to have a

← Central Azucarera de Tarlac Tarlac 1965

link with the CCP buildings. Intended for a sugar cane refinery company, this project, which houses offices as well as meeting rooms, was the subject of particular attention at the roof level. In practice, the design required a high degree of flexibility and sufficient space for conferences. The location in a rural area certainly influenced the decision to spread the floor space over two levels in order to ensure a low-rise structure. Given the absence of nearby buildings, Locsin opted, for the first time, for a plan composition based on the autonomous shape of the square, which he would use again, especially when planning certain public facilities such as the Los Baños Theater and the PHILCITE built in the CCP. At Tarlac, a roof of 40 m sides uniformly covers the entire development, while large wall sections in washed prefabricated concrete create a peripheral enclosure interrupted by large voids where the recessed

Upper floor plan

glazing and the main accesses are located. The roof band gives the building an institutional character while playing an important structural role, as it houses and conceals wooden trusses capable of spanning the 14 m gap. The upper floor, in contrast to the ground floor, is therefore, as in the Commercial Credit Corporation Building, a space completely free of any load-bearing elements except for the central service nucleus, which allows for the flexibility required by the project. Despite its volumetric simplicity, this building shows that the themes in which Locsin was engaged at the time are capable of reuse and redevelopment in less prestigious buildings.

Front and side elevations

46

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

UP Continuing Education Center and Dormitory Los Baños 1967

The Continuing Education Center and Dormitory is located on the UP Los

→

Baños campus, around Freedom Park, opposite the Student Union, and includes a mixed program of bedrooms and communal areas, notably for teaching. This mix allows us to understand how Locsin approaches the design of the program when confronted with private spaces on the one hand and institutional communal spaces on the other. His approach separates the program into two entities connected by a covered passageway by putting the communal areas street side in a low one-story volume, while the bedrooms are arranged at the back, in a three-story volume. From a communication point of view, two approaches are visible and confirm Locsin’s words when he talks about a building; “They are ways of creating an illusion of slimness by emphasizing its verticality: fenestration, fins, sunshades, all that. If the tendency of the building is horizontal, then you should emphasize the

Floor plan

horizontal.” [15] In the Continuing Education Center and Dormitory the building’s two volumes have the same materiality, but their message is different and clearly distinct. For the institutional building, the horizontal is reinforced by a large cantilevered canopy that casts a shadow on the recessed glazing, while for the bedrooms the facades use an engaging colonnade that acts as a sunshade. Two symmetrical ramps lead to the main entrance, reinforcing the classicism of the composition. The facade of the distribution corridors is also treated vertically, but this time the columns are so closely spaced that they give the appearance of a slotted wall. The resulting abstraction of the facade is in perfect dialogue with the building on the street and gives it a prominent role. By these simple procedures, Locsin managed to create a hierarchy of

15

Villegas 1989, 35.

programs contained in the same building.

Front and rear elevations

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

47

Abstraction and Structure At the same time, Locsin was working on another project in Quezon City, this time for a dairy products factory, for which he planned an entrance

← Magnolia Plant Quezon City 1968

building and some offices in the production hall. [16] This building, although modest in size, has an important role in terms of marketing, because it welcomes visitors and future customers and must therefore reflect the brand’s image. In the same way as in the previous project, Locsin treats it by prioritizing the visual aspects. The new building is positioned in the center of the hall’s facade, and the interior of the ground floor is completely empty of partitions and supports. The glazing is once again positioned set back from the facade, which casts a shadow that detaches the building from the ground and puts the solid elements in the foreground. Two gigantic piles measuring 1.5 by 3 m, 18 m apart, support a story and a roof, and their position away from the corners produces 9 m of overhang on each side. The light concrete material contrasts with the dark gray wall of the 16

hall, and the play of solids and voids in the abstract language of the facade gives the building great sculptural strength.

According to the archive plans it seems that the hall is existing and Locsin only intervenes to redesign the entrance and the outer wall of the hall.

View of the front facade

48

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Perspective of the entrance hall

First floor plan

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

49

← CCP Theatre of Performing Arts

The National Imagination: The Origin and Rise of Nationalism The construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) was part of an era of affirmation of a new national identity and was supported by the new political power of the Marcos family, for whom Locsin would be the chief architect. The Philippines was one of several newly independent nations that hired first-class architects capable of building a new national image that could be exported abroad. This is the case with the parliaments in Sri Lanka, built by Geoffrey Bawa (1977); in Kuwait with Jørn Utzon (1972–84); or in Bangladesh with Louis Kahn (1962–83). If in these three examples the buildings house the seat of political power, in the Philippines the Marcoses chose a center for culture and the arts to promote their image of a “new society.” [17] To this end, they appointed a local architect in the person of Locsin to take up the challenge of national identification, where, as Nezar Alsayyad writes, “identity is always under construction and in constant evolution.” [18] The question of the monument was to resurface in the post–World War II period at the same time as nationalism, which was undergoing unprecedented development in the 20th century. The realization of nations through the creation of boundaries often totally disconnected from the geography of the place led in some cases—particularly but not only in authoritarian and totalitarian powers—to a State architecture, which sought both to materialize a political vision and give the State a propaganda tool. The history of nationalism was developed by Benedict Anderson in the book he published in 1983 under the original title Imagined Communities, for whom all changes are accompanied by amnesias from which are born the narratives, especially biographical ones, which in turn support the development of imagined communities. [19] “The nation is an imaginary political community—and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.” [20] The interest of this thesis is that it highlights the mechanisms for the realization of a national, and therefore imaginary, identity by describing some of the tools that have enabled this to happen. In the Philippines, the end of colonization left fertile ground for questions related to the national imagination. Some politicians took advantage of this to establish their power by giving the people symbolic venues. If we consider architecture as a propaganda tool or as a national

17

18

The New Society program launched by the Marcoses in the 1970s aimed to return to the precolonial era as the source of original culture. Under the slogan “the true, the good, and the beautiful” they launched a nostalgic quest to restore the Philippines as a key player among the great nations. On this subject see Lico 2008, 449.

reference tool, we could envisage that the role and mechanisms put in

See Nezar Alsayyad, “Culture, Identity and Urbanism: A Historical Perspective from Colonialism and Globalisation,” in Avermaete et al. 2010.

to materialize the immaterial, to enclose the maximum of meaning in a

19

Anderson (1983) 2002, 204. Benedict Anderson (1936–2015) was a Chinese-born British historian. He taught international relations at Cornell University in New York and was a specialist in Southeast Asian cultures.

20

Anderson (1983) 2002, 6.

21

Nora 1997, 38.

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

place during their construction could be similar to those conferred on monuments and places of memory. For Pierre Nora, “The raison d’être of a place of memory is to stop time, to block the work of forgetting, […] minimum of signs.” [21] Its function is to act as a catalyst that concentrates the public gaze in certain precise places that can be easily assimilated.

Cultural Center of the Philippine (CCP) situation plan →

51

The Arrival of the Marcoses in Power In the Philippines, this affirmation of national identity reached a climax when the people brought Ferdinand Marcos to power in the elections of late 1965 [22] and reelected him in 1969 on the basis of a campaign called “Rice and Roads” (the country achieved its agricultural production targets for the first time [23]). He had no idea that his reign would last more than 20 years, 14 of them under martial law decreed in 1972, and that he would be accompanied by his wife, Imelda, an omnipresent figure who would dominate much of diplomacy, culture, and infrastructure construction. According to Gerard Lico, who dedicates his thesis to the nationalist question of the Marcos era, understanding that the exercise of power must be carried out with effective propaganda tools, and in particular through the control of public space, [24] the presidential couple undertook a series of major works to strengthen this identity by providing the regime with various buildings, of which the CCP is a part. [25] According to Nick Joaquin, on coming to power, the First Lady had set herself certain objectives. “The four goals she has set for herself as First Lady are, on an ascending scale, national beautification, more tourism, a cultural flowering, and social welfare.” [26] Once the idea of a cultural center was adopted by the president, his wife implemented the means to achieve it, in particular by raising private funds in about three months. [27] Imelda Marcos describes in several texts her vision of the national culture and the agenda she put in place to achieve it: “The revival of our cultural traditions in architecture, literature, handicrafts and the performing arts will certainly strengthen our sense of national identity. Our agenda for national development includes this program so that we may rediscover and refurbish our Filipino identity.” [28] Locsin Appointed CCP Architect At the beginning of 1966, just after the election of Ferdinand Marcos, Alice Coseteng gave a dinner in honor of the First Lady, in her house, 22

Nick Joaquin, one of the most important writers in the Philippines, gives a very precise description of the conditions under which the Marcoses came to power. In the chapter “The New NP Recruit” he compares the race for the succession of President Perez led by Macapagal, Villareal, and Marcos to the battle fought by Caesar and Pompey in Egypt, which was about continuity or reform. He places Marcos as the new man who at the time embodied the future. See Joaquin 1981, 1–17.

Locsin, commissioned him that very evening. The commission included

23

Zich 1986, 116–29.

the development of the master plan and the construction of the first

24

To support his thesis, Lico was influenced in particular by the works of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre, which were published in the mid-1970s. See Lico 2003.

25

The CCP consists of eight public buildings and one hotel on a reclaimed piece of land on Manila Bay.

each other before that evening; he said that “my advantage is that

26

Joaquin 1981, 51.

from the beginning, she has great respect for me. I was never roused at

27

Joaquin 1981, 47.

two in the morning and fetched to go to wherever.”

28

Marcos 1981, 36–37.

From the beginning he affirmed that “the task of an architect is to act

29

This is the Emerson Coseteng Villa (1964) built in Marikina.

as a sieve of many cultures, which coalesce into Filipino. I believe that

30

The four construction projects are for the Folk Arts Theater (1974), the Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibition (1976), the International Convention Center (1976), and the Philippine Plaza Hotel (1975). Other unrealized projects include the Museum Complex (1967) and the Design Center (1982).

31

Villegas 1989, 33.

32

Gadi-Baltazar 1967.

which Locsin had just finished. [29] Various artists, writers, painters, and sculptors were invited to talk about the future of the art scene and to show how Imelda Marcos was considered to be the bearer of a new cultural era for the Philippines. It seems it was Ms. Coseteng who initiated the debate on the CCP, and Imelda Marcos, turning to

building, the theater, which would become the icon of the CCP. Orders then followed for the construction of four other buildings as well as other projects in the same area. [30] Leandro Locsin and Imelda Marcos knew

 [31]

one would do well to look back once in a while to see what we had—not in order to return to it, but to make use of it to create something new.” [32] The architecture of the CCP buildings gave him the opportunity to explore this theme of the relationship between history and modernity.

54

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Site of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP): Of Reclaimed Land The entire CCP is located on a strip of land reclaimed from the Bay of Manila, more or less on the border between the Malate and Pasay districts. Initially, the surface area was 25 hectares spread over a rectangle approximately 250 m wide by 1 km long. This area was then extended to accommodate other public and private facilities, while today it is being swallowed up as part of a larger commercial and financial complex. The land reclamation project on Manila Bay was not an idea of the Marcos administration but rather part of a 1959 plan developed under Mayor Arsenio Lacson. This vision was brought forward by an American businessman, Harry Stonehill, who envisioned urban expansion on the bay by creating a new 7,000-hectare city. [33] Manila Bay and Roxas Boulevard

The work began under the impetus of Imelda Marcos, with part of the land specifically reserved for construction of the CCP by a presidential decree of March 12, 1966. Locsin insisted that the initial site had nothing to do with the situation ten years later. [34] He explained: “I have envisioned the Center as a complex of pavilions leading one to the other, interspersed with plazas, lush gardens, serene reflecting pools, and shaded covered areas, rather than as a single monumental structure. In this way, the public is beguiled at every turn as new vistas unfold.” [35] The newly reclaimed strip of land was surrounded by water, and on either side of the theater, two roads led to the rear of the plot where there was a car park and areas whose purpose was not yet known. The Theater was therefore planned as the head of a system and was to be the flagship of the CCP facing Roxas Boulevard and the city. The surface area of the site was planned to accommodate a number of additional facilities, such as an outdoor museum and amphitheater, but it would not be able to accommodate buildings such as the Philippine International Convention Center, commissioned eight years later, which required a plot size of around 10 hectares. The annexation of new land on the Bay of Manila therefore continued so as to meet the demands of the Marcoses’ political agenda and thus make the theater’s position less preponderant and symbolic. The construction of the Cultural Center, which would give a symbolic anchorage to the national identity, was carried out on totally artificial land that is in fact devoid of any past. This choice, which had not been clearly explained by the Marcoses, nevertheless gave symbolic force to the place, which is surrounded by what ultimately connects the whole archipelago: water.

33

Lico 2003, 84.

34

Villegas 1989, 33.

35

The Japan Architect, no. 174, special issue, “Expo ’70” (May/ June 1970), 115.

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

55

← CCP Theater of Performing Arts

The National Theater: A Sculpture under the Sun CCP Theater of Performing Arts Pasay 1966

After the decision to build the CCP and the choice of Locsin as the

→

architect, not a year passed before the start of the work, showing the shortness of the deadlines in order that the theater could be inaugurated before the end of Marcos’s term of office in 1969. The precise location was dictated by the degree of humidity, which led the architect and builder to choose the only dry place to begin the work. “As a matter of fact, well in the cornerstone sometime in early 1967, we had to choose the place where it is now because that was the only dry area. I mean, the location of the building itself is there because all the rest of the reclaimed area was still under water; that was the dry area.” [36] The construction of the theater was entrusted to the company DMCI, headed by David Consunji. The building site posed no real difficulties, apart from the installation of piles which serve as the theater’s foundations. To do this, the company acquired a huge crane for pile driving purchased in the United States, which enabled the work to be completed in two months, from December 1966 to January 1967, when construction of the theater began. [37] For Locsin, the theater was an opportunity to pursue the search for monumentality capable of achieving a symbolism already explored in the 1961 Philippine American Center project.

The Theater of Performings Arts under construction

The general idea is to create a sculpture with the lights of Manila Bay as a backdrop. “You know it is really like a piece of sculpture, if it is by itself, it is a sculpture. So if you see its silhouette went against the sky especially in the sunset.” [38] To reinforce this dialogue with the landscape of the bay, the building is raised by 6.5 m, which makes it possible to limit the earthworks and to place the large hall with 2,000 seats on top and the small hall with 450 seats underneath. Two curved ramps lead visitors under a huge cantilevered portico which projects 12 m. According to several critics, including Peter Blake, the buildings of some architects of this generation enshrine an impressive sculptural capacity [39] that opens new doors to artistic creativity. In this regard, Locsin says:  “At the time I was designing the theater I was obsessed with massive forms. I wanted something that was massive and yet light. The two things may sound contradictory, but I felt we could do something that would not be overbearing. I had to have a certain floating feeling.” [40] To carry the mass, curved supports are arranged every 7 m, and the profile of the columns is based on a double curve which, by their offset, gives a double-spiral profile. The supports emerge from the floor and disappear into the ceiling of the portico. The three elements—floor,

36

Locsin 1985, 12.

wall, and ceiling—merge into one, giving the visitor the impression of

37

Consunji 2004, 178.

entering the world of the theater as soon as they arrive. According to

38

Locsin 1985, 11.

the project’s chief architect, Ed Ledesma, this design is directly from the

39

Blake 1960, 118.

hand of Locsin. While presenting the cross section of the portico based

40

Polites 1977, 13. One of the theses taken up by several authors, in particular by Lico and Paredes-Santillan, is that of Klassen, for whom the main inspiration is the bahay kubo, the traditional simple wooden construction supported by stilts which lifts the house off the ground and gives it visual lightness. This thesis is debatable insofar as vernacular constructions are not concerned with aesthetics but respond to the needs and building conditions of a region or a population. On this subject, see Girard 2018.

41

on orthogonal geometries, Locsin lay down a sheet of drafting paper and began to draw the general curvature of the supports. [41]

Girard 2015a.

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

CCP Theater of Performing Arts →

57

← Detail of the main stair

Organic Continuity: “A Hollowed-Out Sculpture” [42] After passing through the mass of supporting columns, the visitor enters the main hall, which is three stories tall and whose different levels are connected by escalators on one side and a staircase on the other. These reinforced concrete load-bearing elements are treated as real sculpted pieces that give the hall area a ceremonial character in which spectators wander. The layout of the staircase is remarkable because although continuous, its design is different on each level. Echoing the exterior supports, the concrete handrails emerge from the floor and rise over four floors with varying curvatures. The reinforced concrete is finished to remove all the joints in the construction stages, giving the appearance of natural stone that contrasts with the polished stone used for the floor. The staircase structure is also similar to the external railings in that both are made of exposed aggregate concrete. These elements, although at different locations in the project, are actually part of the same formal family. At the level of the plinth, curves also appear that soften the passage from the ground to the building, this time with a highly textured reinforced concrete surface treatment. “We used concrete, but we hand-chiseled the surface of the building to give it a texture.” [43] As in the interior, these textural effects contrast with the box suspended above the entrance, made of prefabricated concrete slabs in which shells from Manila Bay are mixed, a kind of artificial stone. Spatiality, form, and materialization are at the service of the idea of sculpture that Locsin was looking for at that time, an inhabited sculpture whose interior organic form contrasts with the Cartesian rigor of the

42

Polites 1977, 14.

exterior, creating spaces whose movement is characterized by great

43

Joaquin 1969, 69.

spatial fluidity. Plans and sections of the main stair

CCP Theater of Performing Arts →

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

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Front and side elevations

Sections

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

View from the access ramp

Concrete textures

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Interior view of the entrance hall

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Interior view of the theater

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

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An Acropolis for Art and an Agora: Two Projects The development of the CCP continued in parallel with the theater construction site, with projects being planned in the vicinity of the theater, some of which, being far too large, would remain on paper. Volumes under the Sun: A Museum This is the case of a museum, right next to the theater, consisting of an esplanade with separate volumes complemented by an outdoor agora and which, according to Locsin, because of its size and organization, was a complex in itself whose purpose was to house works that would have been donated by private collectors. [44] The plan of the museum is organized in a rectangle approximately 220 m long by 60 m wide. On a 4 m raised base, Locsin arranged a series of pavilions of different sizes and shapes on the platform with gardens and ponds. Their architecture

Model

is reminiscent of that of the theater, with sculptural buildings playing on the light of the bay, and their layout is reminiscent of the CCP in general. The abstraction of the mainly closed volumes reinforces the impression of being in the presence of sculpture rather than of buildings. As the pile-driving works began, the financial means were finally allocated to the organization of events for which the Philippines was selected, firstly the Miss Universe competition in 1974, then the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in 1976, both of which required huge resources. Work on the museum was consequently stopped and never resumed.

44

Villegas 1989, 33.

Sections

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CCP Folk Arts Theater Pasay 1974

→

Folk Arts Theater: A Covered Agora The mentioned events aimed at positioning the Philippines on the international scene required other buildings that Locsin would also design. In 1973, the Miss Universe bid was approved, and the government was faced with the task of building a suitable venue for the event within three months. The Folk Arts Theater is a real technical feat and can be summed up as a large cover protecting an agora capable of accommodating 10,000 people. Several options were studied, including a gigantic tent in the style of the one that Frei Otto had just built in Munich for the 1972 Olympic Games. [45] But in the case of the Philippines, it has to withstand extreme weather conditions, including high winds and intense rainfall during the rainy season. For Locsin, the cost would be exorbitant and, above all, the durability of the structure over time was not guaranteed, which

View of the entrance

prompted him to propose a prefabricated building solution to limit the construction time. The idea is simple, as it reuses the open-air agora already planned at the time for the museum, but adds a roof of 100 m by 100 m, the construction of which he reduced to a few elements, piles and lattice girders. Instead of designing a structure, Locsin went in search of existing elements in the trade, which he then adapted to the project. The lattice girders were transported to the construction site by lorry and dimensioned to pass under Manila’s bridges, while all the concrete parts such as stairs, floors, and facade cladding were prefabricated, with the exception of the eight piers, which were cast on-site. At the end of the construction work, which lasted only 77 days, everything was ready to host the event. This demonstrates the enormous output capacity of the teams, who worked in shifts 24 hours a day, as well as the ingenuity of the project’s planning. It is probably because of this capacity for invention and realization that the Folk Arts Theater, despite its formal simplicity, has a special place in the architecture of the Philippines, which Imelda Marcos considers “a monument to the Filipino People.” [46] At the architectural level, Locsin continued his exploration of large

Floor plan

suspended volumes whose abstraction and monumentality are achieved through architectural effects. For him “when you look at the building from a distance, the tensions become interesting. The building is so horizontal that the broad fascia seems to stretch it out even further. The fascia itself seems to float in the air.” [47] But as in the national theater, the dominant visible element is the suspended solid mass, with great care taken in the connection between it and the ground, as evidenced by the way that the grass rises to the upper level of the stands. The pillars follow the slope of the embankments, and the diagonal lines of these elements give the base a reassuring feeling of strength, like buttresses protecting the interior of a fortress. Although the building is characterized by its gigantic roof, the base plays a major role in the composition of the whole, as in the National Theater.

45

Villegas 1989, 33.

46

Imelda Marcos, cited in Lico 2003, 106.

47

Lico 2003, 231.

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CCP Folk Arts Theater

Front elevation

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Section

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CCP Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Pasay 1974

→

The PICC: Suspended Concrete at the Service of the Image The Philippine International Convention Center was Locsin’s largest project to date, with an area of 65,000 m2. It housed the 1976 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group. Yet another example of the government’s desire to position Manila “as the hub of Asia,” [48] Imelda Marcos once again imposed an extremely tight schedule. Nonetheless, the building was completed in just two years. This was a pivotal project, because Locsin said that after the center he would go abroad to rest. “I was very tired. I wanted to stop but how to do it? That was in 1976, so that was about ten years of working with Imelda. I went abroad, and she got other architects to do the jobs. There was Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa, who did the Coconut Palace, then of course, Froilan Hong, but most of her projects were done by Jorge Ramos.” [49] As a result, the volume of projects in Locsin’s office began to decrease.

Site construction

For Nicholas Polites, the PICC is a demonstration of Locsin’s humanist attitude, which is based on the breadth of the project rather than the vertical concentration of functions. These are spread over three main buildings: the delegation building, the plenary rooms, and the secretariat. “Running through the concept of each room, and most evident in the vast enclosed spaces such as the lobbies and the Plenary and Reception halls, is the Oriental consciousness of man in relation to the elements, the ordinary and the monumental massing, vast volumes, and a sometimes awesome sense of flowing and almost unending space, the architecture and interiors have provided intimate conversational, viewing, promenade, and lounging areas scaled to man.” [50] While the center is traversed like an interior promenade opening

Aerial view

onto patios with ponds and gardens, the exterior volumes follow the principles of the CCP buildings, sculptural and abstract components playing in the light of Manila. Once again, opaque bodies give the impression of being suspended in the air, defying the laws of gravity. In this case, they are two inverted ‘U’s, stretched along the entire length of the delegation building, offset in plan in relation to each other and which become the striking image of the center. No vertical load-bearing elements are visible from the facade, from which a gigantic cantilevered awning more than 2 m thick emerges, projecting 22 m to welcome visitors. This outdoor entrance space acquires an almost mystical value due to the degree of compression Locsin produces here with a very low ceiling height of 2.5 m, which increases to 10 m in the hall. The surface area of the awning and the hall are very similar in plan, which physically binds them together

48

Polites 1977, 234.

and makes the spatial experience even stronger. This system of low

49

Villegas 1989, 33.

space followed by high space is, in the case of the PICC, taken to the

50

Polites 1977, 235.

extreme to mark a threshold between public space and institution.

← CCP Philippine International Convention Center

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

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Sections

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floor plan

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The Entrance Hall The interior is, as in the Performing Arts Theater, in total contrast to the exterior. Continuity is only provided by the floor and the movement it generates, all of which converge toward the focal point of the main hall. It is certainly one of the major spaces in Locsin’s production, in which he demonstrates all his spatial virtuosity. As in the Theater of Performing Arts, the stairs emerge from the floor and take the visitor to different parts of the center, in each of which other halls are located. The galleries overlooking the central space are made of bush-hammered concrete with rounded corners. On the ceiling, the lighting consists of 3,130 bulbs suspended from bronze tubes. The majority of these are at a constant height close to the ceiling, but three separate groups descend to different heights to delimit particular areas, like giant chandeliers. The opposition between the sculpted mineral elements and the luminous metal rods completely breaks up the space, which seems to have no upper limit and to be connected to the cosmos. More than simple lighting, Locsin uses an architectural element in the service of space, and in his desire to connect the building to a larger whole. Polites, in his text on the building that houses the Plenary and 51

Reception halls, speaks of the lobby as a space with a mystical leaning. And perhaps for this reason, Manila-based architect Ed Calma took this building as the basis for his intervention in the Philippine Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, seeing the PICC as a muhon, a landmark for the young nation. [51]

The muhon evokes the notion of temporal and geographical landmarks. This is the theme that was proposed by Leandro V. Locsin Partners in 2015 and won the competition for the Philippines’ first participation in the Venice Biennale in 2016. During this exhibition, six architects and three artists were invited to propose an intervention and among them, Ed Calma used the PICC as a muhon. See in this regard Besa et al. 2016.

Interior of the entrance hall

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Suspended Concrete The PICC is based on a composition of abstract volumes whose external dimension is difficult to grasp. Perhaps the most telling example is the entrance building, which appears to be composed of two floors when in fact it houses five. In the Plenary and Reception halls building, this arrangement is even more radicalized in that no windows appear on the facade, giving the volumes the appearance of large concrete sculptures. Apart from the size of the volumes, the joints on the facades give an indication that they are buildings and not sculptures. Above all, they betray or at least express the means of construction implemented during their realization, and indicate that two types of concrete are used, namely prefabricated and cast in situ. [52] It nevertheless demonstrates that Locsin did not attach himself to a type of construction but used materials to create sculptural effects. For example, the main structure consists of steel lattice girders to which prefabricated concrete slabs are attached, while the interior elements such as the parapets are cast in situ. Locsin thus applied two construction methods, one at the service of an external image and the other at the service of the haptic character of the material in direct connection with the user. 52

Consunji explains that there were no real technical problems on the site, apart from the schedule, which was respected thanks to a system of modular elements that enabled them to save time and finish on time. See Consunji 2004, 217.

Staircase of the main hall

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CCP Philippine International Convention Center →

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← Interior view of the lobby

Philippine Plaza Hotel Pasay 1975

→

The Largest Hotel in the Philippines The organization of international events also involved providing spaces capable of housing the visitors. The Philippine Plaza Hotel is built within the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex and is right next to the convention center, directly on Manila Bay, enjoying an exceptional location. With its 700 rooms, it was the largest hotel in the Philippines when it opened in October 1976. [53] Locsin was once again asked to design the building, which had to be completed in 12 months to be operational by the time the conference opened. In order to meet the deadline, the DMCI company set up two teams of workers who took shifts during 20 hours of daily work, and who took over the construction of the PICC in parallel.

Exterior view of the accommodation building

The Philippine Plaza Hotel is characterized on the outside by its 12-story building that rises in the western part of the site and distinguishes the CCP with its silhouette that contrasts with the low volumes of the neighboring facilities. The layout is based on a double-height lobby that opens onto the ocean, providing access to the rooms on one side and to common areas on the other, including a reception room capable of accommodating more than 1,600 guests. It is in the reception hall that Locsin demonstrated his talents as a poet of space by presenting a hall comprising different carefully designed areas, the central element of which is a monumental sculpture by Arturo Luz. Visitors arrive at the upper level, then onto a balcony overlooking pools; these take up half the surface area and are fed by a waterfall. [54] A Misleading Structural Statement The accommodation building is 150 m long by 19 m wide with a structural grid of 9 m by 5.5 m and a 8.6 m variation in the center to accommodate the corridor and toilets. To reduce the impact of the volume, Locsin divided it into two parts at the level of the articulation of the vertical circulations, which are directly linked to the reception hall on the ground floor. Regarding the external appearance, Locsin used the load-bearing structure to create the room separations. The facade is thus punctuated by large vertical columns, between which are integrated balconies that protrude slightly in plan. In the gables, these columns are rotated and create a sense of flatness by providing a projection to accommodate the suites. The top of the facade comprises a reinforced concrete band nearly 3 m long, visually creating a crowning effect. This is reminiscent of some of the hotels that John Portman built in the United States for the Hyatt chain, more precisely the Atlanta hotel completed in 1967. This building appears in GA’s 1974 publication devoted to hotels and is part of the office library. [55] It is likely that the American architect’s work had an influence on Locsin. The language used for the Philippine Plaza is therefore based on the use of the load-bearing structure, particularly the columns, which become

53

Manuel 1979, 102.

54

The proportions between the usable areas and these features will, moreover, pose a serious problem of utilization provoking major transformations, which will aim at recovering space that is distorting the balance.

55

a strong motif while at the same time allowing a functional element of separation. However, if we look carefully at the layout of the rooms, we see that to achieve this composition Locsin not only thickened the columns but also doubled them with false columns to echo the 4.5 m grid of the rooms. Thus, although their external expression is identical, those

Futagawa and Goldberger 1974.

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81

columns doubling the rhythm have no static role—quite the contrary, as the plan reveals that they are actually hollow. In spite of this, the craftsmanship in execution, the use of traditional local materials, and the exceptional quality of the landscaping by landscape architect Ildefonso Santos Jr. contributed to making the Philippine Plaza one of

56

Santos is considered one of the fathers of modern landscaping in the Philippines, see Lico 2008, 482.

57

It appears that having greatly enjoyed his stay at the Philippine Plaza Hotel the Sultan asked for the name of the architect. Locsin 1985, 25.

the most important hotels in the country. [56] For Locsin, it was also the building that helped win his largest commission when he was awarded the project for the Palace of the Sultan of Brunei in 1980. [57]

Floor plan

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibition: A Temple for Commerce CCP Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibitions Pasay 1976

The Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibition is dedicated

→

to hosting and exhibiting the products of Philippine industry and trade. It is the last of Locsin’s buildings to be constructed within the CCP complex and unfortunately was later demolished to make way for an amusement park. [58] The project is simple compared with the theater or convention center that Locsin was building right next door. Several exhibition halls offer different surfaces capable of showing the commercial strength of the Philippines at an international level. More than just an exhibition center, the PHILCITE was therefore once again a propaganda tool for the Marcoses. It allowed Locsin to synthesize several themes that he explored during this period and closed ten frenetic years of service to the government. The available site is part of the second phase of land reclamation on the bay, where the Philippine Plaza Hotel and the Convention Center are already located. The site does not offer any special views and is directly adjacent to the National Theater. The aim is to offer a building based on a square plan. As in the Folk Arts Theater, the facades are almost identical except for those that welcome visitors and whose entrances are marked by an opening in the plinth. The exterior composition is

58

Only the Kanlungan Architectural Foundation of the Philippines project of 1981 is later, but it will never be built.

based on a tripartite crown-column-base composition achieved by formally distinct elements.

Entrance view

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

Exterior view during construction →

83

The base is composed of a series of 1 m thick buttresses positioned on a 3 m grid. The 1:2 ratio between solid and void enables a changing perception depending on one’s position, from filigree when viewed from the front, to continuous when viewed from the side, recalling the slopes of the Folk Arts Theater. The “crown” is once again an opaque element composed of 6.5 m tall suspended concrete slabs around the perimeter of the building that hide the structural thickness required to bridge spans of 22 m and incorporate an 8 m cantilever. Between the two, inverted L-shaped concrete elements encircle the elevated exhibition areas. A symphony of light and shadow is created between these elements, giving the roof the appearance of a slab that seems to fly above the ground. Inside, the space is structured by four large triangular piles that rise up to the roof and, at the point of intersection, the roof shifts in height to allow natural lighting and ventilation. The square is once again present on the inside by the position of the piles, but in terms of layout, Locsin adopted a totally different approach by positioning the exhibition areas on platforms at different heights. The visitor is invited to move from one area to the next by a system of ramps that connect these platforms in a continuous movement, from the entrance at level zero through to the highest platform at 6 m, then back to ground level. The contrast between the exterior rigor and the organic approach of the interior was already evident in the National Theater project, with the sculpted concrete staircase in particular, but in the case of the PHILCITE it is pushed to the extreme insofar as there is nothing to suggest the interior layout from the outside. The strong institutional image is given by the order, symmetry, and composition, while the curved ramps and the 135° angles give an organic character that links the products on display to the earth from which they are made.

Detail of the facade

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floor plan

Section

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

87

Masses under the Sun: Another Museum The Ayala Museum, designed to exhibit the culture and history of the Philippines, is the building in which Locsin took the concept of building

← Ayala Museum Makati 1974

and sculpture to the extreme, particularly in terms of the external image it offers. Whereas in the institutional buildings of the CCP a symmetry is generally set up with the entrance as the focal point, the museum is made up of volumes which are juxtaposed in plan and section without a visual hierarchy. Built on the outskirts of a park in Makati, it is articulated around a central hall accessible from both the street and the park sides. [59] For Caryn Paredes-Santillan, it had the symbolic function of being a gateway to the park, allowing passers-by to cross it at will. [60] The project is arranged on each side of the central hall, with the exhibition rooms connected by a pathway that develops in successive stages. Visitors are gradually brought up to the first floor, from which they rejoin the ground floor via a staircase next to the entrance. The canopies are not seen as panels projecting outward, but as volumes hollowed out at the top to bring light inside, preventing the glazing from being revealed from the street. In this sense, it echoes the concept of the Theater of Performing Arts, whose gigantic awning actually houses functions illuminated by a patio. The Ayala Museum and the Theater of

59

This park will be partly preserved when the museum is demolished and rebuilt during the construction of the Greenbelt shopping complex.

60

Paredes-Santillan 2007, 215.

the CCP are to be seen as part of the same family of gigantic sculptures beneath the sun, drawing their artistic strength from abstraction.

Section

View of the entrance facade

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Detail of the cantilever blocks

MONUMENTALITY REDESIGNED

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“Hollowed-Out Sculpture” Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the public commission that creates a new direction in Locsin’s work; this thinking appears well before the beginning of the sixties, with private commercial commissions linked to the sale of cars. These gave him the opportunity to tackle themes of monumentality, abstraction, symmetry, and great significance. As we have seen, Locsin was not isolated in this search for a new monumentality, and he took advantage of the unique opportunity offered by the CCP commission to explore this further. He used local means and the new possibilities offered by reinforced concrete to propose, as early as the sixties, buildings resembling giant sculptures. In order to achieve this expression, the design of structures capable of covering spaces became an issue of expression, the broad scope of which enabled him to break free from certain neoclassical patterns of monumentality conveyed by what Franco Borsi called “the monumental order” [61] and which, in the 1930s in Europe, corresponded to a need for security in the face of the political crises shaking the old continent. The combination of the monumental image and a far-reaching scope led Locsin to radicalize the expression by oversimplifying it through the elimination or subordination of architectural elements, such as windows or doors, in favor of an interpretation of the building that he called “a hollowed-out sculpture.” The CCP undoubtedly represents a key moment in Locsin’s work, both in terms of the scale of production and the visible maturity in the development of themes linked to local culture. However, although Locsin had never worked abroad or in other Philippine offices run by architects who had studied abroad, his development as an architect was through confrontation with the international scene, dominated at the time by the United States and Japan.

61

90

Borsi 1987.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

International Influences: The Learning Period From Tange to Johnson via Wright: Tradition, Classicism, and Organicism in the Philippines

From the Acropolis of Athens for Le Corbusier, to ancient Rome for Louis Kahn, or passing through Mexico for Jørn Utzon, the journeys that shaped or influenced the architectural thinking of the great masters of the 20th century are numerous. Leandro Locsin was also fortunate enough to travel early in his career and meet some of the most important protagonists on the contemporary architectural scene, visiting some of the major achievements of the nineteen-fifties and sixties. In the post–World War II period, the international architectural landscape was dominated by two poles: the United States on one side and Japan on the other. Locsin visited these two countries several times in his career, but the two most important journeys took place in 1956, to Japan, and then in 1959, to the United States. Undertaken for different reasons, the first, as he himself said, changed the way he looked at things and led him to question Philippine identity, while the second reinforced his choice of reinforced concrete as the material of preference for the majority of his buildings.

The Trip to Japan in 1956: Tradition and Modernity The trip Locsin undertook in 1956 to Japan with his friend and mentor Fernando Zóbel, changed his approach to tradition, or at least affirmed his ability to link eras. “The most important lesson learned in that fateful trip in 1956 was to observe how traditional forms in a specific culture could be rendered with a contemporary spirit which transcends time and fashion.” [1] It was the architect Bruno Taut (1880–1938) who initiated this debate with his 1933 visit to the Katsura Villa in Kyoto; he saw in the Imperial Villa the perfect illustration of a subjective anti-formalism which he rejected in his 1929 work “Five Points.” Japan, like the Philippines, emerged from the war destroyed by years of bombing, including that of Tokyo on March 9, 1945, which killed more than 100,000 civilians and destroyed the Japanese city, as was the case with Manila. Reconstruction was then seen by some architects as an opportunity to rethink modernity by integrating tradition in order to recreate a link with the past. For Frédéric Migayrou, the rupture of World War II was one of a series of catastrophes that have regularly affected the country and kick-started a reformulation of the question of tradition. “For Japanese architecture, the matrix of a reconstruction of an origin is a model of recent invention, corresponding to a rejection or an overcoming of an eclectic culture that mixed Chinese references with quotations from Western architecture.” [2] This question remained central to Locsin’s production to such an extent that in 1992, when he received the Fukuoka Prize, [3] he gave a speech in 1

Locsin 1992.

2

Frédéric Migayrou, “L’identité élusive de l’architecture japonaise,” in Migayrou 2017, 8. Migayrou gives a precise picture of the problem architects faced with tradition in postwar Japan and how the question of origin was first theorized by Bruno Taut in a series of essays in the 1930s including Fundamentals of Japanese Architecture, published in 1936.

which he clarified certain points about his way of working on projects, stressing, among other things, the importance of tradition in its capacity to be interpreted and integrated into contemporary projects. In this sense, he is close to the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who received the Fukuoka Academic Prize that same year. Geertz’s masterwork, Interpretation of Cultures, first published in 1973, focused

3

Created in 1989, the Fukuoka Prize aims to promote and recognize the work of people who have contributed to the acknowledgment or creation of Asian culture.

on understanding the symbolic signs of a culture and the links between

4

Locsin 1992.

“architecture has the power to play this interpretive role” [4] and that the

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

them. Locsin paid homage to Geertz in his speech by asserting that

95

architect is not only a builder but also a cultural medium capable of interpreting the environment in which he intervenes in order to integrate it into a contemporaneity. One of this period’s major architectural figures in Japan is Kenzo Tange (1913–2005), who in 1956 was at the start of his career. He nevertheless won the competition for the Hiroshima memorial in 1949, which he completed four years later; the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, with its volume raised from the ground by pilotis, took up the principles of his own house on stilts, but this time in reinforced concrete, about which Rem Koolhaas later remarked, “while building prolifically in a modern mode and strategizing the high-tech avant-garde of Metabolism, Tange is still nourished by Japan’s tradition as a means of innovation.” [5] Locsin returned from this voyage “profoundly affected,” and in the studies for the Monterrey Apartment Building, which he began on his return, he integrated a Japanese garden into its entrance hall. In addition, he worked on the materiality that would become a distinctive mark of his future production. “When we did the Monterrey Apartments, I specified impressed formwork on unpainted concrete, which the Japanese are so good at. I had the wood forms meticulously done, the planks laid out straight, all the nails in a straight line, so that when you remove the formwork, we could leave the concrete unretouched and unpainted.” [6] This journey totally influenced Locsin’s architecture of this period, to which he frequently refers in lectures and interviews. The office’s library confirms this interest, with a bibliography ranging from traditional architecture to the magazine Japan Architect, dominated from 1960 to 1980 by the texts of Tange, as well as monographs on architects and more general works such as those of Udo Kultermann. Locsin’s relationship with Japan never ceased; he frequently returned there throughout his life, either for work or for pleasure. [7]

96

5

Koolhaas and Obrist 2011.

6

See Villegas 1989.

7

The curtains of the large and small theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines would thus be made by Japanese weavers from Kyoto, based on a painting by Hernando Ocampo (1911–1978) for the former and Roberto Chabet (1937–2013) for the latter, both pioneers of conceptual art in the Philippines. On this subject see Bunoan 2015.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Japanese Thoughts: The Monterrey Apartments Monterrey Apartments Makati 1957

The Monterrey Apartments, begun in 1957, are a perfect example to

→

illustrate the direct influence of the trip to Japan on Locsin’s architecture. Locsin was asked by his friend and mentor Fernando Zóbel to design an apartment building in Makati. [8] Located along Ayala Avenue, this project gave Locsin the opportunity to design luxurious flats whose presentation brochure clearly highlights the current demands of the well-to-do. [9] The aim was to offer homes equipped with the latest technology in terms of electricity and air conditioning, sufficient space for cars, easily accessible green spaces for children, and areas for domestic helpers’ quarters. The brochure’s authors took as an example the standards of Forbes Park, the upmarket villa district of Makati, whose development had begun in 1949. In a less programmatic way, it is mentioned at the beginning of the description that “Monterrey dwellers like parties” and lastly that “They know how to decorate.” [10] These two typical characteristics would have an impact on the spatial and aesthetic design of the apartments.

Side view showing the balconies

Images from the period show a six-story building with the top floor facade set back. The volume is that of a rectangular parallelepiped facing northeast–southwest, located approximately in the center of a rectangular plot connecting Ayala Avenue and Real Street. Typologically, the plan consists of a central vertical distribution shaft serving two apartments per floor, arranged symmetrically. The stairwell is itself divided by elevators opening on both sides, with the main staircase for the apartments on one side and the secondary one for domestic staff on the other. This arrangement allowed not only a triple orientation of the apartments, but also a distribution guaranteeing total separation of the flow of inhabitants and domestic staff.

Section of the cantilever slab

The floor plan of the apartments, of approximately 180 m2, consists of a main living room of 10 m by 5 m flanked by a long balcony 3.25 m deep. This room becomes the focal point of the accommodation and is connected to both the entrance and the service rooms. It is this space that in a way materializes the argument that the inhabitants like to entertain. With its 50m2 and its balcony of about 30 m2, the generosity allows the owners to have an active social life if they so wish. In this representation, it is worth noting the chosen style, namely that of the journals of the time, which showcase minimalist furniture designed by the architects of the period. It seems to have been proven that the aim here is to find a home that differs from traditional styles and is in keeping with the postwar period of renewal. Structurally, columns arranged on a grid of 5 by 5 m ensure the building’s support, with the particularity of their being square on the upper floors and hexagonal on the ground floor. This is therefore a column-slab structural system that frees the facade from any load-bearing requirement. In fact, the windows are in the form of bands protected by sunscreens projecting into the area of the main rooms and in front of those, of the domestic staff in order to give them a degree of privacy. The ground floor uses the layout of the structure to accommodate

8

See the chapter on climate-responsive facades.

two smaller flats and the entrance area, as well as covered and open

9

See Ayala 1957.

outdoor spaces, allowing protected access to the accommodation in

10

Ayala 1957.

case of bad weather. On the roof there is an access that allows the

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Front elevation

provision of additional rooms for domestic staff as well as different areas for the laundry rooms that are connected to the terraces. The column-slab system also gave Locsin complete freedom regarding the interior layout, as the position of the walls could fully meet the customer’s requirements without being spatially constrained by loadbearing walls. The facades are thus characterized by large horizontals created by balconies and windows, interrupted by solid vertical walls without openings. On the ground floor, the recessed columns give the building the impression that the floors float above the park. This Perspective of the entrance hall

impression is reinforced on the upper floors by the large cantilevered balconies that extend along the small facades over a length of about 10 m to a depth of 3 m. To accentuate this effect of lightness, no columns are provided to support the floor slabs, which are between 15 and 18 cm thick. According to Andy Locsin, [11] Alfredo Juinio had long sought to achieve the stability of these slabs through the sole use of standard reinforced concrete, but without success. In the end, a hybrid composite solution made it possible to meet the structural requirements, combining the metal reinforcement with bamboo rods (buho in technical terms) to

Floor plan

provide greater rigidity while reducing the slab’s weight. The influence of his trip to Japan is explicit in the interior-exterior relationship of the hall on the ground floor and in the exposed aggregate concrete used in this building. [12]“I did the inner garden of the Monterrey, and I wanted to have a very spare Japanese-like garden using only rocks and pebbles.” [13] Finally, the metrics of the structural framework that manages the entire plan shows it was the awakening to proportions that Locsin had when he visited Japan that led him to 98

11

Girard 2015b.

12

There is a book in his library dealing specifically with the possible treatments applicable to concrete. See Wilson 1962.

13

Leandro Locsin in Villegas 1989, 32.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

think of each element as a detail linked to a whole. “I became aware of how conscious the Japanese are of art, of proportion and scale. […] Sometimes it was a matter of inches, and I would think about it all night. But that helped; I became really conscious to the point that I had to work out everything.” [14] This launched his first thoughts on organic unity, directly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. The importance of this building is therefore manifold in that it puts in place a series of principles which seem to derive from a modern conception theorized in the five points of Le Corbusier’s modern architecture, [15] with important nuances such as the roof terrace, which 14

Villegas 1989, 32.

is not used as a place to relax but as a purely functional space. The

15

The pilotis, the terrace roof, the open plan, the horizontal window, and the open facade. See Boesiger and Stonorov 1937.

aesthetic also comes close to that of modernity, with its transparency of construction and lack of deliberate decoration.

Ground and typical floor plan

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The 1959 Trip to the United States: Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, and Paul Rudolph The second journey that would also leave a lasting mark on Locsin’s production was undertaken a few years later, in 1959. This time, he went alone to the United States thanks to a grant from the American State Department, which enabled him to visit some of the major achievements on the East and West coasts. He completed the trip with a “side trip to Mexico, sought out Luis Barragán, went to his home. It was a fantastic experience.” [16] This trip had a double influence on Locsin inasmuch as it gave him the assurance that there was a way to create relevant architecture that left nothing American to envy, and it brought together all the major themes that would interest him on his return. “This trip helped me firm my ideas. When I was just beginning, I felt disadvantaged, because we could not do those glass and steel highrises, like the Seagram Building. When you are not yet so mature, you don’t think, ‘Ibagay ba ito sa atin, o hindi?’ [17] You get excited over the technology, the challenge. But I found out that the American architects were so excited over what we could do with concrete. We could shape it to any form. Formwork was commonplace and not expensive. There, only the big-time architects like Saarinen could do that. I came back completely convinced that our material was concrete.” [18] Locsin had already used reinforced concrete before making this journey, notably in the Monterrey Apartment Building following his experience of Japanese architecture. But this time, he forged a conviction that he would not abandon and adopted reinforced concrete as the material of choice for the architecture he developed. In return, the latter was influenced by the new structural and design capabilities that he was able to exploit while responding to climatic conditions and local production capacities. The choice of construction was also guided by two men, the civil engineer Alfredo Juinio and his student, the builder David Consunji, who would work with Locsin on the buildings in Manila. Both were convinced that reinforced concrete could achieve higher load-bearing capacities than those existing at the time to meet the new needs of the future metropolis. [19] For Locsin, “it was wonderful to go to the faculty room to pick their brains. We’d just sit there around the table discussing the project. For me it was a learning period.” [20] Locsin did not mention any meetings during his trip to Japan. In the United States, however, he was received by Eero Saarinen (1910–1961), who took him to visit the headquarters of General Motors Technical

16

Center, then considered the “Versailles of industry,” where he gave a

Villegas 1989, 34.

17

conference. [21]

“Does it really matter for us, or not?” trans. Susan Roxas.

18

Villegas 1989.

19

In 1954 David Consunji formed DMCI, which became the principal enterprise for construction in Metro Manila. In his memoirs he gives a very accurate account of the development of reinforced concrete techniques, particularly under the leadership of Juinio. See Consunji 2004.

1963, but it is possible that Locsin was aware of the first studies begun in

20

Villegas 1989, 31.

In any case, the use of textured concrete and the architecture of

21

Louis le Vau and André Lenôtre, cited in Roman 2003, 158.

the massive columns that are found in many of Locsin’s projects certainly

22

He was appointed Dean in 1957.

owe much to Paul Rudolph’s architecture.

23

The year 1958 is given on the official website of the Paul Rudolph Foundation (https://paulrudolph.org/buildingsprojects/). See also Rudolph and Moholy-Nagy 1970.

Locsin then visited the Glass House (1949) of Philip Johnson (1906–2005), whom he met on this occasion, and the Yale School of Architecture, which has just been taken over by Paul Rudolph (1918–1997). [22] The Art and Architecture Building for Yale University was not completed until 1958.

 [23]

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Finally, he crossed the United States to go to Taliesin West, which houses Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter residence and his school of architecture. He did not meet the American master, who had died a few months before, on April 9, but the architecture of the place left a deep impression on Locsin, in particular the use of local stone combined with wood and concrete. Locsin admired “the warmth of Frank Lloyd Wright, his organic architecture, his use of wood,” [24] materials that he would later use in his buildings, particularly private residences, in which he sought to marry spatial fluidity with local materials. Returning from his travels, Locsin was a recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young Men [25] prize awarded by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, and again, in 1961, for the Pan-Pacific Citation awarded by the American Institute of Architects, the first recipient of which was Kenzo Tange in 1958. [26]Locsin was therefore very quickly recognized by his peers and honored by recently created awards to encourage emerging architectural creation. The “learning period” thus ended with national and international recognition which, coupled with his travels, enabled him to establish an architectural approach in which the search for historical continuity led him to question the relevance of contemporary references.

Classical Thoughts: Philip Johnson “‘Ideal’ volumetric simplicity, ‘ideal’ symmetry,

In the United States, Philip Johnson built the Glass House in 1949, which

and ‘ideal’ centralisation have recently become

Locsin visited with him, and whom Locsin met again later, probably in

the order of the day: the Hellenic revival is more

1964, as indicated by the dedication found in John Jacobus’s book. [28]

and more appreciated, and the worried ghost

In a 1961 article published in Perspecta, Johnson states that “It seems I

of Palladio is likely to frequently haunt

cannot be but Classically inspired; symmetry, order, clarity above all.” [29]

our residential suburbs.”

For Peter Blake, the Glass House is considered antimodern because not

Colin Rowe [27]

only does it make use of symmetry [30] but it does not assert a constructive truth either, the structure being used as a support for the creation of space. For him, it changed the direction of modern architecture, where design would be oriented toward questions of space and procession. [31] “Ideal’ ’volumetric simplicity, ‘ideal’ symmetry, and ‘ideal’ centralisation

24

Villegas 1989, 34.

have recently become the order of the day: the Hellenic revival is more

25

The award, founded in 1959, recognizes young people who excel in one of the ten areas identified by the Junior Chamber of Commerce and who set an example for future generations.

and more appreciated, and the worried ghost of Palladio is likely to

In 1959 the prize was awarded to the Australian architect Roy S. Grounds; in 1963 the Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, a close friend of Locsin, received this distinction, just before the Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake in 1964.

Eisenman, saw the Glass House as a forerunner of the anxiety of the

26

frequently haunt our residential suburbs.” [32] Other critics, such as Peter postwar period and the last pure form of illustrative humanism shaken by the events of the war. [33]

27

Rowe 1976, 140.

The other element that Johnson uses in a decorative sense which takes

28

Jacobus’s study on Philip Johnson is in Locsin’s office library.

him away from modern design is the arch. “The idea of the arch is, of

29

Whitney and Kipnis 1993, 18.

course, contrary to ‘modern’ design, the modern of the age of usefulness,

30

Blake 1996, 34.

because it is obvious these arches are not truly structural—not honest. But

31

Whitney and Kipnis 1993, 27.

to me they are handsome and comforting. […] Long live arches, long live

32

Rowe 1976, 140.

follies.” [34]

33

Peter Eisenman, introduction to Johnson 1979, 23. Eisenman underlines the dominance of formalism in Johnson’s architecture and believes that the means used are of secondary importance. Thus the load-bearing structure of the villa is one comprising columns aided by window frames; the wooden ceiling hides the construction.

34

Whitney and Kipnis 1993, 25.

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Classicism is to be a subject of exploration led in particular by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), who found in this reference a means of expression capable of responding to the period of doubt of late modernity and capable of opposing the eclecticism of the 1960s. [35] Colin Rowe even wondered whether Mies’s new architectural designs would impose themselves and lead to the generalization of a new classicism. The form “purged of individual sentiment […] is, at the bottom, a classical one” [36] and he concluded that if this reversal of traditional compositional values were a rejection of the spirit of the times, then it deserved more attention. [37] For William Curtis, the Crown Hall building (1956), in its search for universal space leaving little room for individuality, is based on neoclassical qualities such as symmetry, proportions, and clear expression of structure. [38] For Mies, classicism was an expression of simplicity at the service of programmatic tension capable of achieving expressive force. [39] In his work on the English architect Denys Lasdun, Curtis also makes a strong link between Lasdun’s buildings and classical thought, insisting on the notion of interpreting language through the use of measurement, sequence control, modulation of space, rationality of intervention, and respect for human scale. The abstraction of classical values such as measure, proportions, and pause time is, according to him, crucial for a large number of moderns such as Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Louis Kahn, and Mies van der Rohe. All these masters referred to antiquity in their own way and each learned from different phases of the past. [40] Locsin seems to use classical values to compose buildings with a strong symbolic content, such as those built for the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, which are in the same frame of reference. [41] They seem to correspond to the need for order that Paul Zucker spoke of: “To create a coherent civilization—and this is its purpose—architecture must again become a force for order.” [42] The use of classical values responds to a desire to guarantee, in the eyes of the architect, “the perpetuity of the building.” [43] Locsin thus became involved in an international debate and, at the beginning of his career, proposed buildings of an institutional nature, mainly religious and administrative, in which the notion of classical values, and the colonnade, were used.

102

35

Cohen (1994) 2007, 8.

36

Rowe 1976, 125.

37

Rowe 1976, 190.

38

Curtis (1982) 2004, 402–403.

39

Curtis 1984, 74.

40

Curtis 1994, 75.

41

The Los Baños campus was founded in 1909 as the College of Agriculture and became the University of the Philippines in 1972. see www.uplb.edu.ph.

42

Zucker 1944, 297.

43

Alison and Peter Smithson on the Hunstanton School (1954) quoted in Marchand 2012, 102.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Religious Buildings: Four Projects De La Salle Chapel Bacolod City, Negros 1956

The De La Salle Chapel is located on the western island of Negros, in

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Bacolod City, and is built for the campus of De La Salle College, founded in 1952. [44] Locsin placed the space for worship within a colonnade that stretches across the four facades, which generates a peripheral gallery set on a raised base 135 cm above the ground. The exterior image is thus characterized by a classicism that goes back to the model of the Greek temple and shows that Locsin saw no problem in clearly dissociating the exterior from the interior. However, Locsin did not reproduce ancient motifs but rather interpreted certain principles and adapted them to local construction methods. The chapel is devoid of ornament and the columns are dimensioned in such a way as to make the best use of the properties of reinforced concrete.

Front elevation

Thus, their profile shows a refinement of the shaft in its upper part while the base widens to assert a recess in the base. The use of the portico recalls certain works by Philip Johnson and Oscar Niemeyer, who in the same period sought to define a new image of the institution by contemporary means. The question of the portico thus appears in the American Amon Carter Museum (1961) in Fort Worth and the Brazilian Itamaraty Palace (1962), in which reinforced concrete manages to create a continuity between the columns and the entablature while relying on a classical language of order and symmetry. In Bacolod, the entablature is highlighted by a recessed line that separates the columns from the roof. The use of reinforced concrete is conveyed by the variation in the rhythm of the columns, which are

Detail of the facade

spaced out on each of the facades in the plane of the entrances. The result is an exterior image of great simplicity which allows the chapel to be architecturally detached from its immediate context and to reinforce its status as an institutional building.

Floor plan and elevations

44

As far as dates are concerned, some plans—the ground plan, the church plan, and some details—date from September 1956, while others date from 1964. It is possible that the work was carried out in 1964, or that it is a question of transformation-renovation work. In any case, the general idea is already present in the 1956 plans so it seems more relevant to insert it in the first period.

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The peripheral column can also be found in other projects developed

← Family C. Revilla Mausoleum Memorial Park Manila 1966

at the same time. This is particularly the case in less well-known and more modest objects such as mausoleums. Locsin’s interest in this theme is demonstrated by numerous studies in perspective. The Lacson Mausoleum and the Carlos Revilla Mausoleum are, in both cases, characterized by a square-shaped cover which houses a tomb. Locsin carefully studied the cornice of the pillars, describing their composition, in particular the recessed motifs, which are usually tiled with mosaics in order to make the background visually deeper. In 1958 Locsin had the opportunity to design another religious building for the town of Ozamiz on the island of Mindanao. This time he adopted

Perspective

a much more traditional configuration based on a basilican plan which, in antiquity, was characterized by a central nave around which a pedestrian area was delimited by columns. This configuration derives from the Roman basilica, which originally housed various activities, including that of the court of law. [45] In Ozamiz the same typological configuration is adopted with a nave oriented toward the altar. The

← Prelatial Church of the Immaculate Conception Ozamiz City 1958

pews are surrounded by a pedestrian area, delimited on the outer sides by the supporting columns. Two blocks are arranged at either end of the nave, one defining the entrance area with access to the balconies and the bell tower, while the other block contains the sacristy and the location of the altar. Between the facade’s structural supports, perforated asbestos screens allow the church to be ventilated. Although the plan does not present any typological invention, it shows Locsin’s interest in the space generated by the load-bearing structure. While in plan the nave seems to be uniformly covered by a single roof, in reality it is punctuated by a series of combined arches and halfarches, spaced 4.7 m apart. This system of reinforced concrete arches is differentiated in height, each high arc bearing on the cantilevered ends of two lower half arches. This creates an open space for the faithful of over 25 m wide, with a height at the top of 16 m. From the outside, the interior spatial partitioning can be read by the roofs at different heights, with different inclinations and by the vertical panels on the entrance facade. This design contrasts with the lateral elevations, characterized by a filling of asbestos screens placed between the structural supports, relating it to the church of Saint Joseph Du Havre (1951) by Auguste Perret.

Interior view Floor plan

45

104

For Burckhardt, the plan of the church is for certain a metaphor for the human body—“the choir or the apse represents the soul, while the nave is analogous to the body, and the altar to the heart”—the model of which will endure until the 20th century. See Burckhardt 1986.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Front elevation

Sections

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Detail of the asbestos screen

105

This is the first religious building that Locsin designed, for a town on the western island of Negros. It is also the most traditional in its layout,

← Cadiz Parish Church Cadiz City, Negros Occidental 1963

based on an entry-nave-altar sequence, as in the Ozamiz City church of 1958. These two projects are also similar in the use of a system of reinforced concrete frames which multiply at regular intervals of 5 m to form the spaces, and which are clearly identifiable on the facades. The upper two-thirds of the facades are filled with perforated concrete panels to provide light, while on the ground floor a system of latticed doors ensures cross ventilation. The apparent simplicity is nuanced by various means including the sequence of entry and the materiality. Inside the church, Locsin provided mahogany panels that can be pivoted on an axis, allowing one side of the chapel area to be closed off. The entrance area was subject to a precise sequence, perhaps to reduce

Front elevation

the noise and visual impact due to the immediate proximity of the road. Locsin writes: “It is not desirable that the church edifice, except in case of necessity, be located directly on a street filled with noise of business and traffic.” [46] In this church, the first section of the structure includes an area in which the bell tower and a system of pools are positioned, creating a threshold between the public space and the religious space. The language is therefore, as in the church of Ozamiz, a reinterpretation of Auguste Perret’s structure-infill principles, but with an economy of means that gives the church an image of banality that could be compared to that of a warehouse. Indeed, the height of the frames is uniform, 13 m at the ridge for a span of 26 m, and does not vary, neither at the entrance nor at the altar. Later, the facade was rebuilt and extended. [47] The form of the frames was maintained, but a large vertical glass aperture creates a caesura in which the entrance is located. This is covered by a cantilevered awning extending more than 7 m. With this addition, the somewhat banal character of the church is relegated to the background, with the entrance facade clearly displaying the institutional character on the street.

Floor plan

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46

Leandro Locsin in Villalon and Perez 1996, 16.

47

Probably in 1972, if we refer to the inventory in Polites 1977.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Detail of the entrance elevation

Side elevation and section

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Purposeful Columns The column is also used as an element inserted into the wall, extending over the entire height of the facade as can be seen in these two

← Sarmiento Office Building Davao 1963

administrative buildings. In the case of office buildings, it is likely that the urban context does not allow for waste of space, which reduces the depth of the facade. The Sarmiento Office Building is located in Davao, the third-largest city in the Philippines, in the south of the archipelago. Its street location defines the alignment of the main facade and the height is composed of five levels, which makes it a small building. To counterbalance this situation, Locsin used columns extending from the pavement to the cornice over a height of 18 m, flexibly bonded to a horizontal concrete band. On the ground floor, a double-height arcade creates a link to the street and gives the building an urban impact. The thickness of the facade allows the windows to be located one meter back from the columns and the addition of horizontal panels that partially fall back onto the glazing guarantees protection from direct sunlight. The final image is therefore based on a hierarchy of the

Front elevation

elements that make up the street facade. The CAT Building is located in the center of Makati, on Ayala Avenue,

← Central Azucarera de Tarlac Building Makati 1964

not far from the Monterrey Apartments. The floor plan consists of freestanding platforms over a depth of 14 m. A services center, located in the inner corner at the rear of the building, allows for a very flexible distribution of surfaces. The concept adopted for the facade is based on the idea of the previous project and magnifies the verticality with uninterrupted columns over the entire height of the building. Between them, a concrete panel infill conceals the roof’s structural thickness, and the false ceilings are over a height of 2 m. Below the panels are openings with windows, recessed by one meter. To connect the elements, thin vertical uprights extend like a mesh over the entire height and accentuate the verticality of the facade. To mark the slenderness, the columns are vertically divided by a recessed joint, which from a construction point of view allows the assembly of the prefabricated elements, which in this case are the size of a 3.08 m opening per story height. The construction tolerances are

Elevation

thus accommodated by virtue of the recessed joints that Locsin uses as a design motif.

Typical floor plan

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Don Bosco Technical School Makati 1964

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This building is located in Makati, along the busy Chino Roces Avenue and is part of a development plan for the campus of the Don Bosco Technical School, a vocational school founded in 1954. The project consists mainly of classrooms and laboratories accessed via corridors. It appears that the school underwent a significant development ten years later, as the 1964 Locsin plan proposes an overall layout of the plot whose general composition is centered on the chapel, which ultimately he would not build. [48] Only the two laboratory buildings along the street would be built according to this proposal, but it is not certain that Locsin built them because, with the exception of the general plan, the architecture of the facades does not correspond to the 1964 documents. The design principle aims at freeing the upper floor from any support structure. To achieve this, the roof comprises a steel lattice girder which allows it to span 16 m without intermediate support. Column design is the main issue of the facades, and Locsin positioned them according to a grid of 5.89 m centers, rising from the ground floor to the cornice, and thus giving the facade a more institutional character. The 30 cm square posts are rounded in their depth for continuity with the concrete walls and to create ambiguity regarding their load-bearing

48

The campus chapel was finally designed by the architect José María V. Zaragoza in 1977, on the other side of the plot.

status. The lintel and the column are joined in the upper section by a reinforced concrete arch evoking the influence of Philip Johnson.

Situation plan, detail of the elevation and section

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Locsin used this same approach, but with more emphasis, in the office he built when he moved his firm from Ermita, in Manila, to Makati, along the EDSA artery. The Locsin building is characterized by a three-story structure set back from the street, whose main facade is decorated with an embedded colonnade. The project, incorporating his office and Arturo Luz’s art gallery, is spread over the upper floors. Access is through a covered gallery set into the facade, after passing through a garden on the second floor, between the street and the building. There, Locsin introduced gardens in the Japanese style, leading the visitor through an area of vegetation before entering the building. In terms of external appearance, the emphasis is on a series of curved concrete sunscreens that extend beyond the plane of the facade and Locsin’s office

create a marked shadow. Once again, the joint between vertical and horizontal elements is visible to give a visual slenderness and a certain monumentality to a building of relatively modest size.

Perspective

View of the main elevation

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Details of the elevation

Ground floor and second floor plans

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← Detail of the colonnade

The Colonnade in an Institutional Building UP College of Agriculture, Student Union Los Baños 1965

In 1965 the College of Agriculture commissioned Locsin to design the

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Student Union building in Los Baños. Here he returns to the separate colonnade as the main motif of the facade for this facility with rooms for student meetings. It was the first of several projects that Locsin would build on the campus over a period of ten years. The site is located in a corner of the campus’s large central space, Freedom Park, whose particularity is that it is planted with two century-old Samanea saman, or rain trees. This species, which is widespread in Asia despite its South American origin, provides significant shade thanks to its umbrella-like crown. [49] The one located at the northern end of the park, with a diameter of more than 40 m, faces the Student Union and influenced its design. The building’s plan echoes the tree’s curvature; a covered gallery consists of a two-story colonnade. This principle is repeated in a second, smaller building connected by a large terrace overlooking a watercourse. [50] In this way, the natural element, toward which the main faculties are oriented, is the buildings’ founding theme. The context is thus exploited in its symbolism to create a very strong symbiosis between architecture and nature, which Locsin will also introduce into the design of the facade elements. The transition between the outside and the inside is made by means of a colonnade that creates a portico for access to the building. While the plan is simply organized to accommodate meeting rooms and offices, Locsin pays particular attention to the design of the columns, whose horizontal H-shaped profile varies in height. The column is thus far broader at the base, becoming thinner toward its connection to the awning. As in the Don Bosco School, organic continuity is the link, with the building appearing to emerge from the ground and develop from

The colonnade

the foundations to the roof with no break between the vertical and horizontal elements. This principle could already be observed in large public buildings, particularly those of the CCP.

Front elevation 49

Contrary to what its name might suggest, this tree does not protect against rainfall because when it rains, the leaves fold up to allow water to reach the ground.

50

This building was not constructed.

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Site plan

Details of the columns

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floor plan

Elevations

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← Entrance facade

Poetic Rationality: Oscillations Sheraton Philippines Hotel Manila 1966

The Sheraton Hotel is built on a rectangular site facing Roxas

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Boulevard, which runs along Manila Bay for almost 30 km from Cavite to Malate. [51] This boulevard, planned by Daniel Burnham in 1905, was intended as a large planted promenade for enjoying the bay and the spectacular sunsets. The shape of the building and its organization are strongly conditioned by this location, which almost naturally induces the orientation of certain spaces, such as the main entrance with its double-height hall, the linear distribution of rooms on the floors, and the luxurious suites positioned at each level at the head of the building. The choice of materials and the dimensioning of the spaces led Caryn Paredes-Santillan to say that “the Sheraton-Philippines Hotel […] was built in an era where generously proportioned guest rooms and public spaces in the grand manner were still affordable.” [52] It was indeed the beginning of the era of the Marcoses, who came to power in 1966 and gave a strong impetus to construction and to the promotion of national

Interior view of a room

culture, notably by development of the Bay of Manila. In cross section, functions are spread over twelve floors, with the first two floors containing the amenities necessary for a hotel, such as reception, restaurants, and shops. The rooms are then spread over nine floors and are crowned by an attic that houses a conference center with a series of function rooms, the largest of which, with an area of more than 500 m2, opens majestically onto the landscape of the Bay of Manila. The very rational layout of the floors, with a central distribution corridor in the center, makes it possible to position on either side a maximum number of rooms, around 270, and thus make the most of the limited area of land available. To make the most of the view, all of them have balconies with partitions that fold toward the ocean to avoid the rooms being too directly connected to the neighborhood. The DCCD Engineering Corporation of Alfredo Juinio was in charge of the structure and proposed floor slabs supported by a reinforced concrete column grid of 8.5 m by 6 m, a size which accommodates two rooms. The ground floor is treated in a completely different way, with the addition of a supplementary structural grid on each side in order to meet the requirements for common spaces. Here the facade is aligned with the structure and the stone used for the exterior cladding is in direct contrast to the upper floors. The final image obtained is that of a building based on a classical crowncolumn-base composition using contemporary reinforced concrete techniques, and inscribes the hotel with a style that Locsin nevertheless questioned through the choice of interior and exterior materials. Stone is also used inside, especially in the double-height lobby, which is the most distinctive space in the hotel. Walls and columns are clad in stone to create an atmosphere based on the sensuality of the textures and their connection to the surroundings. The visible concrete, mainly that which forms the structure of the staircase, has a texture similar to dry stone due to high-pressure washing. Here Locsin worked on the relationship between traditional and contemporary materials and achieved unity through the play of textures capable of catching light in a similar way. The integrated furniture, particularly the benches,

51

This boulevard was originally called Cavite Boulevard.

were designed with a concrete base that seems to project out of the

52

Paredes-Santillan 2007, Appendix, 77.

ground. The rear facade reveals an element that demonstrates Locsin’s

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View of the entrance hall →

contextual flexibility when designing his buildings. At the front, the materiality of the hotel’s main entrance suggests harmony with the Bay of Manila—and consequently with the rest of the archipelago—through the use of traditional stone. However, at the rear, the lower floors, which house commercial areas on the ground floor and a large ballroom on the first floor, are treated with a reinforced concrete colonnade, developing over three floors with fine columns that are joined at the top by rounded lintels at the junction point, once again recalling the influence of Philip Johnson’s thinking. In this project, Locsin oscillated between shades of classicism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s organicity.

Plans

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Organic Thinking: Frank Lloyd Wright In 1953 Frank Lloyd Wright published The Future of Architecture; in 1957

“Gradually proceeding from generals to particulars

he published Testament, in which he theorizes the new architecture,

‘plasticity,’ now ‘continuity,’ as a large means in

which he calls organic. This he defines by explaining values capable of

architecture began to grip and work its own will.”

renewing the links between man and his environment. He argues that

Frank Lloyd Wright [53]

the Beaux-Arts influence embodied by (among others) Daniel Burnham and the Chicago exhibition has, through its use of standardized imported themes, contributed to delaying the emergence of a new architecture. [54] Wright felt it was necessary to return to an architecture in which structural unity is rediscovered and the nature of the materials respected, [55] because society is in perpetual movement and therefore subject to the inexorable Law of Change. [56] For Wright, form must flow from function, and plasticity is a tool to arrive at an architecture that is unified, a quality absent from architecture in which the elements are simply juxtaposed. Locsin was influenced by the theories of the American master, whom he venerated (in the words of his son) as a god. In 1961 he organized the first exhibition in the Philippines devoted to Wright’s work. In addition to the question of materiality already mentioned, Locsin’s use of aesthetic continuity and of elements such as cantilevers certainly owe their origin to the influence of Wright—and by extension, of Eero Saarinen—in the projects that would be built at the end of the 1960s. The First Hotel and the Appearance of the Exploded Plan On his return from the United States, the first order for a hotel offered Locsin the opportunity to work on a level site characterized by lush

← Davao Insular Hotel Davao City 1958

vegetation and a view of Davao Bay. The formal intentions of the Insular Hotel are the consequence of hierarchical choices of construction elements and materiality. The formal character lies mainly in the enhancement of the structure and its aesthetic treatment with a traditional construction system in its primary, secondary, and tertiary assembly mode and beams extending from the inside to the outside without discontinuity. These simple and economical constructions, closely linked to the period and its techniques, were also exploited at the level of the wider image through the use of local materials such as the rough-cut stone that wraps the columns. The intention here was clearly to propose a construction reminiscent of lightweight pavilion architecture, making a major contribution to the link between the building and the site. The plan shows Locsin’s interest in organic design, with the functions fragmented into several buildings and where unity Exterior view

is sought through the structure of exterior covered passageways. The climate of the Philippines is perfectly suited to an approach that breaks down the boundaries between exterior and interior. The traditional Japanese architecture that he first discovered in 1956 also offered him models for achieving this fusion of architecture and landscape. While Locsin’s main building uses covered galleries integrated into the floor plan, those of the rooms are built on a system of embankments, which give the impression that they emerge from the ground. Locsin

53

Wright 1953, 191, emphasis in the original.

began to explore the use of local culture in his architecture. “Some

54

Wright 1953, 62.

say I was among the first to use traditional elements with modern

55

Wright 1957, 17–18.

architecture. When I did the Davao Insular Hotel in 1958, we used capiz

56

Wright 1957, 18–19.

instead of plastic for the luminous ceiling of the dining room.” [57]

57

Villegas 1989, 34.

120

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Sections

View of the galleries

Floor plan of the accommodation building

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

121

← Structure

Organic Aspirations in Urban Centers St. Andrew the Apostle Parish Church Makati 1967

Subsequently, Locsin designed and built three major churches in the

→

space of three years: Saint Andrew’s Church, Magallanes Village Church, and the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, all of which are located in an urban environment and demonstrate his adherence to certain principles of organic architecture. In all three cases, the sacred space is freed from any support, requiring the search for structural solutions that become the central architectural theme, reinforced each time by a precise design of the ceiling under which the faithful gather. The way in which the roof touches the ground is an issue that Locsin resolves in different ways, each time taking care to create continuity between the architecture and the setting, so much so that the churches seem to emerge from the ground in a symbiotic way. To achieve this continuity, raw reinforced concrete was the most suitable material,

Interior view

giving the churches their mineral character. Located at a busy crossroads, at the northern corner of Makati’s Manila South Cemetery, Saint Andrew’s Church demonstrates Locsin’s great formal mastery and his virtuoso use of raw reinforced concrete. The ensemble of church and parish premises, located in an independent building, clearly asserts a break in language in an urban landscape dominated by a succession of adjoining houses. The plan is divided into two areas where the faithful gather, according to an axis of symmetry on which the baptistry and the altar are positioned, above which a statue of Christ hangs. This axis is materialized by two large beams that cross each other at the top to form an X-shaped

Detail of the doors

cross known as a saltire or the cross of Saint Andrew, which Locsin uses allegorically in this church as a structural support for the whole building. [58] The architect not only appropriates a religious symbol to make it an architectural theme, but also gives it a real role of solidity, technical characteristics appropriate for the cross of Saint Andrew. [59] The doubling of the beams allows the creation of a long skylight composed of stained glass windows, which stop just before touching the floor to allow access to the sacristy on one side and to the baptismal font on the other. Arising from either side of these massive supports is the roof, materialized in the form of two concrete sails that seem to float above the ground. The space between the ground and the bottom of the sails creates an opening of variable height closed by glass walls interrupted by concrete arches which are the access doors to the church. There is no single entrance but rather different places through access points to reach the sacred space. As shown by the floor plan, the faithful gather on either side of the altar, which is not strictly speaking in the center of the church, nor at its end. [60] Here Locsin adopted an intermediate position which allowed him to create a spatial link between the crossing of the beams 17 m above and the altar, which projects from the floor by 40 cm, while

58

The saltire is the symbol of Saint Andrew. At his request, Saint Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped beam, because he refused to be crucified on a cross identical to that of Jesus Christ.

59

The cross of Saint Andrew is one of the standard elements used in statics for the bracing of buildings.

60

I use here the plan published in Japan Architect in 1970 because the archives have not been able to find the original. Only a reflected ceiling plan was discovered. See The Japan Architect, no. 174, special issue, “Expo ’70” (May/June 1970).

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

the baptismal fonts are hollowed out of the floor. One section integrates the land as part of the project, creating a topography that is an integral part of the church on which the roof appears to float. The boundaries between inside and outside are difficult to perceive. The glass walls are open during the ceremonies, allowing for ventilation, which is aided by an opening at the top of the roof.

123

Exterior view

124

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

125

On the inside, visible ribs extend from the intersection of the beams of the cross and radiate to the periphery of the roof, where they are connected to a concrete frame. The space recalls the interior of an organism whose ribs form the skeleton protecting the internal organs, and the reinforced concrete material is deliberately left rough to accentuate the dramatic effect of light on the shells. “That’s an influence of Saarinen’s work. […] It is organic and graceful, yet brutal—textured, reminding some people Villegas 1989, 36.

of Gaudi.” [61]

61

Section

Floor plan

Section

126

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Quezon City 1970

Three years later Locsin built another church, located in Quezon

→

City, in which he continued to explore the organic theme, but where development became the central focus. Located in a residential and commercial neighborhood, Locsin again designed a building that is a formal break from its immediate environment. The floor level of this church is raised by about 2.5 m above street level; it is accessed by a system of ramps and stairs that allow passage beneath the additional functions such as the sacristy and the parish halls. From the outside, the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary looks like a gigantic canopy composed of reinforced concrete ribs that rise in a rotating movement. The extension of the ribs at the point of contact is materialized by gigantic concrete veils with radial recesses that allow

View of the roof

light to penetrate the interior at the lower level of the church, while at the upper level they rise to create a high point that supports the cross. Access to the interior is through a single central entrance that opens onto a space that rises as one proceeds, revealing the ceiling structured by visible ribs. Starting from piers located along the periphery, they create a large canopy resembling a parasol whose sides are left open to create cross ventilation. Although the two churches seem very far apart in their design principles, the plan of the roof of the church in Quezon shows that the rotation effected by the ribs follows the geometrical pattern of a logarithmic spiral. Now, this mathematical progression is one that can be found in nature,

View of the entrance

particularly in the nautilus-type shells that abound in the Philippines and whose organic development is based on the golden ratio. This church is part of a series of internationally known spiral buildings, the most famous of which are probably Bruce Goff’s Bavinger House (1955), built in Oklahoma, and Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium (1964), in Tokyo. [62] Finally in the United States, Frank Lloyd

62

The issue of Global Architecture (GA) devoted to Bruce Goff was published in 1975 and is part of the Locsin office library. Although published after the Quezon church project, it is possible that Locsin was interested in the organic theory of the American architect and had knowledge of this project. See Futagawa 1975.

Wright produced various buildings based on the logarithmic spiral, the most famous being New York’s Guggenheim Museum (1959), although he had already begun this experiment in the Morris Gift Shop (1948), in San Francisco.

Aerial roof view

Floor plan

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

127

Elevations

128

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Roof framing plan

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE LEARNING PERIOD

129

Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish church in Magallanes Village is located in an urban area with busy roadways, notably the Alabang

← Magallanes Village Church Makati 1970

Road that connects Manila to the southern part of Luzon. The project is divided into volumes whose shape adapts to the limits of the site in order to create sufficient space to locate a 32 m2 area to house the church. The interior space of the nave has a ceiling with a constant height of 4 m, intended to be “intimate and low,” [63] probably to contrast with the extremely noisy and congested urban environment. The triangular shape of the plot defines the layout of the buildings according to their function and importance. Thus there are two annex buildings, one housing the sacristy and confessionals, while the other houses the parish halls and the priest’s dwelling; they are connected to

Sections

the church by a covered passage. [64] Locsin thus manages to individualize the sacred space and make it immediately identifiable by its architecture, characterized by peripheral columns supporting a 1.5 m deep roof hiding the beams of the structure necessary to span 28 m. The column’s flared shape, wider at the bottom than the top, is reminiscent of the De La Salle Chapel on the Bacolod campus. However, at Makati, the colonnade does not generate a raised gallery; instead it is closed by walls intersecting at a 45-degree angle, which allow the positioning of recessed French windows, giving depth to the facade and solar protection. The plan of the church is organized according to the 45-degree enclosing walls and generates an interesting system of recessed corners.

View of the buttresses

In these are located the main and secondary entrances on the south side. At the north side corners a “crying room” as well as the altar and the funeral chapel are located. The main entrance is naturally oriented toward the village and reinforces the importance of the altar, which is positioned on this diagonal axis, as well as the baptismal font, which welcomes the faithful on their arrival. As with Saint Andrew’s, the altar’s position is such that the pews are arranged on three of its sides. The work developed during the 1960s shows that Locsin integrated various influences gleaned from the international architectural milieu, which he discovered through his travels and the many publications of the Floor plan

time. The outstanding figures of Wright and Johnson, as well as Rudolph and Saarinen, provided him with a breeding ground for themes that he sought to use and adapt to local contexts. While this work was carried out in the development of public projects, he proceeded in the same way, and in parallel, in the domestic architecture of villas, for which he succeeded in proposing a new language.

130

63

Plaquette 2005.

64

Only the church exists today. It was transformed after a major fire in 2004, notably by adding a raised roof and skylights.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Development of a Language The Villas of the First Period (1958–66): Character, Design, and Materials at the Service of the Domestic Living Space

“Organic architecture is a natural architecture.

Locsin’s collection of private house designs is the largest in terms of

[…] Now, what would a natural architecture be?

number, with more than 106 listed objects. Of these at least 60 have

Indigenous, wouldn’t it? It wouldn’t be some

been built, and would undergo a series of modifications in response

eclecticism or other—something you picked up

both to the needs of a wealthy clientele and also to the building sites.

somewhere by way of taste and applied to the

In the beginning, the bungalow style seems to impose itself as the

circumstances. You would go into the nature-study

template for this work, as it was already widely disseminated by

of the circumstances and come out with this thing

American colonization. Its constructive simplicity, consisting of a stand-

from within, wouldn’t you?”

alone frame with facade infill, guaranteed very economical housing

 [1]

that perfectly matched the urgent need for reconstruction in the 1950s.

Frank Lloyd Wright

However, this model does not allow for the design of more generous living spaces that customers would demand when they settled in the new gated “villages.” In order to become a place of entertaining, a house requires rooms that are generous enough to accommodate large gatherings. To achieve this, Locsin adapted his designs by proposing different evolutions that can be broken down into several stages. First, the type of roof would become independent of the supporting structure. Thus, the small beams of the bungalow could be replaced by triangular trusses, always made of wood, which would offer a flat surface on the underside that can accommodate a false ceiling, while on the upper part, the slope guarantees water drainage. The volume beneath the roof, now independent of it, could be more freely designed within the interior space, without structural constraints. The second striking evolution, which occurred almost simultaneously in the villas Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho (1958) and Jaime Zóbel de Ayala (1958), can be seen in the plan layout. While in the bungalow, the partition between the day area of the living room and dining room on one side and the bedrooms on the other is a basic principle of this model, Locsin was very quickly confronted with typological limits when it comes to positioning servants’ quarters. Moreover, the relative proximity of the buildings in the gated villages directed his thinking toward a search for a certain intimacy. Here the question of the entry sequence and the relationship of the rooms would reorient the plan toward a tripartite typological layout. To achieve this, Locsin almost systematically introduced the patio as a spatial device capable of arranging the different parts of the dwelling. The relationship with the street is moderated by means of very carefully planned sequences, capable of making the transition between public and private. In the center of the house, these external areas allow the different parts to be arranged while guaranteeing their functional independence. The tripartite plan thus imposed itself as a model capable of responding to the new demands of domestic architecture. Its layout became very complex to accommodate both large gatherings and family life. One of the most successful examples is the Villa Locsin, which as early as 1962 lays the typological foundations on which the rest of his production would be based. The third evolution was driven by the use of the patio, which made it possible to respond to the organization of living space and to introduce light and air into the center of the house. It took on a status of its own, and the care Locsin gave its design shows to what extent it had become a spatial issue. While its purely functional character is important, the introduction of nature into the interior of the house is equally so. Indeed, 1

by this artifice, Locsin reintroduced a recurring theme in Japanese

Wright 1953, 25.

DEVELOPMENT OF A LANGUAGE

135

architecture in which the harmonious relationship between inside and outside is predominant. By placing patios in different areas of the floor plan and materializing them by means of natural elements such as plants and pools, the interior space merges organically with its surroundings. Finally, to strengthen this relationship, Locsin proposed a fourth evolution, again at the level of materiality. The austerity induced by the light, often white infill panels, corresponding to the constructive simplicity of the bungalow, is abandoned and replaced by a more complex combination of indigenous materials. The use of traditional stone and wood, but also more contemporary materials such as exposed aggregate concrete and painted brick, brings a complexity of textures associated with the place. The decorative use of local materials, devoid of the constructive role they had in vernacular architecture, increases the desire to reinforce spatial effects aimed at increased continuity between interior and exterior. These four major evolutions served as the basis for the development of a new Philippine domestic model inspired by the bahay kubo, the bahay na bato, and the bungalow, that succeeds in reformulating the principles. By taking inspiration from their qualities, such as the response to the climate or the use of local materials, and adding new elements, such as the patio, to create spatial sequences adapted to the new needs of the period, Locsin demonstrates his ability to integrate old models, even those from the colonial period, and to reformulate them to bring a new solution to the Philippine domestic space. Entrance patio of the Villa Locsin

136

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Place in Locsin’s Work, and the Historical Models The considerable number of houses is directly linked to the urban development of Makati, which led to an increase in housing demand for a mostly well-to-do population. This occupied the architect throughout his career with fruitful periods, such as the years 1958 to 1968, during which more than forty projects were planned. In order to understand this production, it is necessary to go back to the historical models that developed before Independence. The Vernacular Model and the Bahay Kubo When the inhabitants decided to establish themselves in one place to cultivate certain lands, they needed dwellings adapted to their settled lifestyle. [2] For Rodrigo Perez III, although they may vary from one region to another, “Cordillera, Mindanao and Sulu houses are basically one-room dwellings covered by steep roofs and raised on stilts. They are related to the bahay kubo, which in its simplicity is regarded as a prototype.” [3] For Fernando Zialcita and Martin Tinio, the Philippine model, despite its apparent fragility, actually comes from a long lineage that has its roots three centuries before Christ, particularly in Vietnam, and they believe that, while there are many examples of similarities in terms of cuisine or language, “the most visible symbol is surely the ubiquitous house on stilts.” [4] This statement is corroborated by Winand Klassen, for whom the house on stilts may have been imported from abroad because it is a widespread model in Asia. Bahay kubo

The model, called bahay kubo [5] or nipa hut, [6] spread throughout the archipelago because it provides solutions to various constraints, such as the need to ventilate the house as much as possible while protecting it from vermin attacks, and to adapt to very different terrain, such as rugged slopes or regularly flooded plains. [7] The interior is often characterized by a single room crowned by a pyramid-shaped roof. The predominant material is braided leaves that allow ventilation both under the floor and through the walls. Its flexible construction, consisting of a structure of bamboo posts and beams, makes it fairly resistant to the earthquakes that regularly strike the archipelago. The downside is that the construction materials expose the dwelling to rapid wear and tear and damage by fire, giving the bahay kubo a short lifespan.

2

See in this regard Perez 1991, 10.

3

Perez 1991, 25.

4

Zialcita and Tinio 1980, 11.

5

Lico explains the common misinterpretation of the word kubo, often translated as “cube,” when literally it means “mountain house” or “hut” in Tagalog. See Lico 2008, 46.

6

Literally “palm hut.”

7

Zialcita and Tinio 1980, 16.

DEVELOPMENT OF A LANGUAGE

137

The Spanish Period and the Appearance of the Bahay na Bato The domestic environment under Spanish colonization adapted to meet the needs of a more affluent clientele and began when Manila, with its strategic position directly overlooking the bay at the mouth of the Pasig River, was chosen as the capital of the Philippines. The urban development starts with the old fort, abandoned in 1571 by the former ruler of the Manila kingdom Rajah Sulayman, which the Spaniards transformed into a fortified city known as Intramuros. The construction of ramparts surrounded by a moat to protect the interior of the city began at the end of the 16th century, structured around a central square from which the streets are positioned according to an orthogonal grid. The new urban structure is based on a very strong hierarchy, with principal buildings centralized on the public square dominating the

Plan of Intramuros in 1851

rest of the city. This leads to several changes that gradually led to the abandonment of the bahay kubo and the emergence of a new model called bahay na bato. [8] The first change, resulting from the constitution of Intramuros, is a very high building density due to the contiguity of institutional and residential buildings, which resulted in a more rapid spread of fires, such as that of 1583, which left the city totally destroyed. [9] Governor Santiago de Vera then ordered the replacement of highly flammable materials, such as thatch and bamboo, by terracotta for the roofs and stone for the walls. Thus, in 1609, houses in Intramuros were built in noncombustible materials [10] and began to compete in order to show the Bahay na bato

wealth of their owners. Earthquakes also questioned the resistance of the bahay na bato; in spite of the modesty of its construction, the bahay kubo is well suited to resist seismic shocks. When Manila was once again completely destroyed in 1645, a reexamination of each building according to its ability to withstand earthquakes took place; one outcome was a change to the morphology of houses, making them more squat: “The town house shrunk in height to only two stories and followed the spread of the flatland.” [11] The structure of the bahay na bato consists of a stone-built ground story containing utility and storage rooms. Above this is built a wooden story that comprises living quarters and reception rooms, accessible by a central staircase. Load-bearing columns transfer the load from the roof to the ground in a way that is totally independent of the masonry. The bahay na bato is thus the fruit of a logic of survival that led to the modification of an old model to serve a new society developing in the expanding urban centers of Manila and Cebu. For Zialcita, “we cannot say that, since the bahay na bato’s residents were originally Spaniards, therefore the house must be alien to us.” This new model was instead the result of a long process of adaptation to local conditions, becoming an integral part of Philippine culture.

138

8

Literally “house of stone.”

9

Zialcita and Tinio 1980, 25.

10

Bankoff 2012, 172.

11

Zialcita and Tinio 1980, 26 and 28.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The American Period and the Importation of the Tsalet Style In taking over the Philippines, the Americans focused mainly on the urban development of major cities by building public facilities capable of underpinning political power and education. From a health perspective, the Americans also brought improvements to the sewerage system. In terms of housing, they put in place a series of measures to combat unhealthy conditions and associated risks, particularly epidemics and fires, while trying to meet the housing needs of a low-income population. The introduction of the Tsalet (literally chalet), whose size falls between the simplicity of the bahay kubo and the luxury of the bahay na bato, provided housing generally consisting of two bedrooms with bathrooms and common areas extending onto an outside porch. Americans saw this type of dwelling as a way to distance themselves from their Spanish predecessors. It influenced the construction of residential housing until the beginning of World War II and beyond. From the 1910s onward, the wooden structure was replaced by reinforced concrete, while metal or mineral elements were used for the roofs. Originally composed of a single story slightly raised from the ground to ensure ventilation, the house evolved with the construction of a second story, responding to the increase in the price of land by a reduction in built area. [12] The Postwar Period and the Appearance of the Bungalow After the massive destruction of World War II, planning agencies, including the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation and the National Housing Authority, were created. These agencies were Perspective, plan, sections and elevations of a Tsalet

responsible for the mass construction of housing capable of meeting very low prices while guaranteeing sufficient space for a family. [13] A new style of housing called the bungalow, literally Bengali house, [14] first discovered by the British in their Indian colony, was to become widespread in the archipelago. The term evolved to designate more generally an economic one-story dwelling, traditionally built in wood, characterized by a dominant porch on the facade. Thus in the Philippines, “The typical bungalow consists of a low, one-story, spacious building, internally divided into separate living, dining, and bedrooms, the latter with attached bathrooms. A veranda, forming an integral part of the structure or, alternatively, attached to the outside walls, surrounds part or all of the building.” [15] The American influence also spread through the circulation of magazines and books, such as McCall’s magazine, which in the 1950s took an interest in the promotion of homes of lower-than-average cost. [16] This publication, which can be found in Locsin’s office library and aims to demonstrate that “small houses can be architecture,” showed a series of variations on the theme of the economic house and may have had an influence on the young Locsin when he began his first private

12

Perez et al. 1994, 67.

13

For Paulo Alcazaren, who analyzes the planning conditions for makeshift housing, these agencies did not in fact achieve their objectives, but served above all to give the government a good image. See idem, “A New Society: Ministering Human Settlements,” in Alcazaren et al. 2001, 69–129.

14

Lico 2008, 389.

15

Lico 2008, 389.

16

“All the houses are in the lower and middle price bracket.” See Gillies 1951, foreword.

DEVELOPMENT OF A LANGUAGE

commissions.

139

Makati and the Development of Villages The urban context in which Locsin began his career was marked by a paradigm shift in the perception of Manila which sees the emergence of Makati, the new economic center located inland, on the former site of Nielson Airport, and no longer on the bay. A new, wealthy population settled nearby, increasing the demand for individual houses and encouraging the development of gated communities. In 1949 the Ayala family, owners of most of the land around the new economic and commercial center, symbolized by the Ayala Triangle, launches the development of Forbes Park. [17] This was the first residential village; its first buyer was John L. Manning, president of the Ford Motor Company. [18] In order to increase the attractiveness of the land, [19] the Golf Club and the Manila Polo Club moved there. The price of land per square meter was

Aerial view of Urdaneta Village in Makati

6 pesos, [20] while on the bay it was ten times more expensive. After the economic success of Forbes Park, other villages were built, including San Lorenzo Village (1952), Bel-Air Village (1954), Urdaneta Village (1957), San Miguel Village, and Dasmariñas Village (both 1962). A second wave

12

of development followed with the establishment of villages for the

29

15 28 25 26

Avenue (EDSA) bypass road, which connects Manila Bay to Quezon City.

19

11

4 10

32

27

1

The villages are often characterized by streets that serve plots

21 2

16

among others, this time located along the Epifanio de los Santos

33

3

13

middle classes: Greenhills, White Plains, Blue Ridge, and Wack-Wack,

 [21]

31

20

18 9

6

22 23

14

30

8 7

17

5

24

ranging from 600 m2 to 3,000 m2 and include facilities such as shopping centers, religious buildings, and schools within their boundaries.

The Methodological Classification of Residences

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

The quantity of private residences requires the use of a classification which makes the reading of the projects more operational while allowing the identification of typo-morphological groups of projects. We have already mentioned the presence of the bungalow, which refers to a relatively well-defined principle and in which category we can include almost all the buildings designed between 1956 and 1961. This type then evolved into two other categories: large one-story residences and multistory residences. Within these categories, different ways of dealing with the interior layout emerged, from which three main

Bangkal Bel-Air Carmona Cembo Comembo Dasmariñas East Rembo West Rembo Forbes Park Guadalupe Nuevo Guadalupe Viejo Kasilawan La Paz Magallanes Olympia Palanan Pembo

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Pinagkaisahan Pio del Pilar Pitogo Poblacion Post Proper Northside Post Proper Southside Rizal San Antonio San Isidro San Lorenzo Santa Cruz Singkamas South Cembo Tejeros Urdanta Valenzuela

Plan of Manila and zoom on Makati

families of floor plan result: the compact plan, the tripartite plan, and the articulated plan. One can therefore consider that the location of the entrance defines the classification of a house as multistory or not. It should also be noted that the archive plans show precise designations

17

For a historical overview of Makati, from its foundation to its spectacular development in the 1970s see Lachica 1984; Villamayor 1974; Duldulao 1996; and “Makati ’67,” The Philippines Herald Magazine, April 14, 1967.

18

Lachica 1984, 153.

19

The location of Makati outside of Manila’s boundaries made buyers hesitant, particularly because of the threat posed at the time by the Huk peasant rebellion, which in the postwar period was north of the capital. See Alcazaren et al. 2001, 61.

20

The figures are taken from Lachica 1984, 153.

21

Villamayor notes that there was no vision for social housing at the time, either at the level of developers or at the political level. See Villamayor 1974, 14.

22

“Residential bungalow” in the archived plans.

in some of these categories, as in the case of the bungalow [22] and the one-story or two-story residence.

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Residential Bungalow Format: Starting Point of a Domestic Evolution At the beginning of his residential projects, Locsin relied on the bungalow model, adapting it to local conditions, particularly in terms of climate and design. This gradually led him to question the relevance of this choice and to develop a new residential model, as this type of dwelling was not designed to accommodate new functions, such as housing domestic help in independent quarters directly linked to the kitchen or the garage, nor is it adapted to the larger surface areas required by a clientele wishing to entertain. Locsin developed the bungalow format into houses with more articulated plans, whose entrance sequences and interior-exterior relationship define the typology, based in particular on certain principles of Japanese architecture. The exterior materials also underwent major changes, moving from the lightweight panels of the bungalow style to the use of local materials such as stone and local wood in the interior spaces. The First Projects: Development of the Bungalow Model and the Appearance of the Patio Rest House Chongbian Cebu 1956

The first private dwelling conserved in the archives is the Rest House

→

dated July 3, 1956, for Mr. and Mrs. Chongbian, in Cebu. Although the plans do not indicate a bungalow, its layout and cross section refer to this format, as it has only two rooms and consists of a lightweight construction of wooden panels on a reinforced concrete foundation. This project’s interest is the integration of the servants’ quarters, which led Locsin to propose a plan based on a tripartite division of the bungalow, with a living room surrounded on one side by two bedrooms with bathroom facilities and, on the other, the servants’ quarters linked to the kitchen.

Plans

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141

This tripartite typology solves the question of the hierarchy of functions and of privacy. At the same time it provides a solution to the need for ventilation of the rooms due to the hot and humid climate. The living room can be completely open, while the bedrooms are raised to allow air circulation under the floor. The treatment of the facades, made of different materials such as wood, river stone, and glass blinds, shows that Locsin was already trying to modify the model. This can be seen by his addition of cable-suspended sunscreens at the windows, as found in some of the houses of Marcel Breuer (1902–1981). In the American examples, the use of solar shading is justified by the lack of eaves in flat-roofed suburban architecture, whereas for Locsin it was inconceivable not to build sloping roofs. “Speaking of home, I had not done a flat-roof home, simply because I feel it is impractical. […] On the other hand, you see that most of the homes that I design have very big roofs. They’re steep, really for the purpose of the […] all the winds, when strong winds come in the, you know, they […] just lie down quickly and avoid leaks and so forth.” [23] The roof of the bungalow does not completely meet these constraints, which led the architect to add elements such as the sunscreen, highlighting one of the model’s weaknesses.

23

Loscin 1985, 8.

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Residential Bungalow Yvanovich Makati 1957

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Locsin continued his exploration of the typology with the Yvanovich Bungalow of 1957. Here he introduced a substantial exterior entrance space obtained by enlarging the porch so as to integrate the open carport and create a threshold with the street. The porch thus provides a transition between public and private, accentuated in this case by a bridge over a water feature. This method of reception using an inner courtyard favors cross ventilation, bringing cool air to the center of the house. It also serves as a physical separation between the private quarters of the inhabitants and those of the domestic staff, which are directly linked to the garage and the kitchen.

Floor plan, sections and elevations

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In the 1958 Residential Bungalow Fernando, an outdoor space called a lanai is positioned opposite the entrance and organizes the functions

← Residential Bungalow Fernando Quezon 1958

of the house on either side. [24] This layout again recalls the configuration of Breuer’s binuclear designs, with the bedrooms on one side and the living room on the other. The entrance patio is arranged such that the visual boundaries of the house are blurred by means of a pool crossed by a bridge leading to the front door and extending below the corridor leading to the bedrooms. As in the Monterrey Apartments, the canopy also crosses the corridor and ends at the patio without discontinuity, integrating the house into its natural environment. The entrance hall, whose visual limits are blurred and which alludes to Japanese architecture, gives the Fernando bungalow, despite its modest dimensions, an important place in this corpus. It already possesses dominant principles, whether in the entrance sequence or the materials of the facades, that are precisely described in the plans, and which Locsin would continue to develop in subsequent projects. Entrance door View of the main elevation

24

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A lanai is a large terrace that is utilized as an outdoor room.

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Plans and sections

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145

The Powell bungalow is a good example of a tripartite layout, with a

← Residential Bungalow Powell San Lorenzo Village, Makati 1958

central interior patio that welcomes visitors directly after the entrance. Its location brings light and ventilation into the center of the dwelling, both in the living room and in the corridor that leads to the bedrooms. An irregular gable roof creates a spatial hierarchy; the dominant spaces have the greatest height, while the service and bedroom areas have less, making this project a very good example of a simple house with an articulated plan.

Elevations

Roof and floor plans

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Residential Bungalow J. Reyes Bel-Air Village, Makati 1958

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The J. Reyes bungalow is structured in two parts, this time with the servants’ quarters next to the main room, and directly linked to the carport. The latter, clearly open and forming part of the entrance as a spacious reception area, is created by extending the roof. Locsin places a long stone wall from the living room to the garden via the terrace, which, while separating the domestic staff quarters, also reinforces the link with the outside.

Floor plan, sections and elevations

Residential Bungalow Aldeguer Cubao Dilliman, Quezon 1958

In the 1958 Aldeguer bungalow, Locsin seemed to explore, for the first

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time, the concept of an articulated plan radiating from a central point, He established separate areas of household activity with a design comprising four wings that emanate from the entrance hall. The wing giving on to the street accommodates the services, another contains the garage and the servants’ quarters. The bedrooms giving on to the garden are located in the third wing, while the dominant spaces of the living room and dining room complete the system with an extended covered terrace that clearly orients them toward the street.

Plans

Elevations and sections

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The Influence of Japanese Architecture: Appearance of the Pitched Roof Although similar in their organization, the following two projects belong to the family of houses whose plan emphasizes the individuality of the bedrooms and reception areas in two distinct independent volumes connected by a corridor articulated at an oblique angle. This choice results from the constraints of the building parcels, which prevented Locsin from applying the previous compositional principles. The final image is reminiscent of two lodges that seem barely connected. In the Lacson bungalow, this impression is further reinforced by its modest

← Residential Bungalow Jaime Lacson Bel Air Village, Makati 1958

dimensions, which do not allow for a reception courtyard to create a transition zone. The location in Bel-Air Village is also an indication that the residents’ social level, although comfortable, is not as high as that of residents in, for example, Dasmariñas Village or Forbes Park.

Roof and floor plans

The F. Neri bungalow was the first project Locsin obtained in the very exclusive Forbes Park. It is similar to the Lacson residence, with its two

← Residential Bungalow Felino Neri Forbes Park, Makati 1958

separate blocks whose transitions between exterior and interior are resolved by means of covered patios and porches.

Floor plan

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Sections

The Japanese influence is again visible in the entrance and the living area, organized by means of patios in which the stone and rock arrangements recall Japanese Zen gardens. This influence is also seen in the interior partitions, which are enclosed by means of shoji, sliding wooden doors of paper sheets in lattice frame; these are also used to manage the relationship of the reception rooms with the covered terrace. The external porch structures are raised above the garden by means of stone blocks; the general framework is organized on a Tokyo tatami module measuring 88 by 176 cm. Locsin introduced the greatest change to the bungalow design with the roof, treating it as a pitched volume over the interior space. Whereas previously the structure of the roof was uniformly visible from the inside, in this residence a clear hierarchy is made between the major and secondary spaces by means of a false ceiling that closes off the underside of the roof in the secondary bedroom and service spaces, while leaving the beams exposed and the entire volume of the roof available to the living room and dining room spaces. The alternation of different heights between spaces to characterize each room shows the architectural influence of Japan; it marks a radical change in Locsin’s conception of domestic space. [25]

25

See in this regard Itoh 1969, which is present in the library at the Locsin office.

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1959–62: The Transition Period and the Disappearance of the Bungalow Format In some of the later bungalows, Locsin did not necessarily introduce new innovations but rather applied variations, as in the case of the

← Residential Bungalow Rene Unson Bel-Air, Makati 1961

Rene Unson and the Arturo B. Rotor bungalows, which in turn led to the first large residential projects for Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Jaime Zóbel de Ayala. At this period one can discern a need for freedom from colonial influence by asserting a Philippine style, but this shift required time, and above all, projects capable of being designed according to these new principles.

Sections

Floor plan

Floor plan

← Residential Bungalow Arturo B. Rotor Bel-Air, Makati 1960

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Residential Bungalow Sergio Montinola Forbes Park, Makati 1959

The conditions of location, program, and financial means necessary for

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the variation of a type appeared again when Locsin received the order for the Sergio Montinola bungalow. The plot in Forbes Park is wider than it is deep, thereby requiring a long roadside frontage and highlighting the need to resolve the relationship between private and public. Locsin used a linear patio to bring light into the living and service spaces, and enclosed it with a wall on the street side. Although the plan is based on the tripartite configuration, the length of the design does not give a clear indication of the different areas of the house, these being aligned with the street and extending randomly into the garden. The Montinola bungalow is thus a hybrid between the tripartite and the articulated type; it allowed Locsin to respond both to its functional demands and to his desire to interlink interior and exterior spaces. This project foreshadowed the houses Locsin would build in the years 1960 to 1965, and more particularly, his own residence in 1962.

Elevations and sections

Floor plan

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Large One-Story Residences: Tripartite and Articulated Plans In 1958 Locsin worked on nine new residences that demonstrated his ability to interpret and integrate traditional and contemporary references. Two residences, the Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho and the Jaime Zóbel de Ayala houses, were milestones in Locsin’s residential architecture and allowed him to affirm two great models of spatial organization: the tripartite plan and the articulated plan. The First Large Residence with a Tripartite Plan The Cavender residence is the first project that is not designated in the bungalow category, although the absence of elevation drawings does

← Residence Cavender Urdaneta Village, Makati 1957

not allow it to be clearly identified. However, the size of the project, approximately 370 m2, implies a spatial configuration that places it in the category of large residences with a clear tripartite plan. Two volumes frame a common central space that accommodates the reception rooms and the entrance. The first volume contains the service rooms and extends from the access road side to define an entrance courtyard, while the second volume contains the bedrooms and their associated sanitary facilities. Philip Johnson’s Hodgson House (1951), whose living spaces are structured in the same way, seems to be a possible reference.

Sketch

Floor plan

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Spatial Complexity and the Beginnings of Philippine Architecture Residence Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho Forbes Park, Makati 1958

In 1958 Locsin was commissioned to design a house for Robert Ho,

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cofounder of a shipping company, and Anita Magsaysay-Ho, an important Filipino painter, a generously sized residence in the village of Forbes Park. Faced with a complex program, Locsin abandoned the bungalow style to develop a language based on spatial complexity and typological principles, both in plan and in cross section, that are adapted to local conditions. [26] The project was initially developed on two floors; then, for unknown reasons, it underwent a significant reduction in surface area and was finally built on a single level. For the project, Locsin again worked with the civil engineer Alfredo L. Juinio, with whom he developed particular elements that would go on to be used in subsequent projects, both private and public, such as the entrance canopy on consoles, which extend more than 5 m and produce the transition between the exterior

View from the street

and interior. Locsin gave particular attention to the design of the roof, transforming it from a simple constructive element into a symbol of the dwelling, thereby joining Wright’s assertion that the roof had ceased to be a simple shelter and instead become the significance of the dwelling. [27] He proposed the use of a metal roof characterized by standing seams at the joints of the panels. Under the intense light of the Philippines, this gave a precise scale to the roof through the play of shadows. In terms of the layout, a tripartite arrangement places the living room center stage, with a size almost identical to that of the covered terrace. The patio still plays a role of spatial articulation between private and public, and the servants’ quarters are clearly arranged in direct

View of the entrance patio

connection with the garage. In summary, the plan comprises three parts, the organization of which is based on the principles of the Cavender residence of 1957, but with far more generous dimensions. The tripartite plan reaches a culmination here, and later would be widespread. The other point to note concerns the volume of the living room. Covered by a symmetrical gable roof, the room height at the ridge allows for a double-height gallery in direct connection with the living room. Concerning ventilation, the hot air rises to accumulate at the highest level of the ceiling and is evacuated by means of openwork wooden slats on both sides of the room. As in the traditional rural dwelling, the bahay kubo, the presence of a minimal partition between the garden of the entrance area and the living room ensures a continuous flow of air. This doubled room height coupled with the location of the living room inside the house is also a new feature in the typological design that implies an architecture based not on direct exposure to sunlight but rather on the quest for shade and indirect light. In an interview, Locsin’s son Andy told me of his father’s fascination with a book by the Japanese Junichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows, first published in 1933 in its

26

This is the only villa to have been published in The Japan Architect. See The Japan Architect, issue Japan and Asia (June 1963), 89.

original language. Primarily a defense of the aesthetic principles of

27

Wright 1953, 39–40.

attempts to define a clear opposition to Western aesthetics, one which

28

Tanizaki 1933. Since the first English translation dates from 1977, it cannot be claimed that Locsin had read it at the beginning of his career. On the other hand, having traveled to Japan in 1956 and being surrounded by people involved in aesthetics such as Jaime Zóbel de Ayala, one can assume that he was aware of Tanizaki’s book.

demands the prominence of elements struck by direct light. [28]

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darkness and the transience of weather in a tropical climate, the author

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Floor plan

View of the entrance →

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← View from the garden

The Articulated Plan and Philippine Flexibility Residence Jaime Zóbel de Ayala Forbes Park, Makati 1958

The second large residence is also located in Forbes Park, a few hundred

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meters from the Ho residence. For Nicholas Polites, “the residences he built in 1958 for Jaime Zóbel de Ayala and Robert Ho are perhaps the earliest examples of a trend characterized by his commitment to what is Filipino.” [29] It is true that both residences were conceived at the same time and are designed in a similar way, but in Jaime Zóbel’s residence the plan is not based on a tripartite approach but rather on an articulation of the spaces that allows for the fusion of interior and exterior. This is particularly visible in the patio that one crosses to access the front door. This patio, unlike in the Villa Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho, plays the role of access organizer, both for the day areas and for the bedrooms. From this space three walls radiate that not only organize the areas but extend into the garden and the entrance courtyard in an uninterrupted manner. The largely movable interior partitions and the facade walls are designed to minimize visual impact and accentuate spatial fluidity. “Inside walls are treated more like partitions that divide

View of the entrance patio

and define space than like barriers or structural supports.” [30] In this house, the structure is almost invisible, and the underside of the roof is hidden by a false ceiling that levels the spaces and reinforces the link to the garden. The pitched roof, discovered in the Neri bungalow, finds yet more meaning in this project because, combined with the hidden structure, it serves as additional space. “Although the Villa Robert Ho has a definite oriental flavor, it is unmistakably Filipino in its easy mingling of Eastern and Western influences—not unlike the Filipino himself, whose culture is a blend of East and West.” [31] The language and typology of these houses allowed Locsin to anchor his architecture in the local context while responding to commissions with designs that varied according to requirements and parcel sizes. The bungalow was gradually abandoned in the early 1960s, the last project being the Tansengco residence dating from 1964. Nevertheless, although its

View of the living room

plan contains the annotation “residential bungalow,” it has lost the characteristics of the first projects of this kind.

29

Polites 1977, 12.

30

Polites 1977, 211.

31

Leandro Locsin, “Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ho,” The Japan Architect, issue “Japan and Asia” (June 1963).

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The Architect’s Residence: A Pivotal Project In 1960 Leandro Locsin married Cecilia Yulo, with whom he shared several passions, including archaeology, Asian porcelain, and Spanish

← Residence Leandro Locsin Forbes Park, Makati 1962

and Philippine painting and music. Not only did this event mark the beginning of an intense intellectual relationship, which led to the publication of a research paper on porcelain, but it also gave the architect access to a network that would lead to the command of numerous private commissions of generous dimensions. Thus, in five years, until 1965, before the beginning of the great works for the Marcos government, which changed the rhythm of his production of private homes, Locsin worked on 31 residences, including eight during 1961. Of these 31, 14 are located in Forbes Park, four in the equally upscale Urdaneta Village, and the remaining eight outside Makati. This proportion shows that Locsin was working for a clientele with a financial means considerably greater than his clientele of the first period, who were seeking bungalows. He took advantage of this situation to evolve and establish a new type of housing. View of the living room

The residence he designed for himself at Forbes at the very beginning of 1962 allowed Locsin, at the age of 34, to affirm a whole series of architectural principles that he had explored during the first seven years of his professional practice, showing his capacity to draw inspiration from local and foreign references and to propose a solution capable of making the link with the history of the Philippines. The Forbes residence is built on a 60 by 40 m parcel of land, the long side of which is aligned with the street; it is surrounded by four other houses that he was building on adjacent plots. Despite the 2,400 m2 surface area of the plot, the neighboring house is less than 12 m away, and the role of the intermediate spaces between the exterior and the interior would be fundamental to guarantee a sufficient degree of privacy for the inhabitants. Aligning the long facade with the street, Locsin formed a wall with a prominent centrally placed entrance door. A long ramp raises the

View of the entrance patio

entrance above road level and separates the main access from the service access, which, as in other houses, is on the side and at a lowerlevel story. The plan is based on a tripartite approach structured by an axis starting from the entrance and ending in the living room, which distributes the service areas on the left and the residents’ areas on the right. This first axis is complemented by a second perpendicular axis, which houses a gallery leading to the services and bedrooms. The cross-shaped plan allows the house to be organized and the zones to be clearly prioritized according to their use. While the street facade is linear, the garden facade is differentiated by a system of recesses. The consequence of this plan is that it responds to the residents’ needs by expanding organically. Whereas on the street there is a linear expression that corresponds to the geometry of the road network, the garden facade merges with the vegetation and seeks to meld architecture and nature. This desire to blur the limit of the house’s living spaces with the garden is particularly strong at the level of the living room, where an additional strip of 3 m is added on two sides. These additional areas include beds of plants as well as a pond that is crossed by a small bridge. Wooden arches 158

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Floor plan

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View of the patio from the library →

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separate this area from the living room, emphasizing the idea of an

View from the garden →

alternative space between inside and outside. A similar device is used at the entrance where, after passing through the main door, a bridge allows one to cross a small pool and enter the hall. The water provides a means of cooling the house by creating convection, but symbolically it detaches the house from its immediate surroundings and anchors it in a natural world. In terms of cross section, the living room is the tallest room in the house, as it extends to the roof, allowing for a gallery where a library is located. Thus Locsin took up the idea of a principal vertical space, which he had already proposed in the Ho house and which makes it possible to ventilate the hot air that accumulates under the roof via the gables by means of wooden grills. What is striking about this project is the contrast between a very classical exterior image based on perfect symmetry on the street and reinforced by the central volume, and an articulated plan that develops organically to give each room its own space. Locsin used local materials, some recovered from a church that fell into ruins after World War II. Stone and wood are dominant, but there are also sliding panels made of capiz shells, which hark back to the Japanese aesthetic of shoji. These make it possible to partition spaces in different ways according to use—in this case, between the living room and the dining room. This residence marks a milestone in the affirmation of domestic Philippine architecture, both from the typological and material points of view. It served as a model and influenced the architecture of Manila’s houses. View of the entrance hall

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The Culmination of the One-Story Plan Locsin designed two more residences in 1962, the Quiros del Rio house and the house for Johnny de Leon, the famous radio presenter, in which

← Residence Quiros del Rio Forbes Park, Makati 1962

he continues his architectural exploration. The del Rio residence is built directly opposite the Locsin residence, and again aligns itself along the street. To manage the relationship of intimacy, a long dry-stone wall shields the rooms, especially the bedrooms, which open onto an intermediate exterior space. A door, the only opening in this wall, marks the entrance to the house, leading to a patio and then on to a gallery whose level changes slightly according to the areas it serves. A similarity with the principles used in the Locsin house can be seen here. The children’s rooms are on the first floor, in a section that emerges from the general layout of the house. This makes for the first bahay na bato View of the covered access

reference: a wooden pavilion placed on a stone base. In terms of materials, the reinforced concrete support structure is not visible. Indeed, the pillars, the perimeter wall, and the facade walls are all clad in dry-stone, which gives them a vernacular appearance and accentuates their visual impact. Locsin does not seek to express a constructive truth, only to give sensuality to the constructive elements of the interior space. The roof varies in plan and height in an organic way according to the size of the areas it protects. The horizontal form of the building is clearly sought after in order to allow visual continuity of the rooms with the outside. The size of the second house exceeds all built to date. Four plots of land are combined to form a total area of more than 6,000 m2. Locsin places the main house on the street side, with the garage in one corner and a bullpen in another. A fighting arena is located between the latter and the house. In spite of a very large size, its composition is again based on a tripartite

View from the living room to the garden

arrangement of services, reception rooms, and private quarters, placed around an interior patio. The entrance facade is again devoid of windows, containing only the main entrance door, which leads to a linear interior garden aligned along a gallery. The garden design employs the Japanese treatment of rocks placed on gravel in a sculptural manner. The reception rooms open onto a terrace, which doubles their surface area, and they overlook the fighting arena. The roof is also built on the principle of a single slope, the volume of which adapts to the articulated plan. Locsin also reverted to a floor-to-ceiling design of vertical facade elements, achieved through large infill panels. The Exploration of a Design The end of 1965 marked a turning point in Locsin’s output. Not only did the Marcos family come to power and give Locsin large-scale public facility projects that kept him very busy, but it also coincided with the inauguration of Dasmariñas Village, which included smaller plots requiring an additional story. Effectively half of the houses, or about 50 projects, were already designed or built, and it can be seen that from 1966 onward, the volume of orders decreased slightly. From 1975 onward, the office received fewer and fewer private commissions, probably due to the Philippines suffering the economic effects of the 1973 oil crisis.

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Sections

Floor plan

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In ten years, Locsin designed 30 new projects. Some are located in Makati, but others on the outskirts, for wealthy clients wishing to build urban residences capable of meeting their social needs. Among the most important houses are those of Eugenio Sanbuenaventura (1963); Mauro Prieto (1964); Ramon Cojuangco (1963); Ramon Yulo (1964); and Emerson Coseteng (1964) in Forbes; and in Urdaneta Village, the Domingo Locsin (1963) and Francisco Tansengco (1964) houses. A Last Bungalow? The plans for the Tansengco house indicate “residential bungalow.” However on reading the plans, it is difficult to understand why it’s

← Residence F. Tansengco Urdaneta Village, Makati 1964

included in the bungalow category, as its size, organization around a central patio, and its exterior appearance consisting mainly of natural materials brings it closer to the articulated courtyard type. Even the cross sections show that the roof follows the principle of varying heights depending on the rooms. Perhaps this reflects the client’s initial desire for a bungalow, which Locsin transformed into the style he was developing at that time. In any case, this is the last appearance of this style in the archived plans, indicating that Locsin, after focusing on using an imported model, had succeeded in transforming it into a new model for the Philippine house. Elevations

Floor plan

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Two-Story Houses The other category that Locsin developed is the two-story home. This appears as early as 1958 with the Michael Joseph project and in 1959 with the Fernando Garcia project. However these two are an exception in the general production of two-story houses, as they have many elements in common with the bungalow category. Locsin’s main aim here was to connect the two stories by way of a double-height living room, whereas in the larger two-story houses he clearly separates them. Residential Bungalow M. Joseph San Lorenzo Village, Makati 1958

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The M. Joseph bungalow is the first project that Locsin designed on two levels, probably because of the smaller size of the plot. Its interest lies in the development of a two-level typology situated on a longitudinal axis. The ground-floor service rooms are on one side with the bedrooms on the upper floor, while the living areas and the staircase are on the other side. Locsin played with the difference in height to introduce a corridor serving the three bedrooms on a mezzanine level over the living room. This project reveals Locsin’s interest in managing space, which he would experiment for the rest of his career, both in private homes and in public buildings.

Section and elevation

First and second floor plans

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The Tuason Development and Japan The 1959 Tuason development is remarkable for its Japanese-inspired design, and for the cross-sectional solutions that Locsin chose to organize the rooms. The adopted layout emphasizes an articulated plan that extends horizontally; it does not take advantage of the superimposition of stories to achieve a compactness that later appeared when building on smaller plots.

Site plan

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Residence Jose Tuason Sr Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City 1959

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This development, the only one in which Locsin built three houses on the same site, gave him the opportunity to test different typologies using a different section each time in order to integrate the houses into the natural slope of the land. The Angel Heredia residence, located closest to the street, is composed of a highly articulated ground floor that provides a courtyard that gives on to the road and a linear series of rooms served by a gallery and extended by a balcony that opens onto a view of the surroundings. This is probably the first two-story house of its kind, where the bedrooms are clearly identifiable as an independent upper volume detached from the rest of the house with a cantilevered overhang on the street side that covers the entrance area. The Japanese influence is very clear here, particularly in the indications of the patio, where Locsin recreates a rock garden to accompany the ascent to the first floor. It’s also evident in the relationship of the rooms to the terraces created by sliding and swinging doors across their width. But it is in the main elevation, the one overlooking the valley to the west, that this influence is most noticeable, as it echoes the composition of the house that Kenzo Tange built for himself in 1953 and which marks

Elevations

the “new dialogue with tradition” that David Stewart refers to. [32] The ground floor is mainly open, while on the upper floor a large covered

32

See in particular Stewart 1987, 186–218.

gallery is supported by wooden posts in the foreground.

Floor plan

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The Japanese influence is also expressed in the Tuason Sr. house built next door. The terrain allows the house to be arranged on a main

← Residence Angel Heredia Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City 1959

floor while beneath it, the slope is exploited to locate a playroom and domestic quarters connected by a covered space. To accentuate the relationship with the slope and the valley, a large cantilevered terrace extends the bedroom area and creates a gallery enclosed by blinds. To reinforce the lightness of this part of the house, recessed columns enable the corners to be left completely open.

Elevation and sections

First and second floor plans

The main floor of the Quimson house is this time completely detached

← Residence John T. Quimson Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City 1959

from the ground, and reached by an external ramp. The access from the lower floor provides covered spaces for cars on the ground floor and the lanai, which, as in the other villas, opens onto the valley to the west. Once again Locsin mixed thin square supporting posts in 16 cm concrete with panels covered with natural stone.

Elevations and sections

First and second floor plans

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Residence John Tuason Jr Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City 1959

The villa for Tuason’s son [33] again illustrates the influence of Japanese

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architecture by a structure of thin posts detached from the gallery they support and by the layout of the garden that forms part of the entrance sequence. At the intersection is a patio which organizes all the functions of the house and is extended by a gallery that serves the rooms. As in the Tuason Sr. house, the slope is exploited to locate a playroom (“the rumpus room”) on the lower level, linked to the garden. The structure here comprises doubled columns founded on stone blocks that support the roof purlins. Locsin’s roofs use a style reminiscent of the Katsura Villa, with open connecting zones between the roofs for ventilation.

View of the exterior

Elevations and section

Floor plan

The Emergence of the Family Home and the Influence of Wright’s Prairie House Residence Robert Siy Forbes Park, Makati 1961

The two-level design, which brought about a radical change in interior

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layout, first appeared in 1961 with the Robert Siy residence. This was built in Forbes Park on a plot measuring 40 by 35 m, that is, 1,400 m2. In order to meet the client’s demands, Locsin placed all bedrooms on the first floor, served by a large space called the “family hall.” The result is a compact

Elevations

33

Although the archival records are part of the complex built in the subdivision La Vista, it was not possible to locate this residence which was indeed built though not shown on the overall plan.

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First and second floor plan

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volume where the ground floor is clearly dedicated to social activities with reception rooms that extend over a lanai of almost 80 m2. The staircase leading to the bedrooms is this time located close to the entrance and can be closed off by a sliding door to allow clear separation of the upper area of the house. The materials are still those of the bungalow style, with facades of wooden blinds and opaque panels. However, the plan’s compact nature introduces variation and interweaving in the relationship between volumes. Previously, the different upper and lower parts could be clearly identified. Thus, a low roof rises up to the windowsill level of the bedroom story, making it less visually imposing and giving the house a silhouette of superimposed roofs. In the same district, the Enrique Carlos residence is similar to the Siy

← Residence Enrique Carlos Forbes Park, Makati 1962

house, both in the organization of the plan and in the expression of the facades, which comprise interlocking volumes. However, a difference can already be discerned in the material of the facades: gradually the highly structured language of bungalow panels makes way for larger wall sections. The connecting zone between the volumes is not precisely defined but rather is the result of the spaces and their relationship.

Elevations First and second floor plans

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Residence Salvator de Leon Parañaque, Rizal 1964

It is not until 1964 that a two-story house whose exterior design takes

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advantage of the differences in roof heights to establish a unitary style appears. The De Leon residence is located in Parañaque, south of Makati, on a plot of 2,000 m2. Locsin organized a highly articulated plan on the ground floor and a very compact one on the upper floor with the rooms again served by a family hall.

Elevations

Floor plans and details

Floor plan

The plan includes certain features already identified, in particular a service area directly linked to the reception rooms and a patio linked to the dining room. However, although they are comfortable in size, it can be seen that the purpose of the ground-floor rooms is no longer necessarily the organization of large receptions; rather they are more oriented toward family life. This reading seems to be confirmed by the disappearance of the “den,” which until then played the role of a living room annex for the family, and by the fact that the parents’ bedroom is on the ground floor, very directly linked to the living room. Externally, the facades were designed according to their differences in height, and Locsin introduced a design based on the horizontal by the use of bands, the first of which is lower and aligns with the windowsills, while the second extends to the cornice, allowing the windows to be integrated between the solid sections. The exterior expression refers to Wright’s architecture of the Prairie Houses period, with multiple roofs, prominent eaves, and horizontal bands. This reference to the American architect also appears in the canopy over the main entrance. Its concrete supports are covered with natural stone to give them an organic quality, seeking a nature-architecture relationship through the materials. For Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Wright’s use of rough stone is a reference to Japanese architecture, which Locsin in turn uses in search of a warm human quality, linking them to the Wrightian tradition. [34] The Villa Salvator de Leon begins a period of two-story house production that would be concentrated in villages other than Forbes, mainly in Dasmariñas but also in San Juan and San Miguel. The pace of construction was much slower than in the Forbes period, with one house being built each year until 1980, with the exception of 1969, when there 34

Hitchcock 1975, 26.

DEVELOPMENT OF A LANGUAGE

were three two-story residential projects. 173

Some of the residences are much more modest in size, such as the Villadolid house, with a modest street facade and an interior articulated

← Residence Leland Villadolid Dasmariñas, Makati 1967

by a private courtyard. The design once again shows the use of superimposed roofs supported by natural stone ground-floor walls.

View from the street

Ground and second floor plans

Articulated Floor Plans Developed in the same year, these three residences are interesting because they demonstrate Locsin’s interest in interior complexity while presenting a very simple and unobtrusive external appearance. This is particularly the case for the Philam Insurance house, where the

← Residence Philam Insurance Dasmariñas, Makati 1969

plan is broken down into two volumes connected by a glazed gallery. The cross section is used to create a link with the garden so as to produce a very strong interior and exterior relationship. Only one floor is visible from the street, while a complete lower floor houses the services directly linked to the terrace. On the ground floor, which corresponds to the entrance floor, the articulated plan allows the main rooms to open onto a private patio adjacent to the gallery. The gallery opens onto a balcony overlooking the swimming pool and leads to a compact twostory volume that houses the private area with the bedrooms.

Perspective

Floor plan

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LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Residence Vicente Paterno San Juan, Rizal 1969

The Vicente Paterno residence once again explores the theme of

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removing limits by introducing an exterior patio in the center of the floor plan, around which all the functions are organized. The living room is not indicated but is replaced by a lanai, originally an outdoor space, whose relationship to the garden is managed by means of a planted border. This project shows how Locsin sought to make spaces interlink in a movement of continuity and accentuated this effect by the use of stone walls in the interior. At the foot of some of the facades the land seems to partially rise up as if the house were part of the land.

Sections

Ground floor

Second floor plan

DEVELOPMENT OF A LANGUAGE

175

Return to Classical Expression Until 1980 the Guerrero (1971), Maramag (1972), Tamayo (1974), Australian Embassy (1974), Lorenzo (1975), Fores (1976), Verallo (1976), Villanueva (1977), and Widjaja (1978) houses were variations on the principles developed since 1965 and their construction would be much less frequent than in previous periods. A pause in the design of residences occurred in 1980, probably as a result of the country’s economic crisis. Locsin would not be commissioned to build two-story homes again until 1989, this time in the Dasmariñas district with the Cabalero house (1990) and then in Forbes Park with the Consunji (1992), Jaime Augusto Zóbel de Ayala II (1992) and Aguila (1994) houses, the last three being among the largest in Locsin’s output. [35] The articulated plan was again proposed and the roofs juxtaposed at different levels. The notable and radical change is in the exterior style, which is based on plastered walls with occasional windows. The natural stone walls, horizontal bands, and planted areas are non-existent, as are the copper roofs, which have been replaced by terracotta tiles. The change in materials makes these residences far more banal and somewhat detached from the Philippine context. There is no immediate explanation for this change of attitude in the approach to house architecture. Perhaps these properties should be understood in the broader context of the economic boom that followed the 1986 revolution with the fall of the Marcoses. In addition, as Gerard Lico shows, the postmodern wave had not spared the archipelago, relegating local landmarks to the background. [36] In any event, the production of homes demonstrates Locsin’s ability to integrate and interpret elements of local tradition to the new conditions of construction and to the demands of totally new urban conditions. The development of a vernacular style affirms Locsin’s architectural capacity to free himself from the heritage of previous colonizations and continued in different types of elements, for example those related to climate factors, such as the facade.

176

35

Only three villas were built between 1981 and 1983, but all outside Manila.

36

Lico 2008, 495.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Facades in Motion Sunshades, Slopes, and Curves: Climate-Response Devices

“The sun-breaker in all its possible interpretations,

The climate issue, symbolized by unbearable sunshine in summer,

thus became the epitome of local ‘modern’

torrential rain and the need for ventilation, was an unavoidable factor

architecture, a trademark to be stamped on the

in the construction of new buildings after World War II. Architects used

face of a building regardless of its useful values.”

a number of means to adapt their architecture, notably by using

Angel Nakpil [1]

constructive and formal devices. This is the case of the sunshade mentioned by Angel Nakpil in his 1956 speech to the students of Santo Tomas: “The outstanding architectural feature that was enthusiastically adopted after the war years were the vertical sun-breakers, first conceived by Le Corbusier for his Brazilian buildings.” [2] For Locsin it was an aesthetic but also a functional issue, and in some cases defined the building itself as in the First National Bank. The development of a new design would be achieved through the medium of reinforced concrete and favored by programs that required formal repetition. This would particularly be the case in administrative buildings whose construction was favored by new urban conditions, but also in certain hotels or more specific programs such as airports or sports facilities.

1

Nakpil 1956, 16.

2

Angel Nakpil was one of the leaders of postwar reconstruction when he returned from Harvard, where he studied under Walter Gropius. One of his most emblematic buildings is the National Press Club in Manila, whose reference to the German master is undeniable, particularly in its glass staircase.

FACADES IN MOTION

181

The Displacement of the Center, Makati and the Villages (1957–75) As previously mentioned, the 1950s marked the beginning of construction of the new administrative center located in Makati, on the former site of the Nielson Airport, which was moved to Manila Bay in 1948. The development of the new downtown Manila was therefore done in a particular context since there were no buildings except for a few aircraft hangars and the Nielson Tower, the control tower which has survived to the present day. For Ramon Villegas, “in the early 1950s, Makati was an idyllic Amorsolo [3] landscape of far hills, ricefields, and seasonal floodtides.” [4] A prewar aerial photograph confirms this idyllic image and shows very clearly the configuration of the airport laid out in the middle of fields and more particularly, the layout of the three

Cover of the Philippines Herald, April 14th, 1964

runways arranged around the control tower. The orientation of the runways is based on the winds that dominated Manila at that time, mainly north–east in summer and south–west in winter. The layout forms a triangle around which the new business center of Makati would be built, with the three main arteries, Makati Avenue, Ayala Avenue, and Paseo de Roxas, echoing the runway paths. The area is known today as Ayala Triangle, after the family that owns the land and initiated the construction of the new center. Its shape is symbolically associated with that of the archipelago’s triangle “whose base would be formed in the south by the island of Mindanao and the Sulawesi archipelago, and whose apex would be marked by the northern tip of Luzon.” [5] Makati is therefore built on a greenfield site and has the particularity of being developed on land owned by the private company Ayala Corporation, which is at the same time the developer of the new city. [6] Colonel McMicking, the man in charge of the development of Makati on behalf of the Ayala Corporation, was in fact American by birth. He joined the company’s management through his marriage in 1931 to one of the daughters of the Ayala family. McMicking drew his inspiration from San Francisco, where he came from (Palo Alto, to be precise), to propose planning in differentiated zones, each of which increased the value of the other through their complementarity. [7] Thus, the commercial zones are adjacent to the office zones, which are themselves located near the protected villages that offer sufficient plots for the construction of high-end residences. Locsin was involved at the very beginning of the process, designing the first buildings for Ayala Corporation, for whom he once worked as a sewage systems designer. The wave of office building construction is so important that Rodrigo Perez classifies it as one of the great phases of construction in the Philippines: “What the church was to the Spanish regime, and what the government building was to the American regime, the office building is to the present period.” [8] It is part of an international movement represented in the United States by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who as

3

Fernando Amorsolo (1892–1972) is one of the most important Filipino painters of his generation, best known for his paintings of bucolic rice plantations.

4

Villegas 1989, 30.

5

Maurette 1907.

6

Villamayor 1974, 13.

7

See Lachica 1984 on the history of Makati and the Ayala family.

8

Perez 1963.

early as the 1920s, planned two buildings for Berlin, which were never built, but which laid the typological and expressive foundations of the 20th-century office building. The Office Building (1919) and the Glass Skyscraper (1920–21) exploited the new expressive technologies of glass and paved the way for the use of curtain walls. For Arthur Drexler, “both projects for glass towers demonstrate with the utmost clarity and thoroughness the possibility of an architecture in which shadows 182

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

are no longer of prime importance” [9] and announce the limits of this model in a climate subject to extreme sunlight such as the Philippines. The Seagram Building (1958), which Mies constructed in New York, represents a model of a building with a grid facade uniformly applied to the whole parallelepiped that has a considerable influence on world production. In the reinforced concrete office building (1922), on the other hand, “the concrete parapets are shown in Mies’s drawing as being thick enough to contain equipment. This arrangement allows the windows to be recessed, produces a play of shadows, and contrasts the solidity of concrete against the weightlessness of glass.” [10] This model would be much more applicable to the climate of the Philippine metropolis. In another style and closer to the Philippines, the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange designed the Kagawa Prefectural Administration Building (1958), Takamatsu, using a reinforced concrete construction whose elements seem to be assembled in the manner of a traditional framework. It was not until the 1960s that some remarkable examples of office architecture were built in the Philippines, such as the Rice Research Institute (1960) by Alfredo Luz; the Philamlife (1969) by Carlos Arguelles; or the Meralco Building (1965) by José María Zaragoza. Neoclassicism, found mainly in the buildings of bureaucracy established by the Americans, dominated earlier production. While Locsin returned from the United States fascinated by the architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen, he simultaneously understood the impossibility of adapting these models to the Philippine climate. He therefore undertook to define the needs and means 9

Drexler 1960, 14.

available to him in order to propose buildings that would fit into the

10

Drexler 1960, 15.

local context.

Aerial view of the Nielson Airport in 1941

FACADES IN MOTION

183

Appearance of the Sunshade: The First Administrative Buildings in Makati In this building, the ground floor on the street side is, as in the second Ayala building, recessed along its entire length to make way for a gallery

← Office Building Ayala I Makati 1957

that accommodates users during inclement weather while creating a transition zone between the pavement and the entrance. The columns descend to the ground without interruption, and a large canopy supported by cruciform section columns defines the entrance area. The interior of the office building is devoid of all vertical supports in order to obtain a floor area of 48 m in length and 15.90 m in width, guaranteeing total flexibility of the layout. The grid, visible on the street facade—columns rising from the ground to the top floor without discontinuity—is further accentuated by the recessed position of the glazing. This verticality does not guarantee effective solar protection, although the northeastern orientation of the facade does not really require it.

View of the front elevation

Sections

Deck and typical floor plan

184

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Office Building Ayala II Makati 1958

In the second building, which Locsin designed immediately afterward, a

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number of changes were proposed, mainly to the facade. The number of stories increased from six to ten, and the roof story was removed. [11] A clear distinction exists between the ground and upper floors, with the pillars visible at street level and hidden by the curtain glazing on the upper levels. The slabs extend to the outside and act as sunshades, giving the facade a clear horizontal emphasis. Concrete bands define the windowsills and are structured by vertical supports with no apparent structural role but which are aesthetically linked to the window mullions. The columns on the ground floor are faceted, flaring out and eventually connecting at the top, creating continuity along the length of the building. The interest of this building lies not only in the systematic use of the sunshade as the motif of the facade, but also in its material. The external elements of the sunshades are not additions made of different materials, such as aluminum, but are made of reinforced concrete, in continuity with the interior. The choice of material here, as in the Ayala I building, is probably related to pragmatic rather than ideological considerations, as the building had to respond to a program requiring maximum flexibility. In this case, the office floors have a column-free area of 48 by 13 m.

Detail of the elevation

11

Locsin seems to anticipate the change in the law on building heights that would take place a year later, on May 5, 1959. See Lico 2008.

FACADES IN MOTION

Front elevation

Colonnade

185

A Concrete Frame The Sarmiento Office Building is located on Makati Avenue, at the corner of Rufino Street, which implies an L-shaped plan with a curved facade

← Sarmiento Office Building Makati 1962

that follows the alignment of the road. Alfredo Juinio was again the civil engineer and, as in previous buildings, he put in place a structure that allowed a span of 14 m without intermediate support. This time the height was increased to 54 m, equaling twelve floors, demonstrating that rapid technical progress in plumbing allowed water to be brought to a greater height. The typology is again based on large open-plan floors with a separate service core at the rear of the building. As in the Ayala Building II, located a few meters away, the absence of load-bearing facades allowed for the installation of bands of windows along the entire length of the building, protected from the sun by panels suspended from the slabs, which extend 2 m outside the building. These panels are made of prefabricated reinforced concrete. Their width corresponds to the center-to-center distance of the load-bearing frame, which is 4.26 m, and their 80 cm drop ensures that the sun’s rays are blocked. The final image is an assembly of clearly identifiable elements which

Front elevation

give the building an appearance that oscillates between tradition and modernity. The assembly reuses construction principles of wooden architecture while the reinforced concrete construction is in keeping with the postwar era.

View of the corner

Floor plan

186

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Undulations National Life Insurance Company Makati 1966

The National Life Insurance building is again built on Ayala Avenue, a

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few meters from the first office buildings. The constraints are again the same, with the same dimensions, and the typology is characterized by a 14m deep volume free of load-bearing elements, with a service core at the back that is detached from the main volume. The facade, on the other hand, is very different from the previous projects in that instead of a uniplanar effect that dominates the entire height, the solid elements framing the windows are curved and connected to the vertical supports. The latter are no longer terminated by a horizontal band but continue to the roof level, thus dominating the foreground. The curved elements made of prefabricated reinforced concrete create depth, behind which the windows are placed, thus taking advantage of the shade generated. Once again a negative joint is introduced at the meeting of the facade elements, into which Locsin laid gold mosaic. The overall composition is characterized by a high degree of geometric rigor, which is clearly visible when the building is viewed from the front. However, this impression is completely different when the building is viewed obliquely, as the curvature of the elements gives the facade an impression of undulation, reminiscent of a large expanse of fabric. Locsin perfectly mastered this aspect, developing it by means of graphite profiles that make the concrete texture and the play of shadows on the facade completely coherent.

Detail of the elevation

Perspective

Elevation

FACADES IN MOTION

187

Another building in which Locsin used a curved facade is the Manila

← Manila Intercontinental Hotel Manila 1967

Intercontinental Hotel, located in Makati, in the immediate vicinity of the Ayala Triangle business center. There are approximately 400 rooms contained within a rectangular volume consisting of a two-story base with ten floors of rooms crowned by a penthouse. Its configuration follows the principles of certain examples, notably the Istanbul Hilton (1955) designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which is recognized as a major example of the international style and consists of a large base on which the volume of rooms is positioned. The design of the Intercontinental is characterized by a gap of approximately 70 cm between the window and the facade, creating a space for prefabricated reinforced concrete sunshades, which are stacked in an H-shaped motif. The horizontal connection between these elements is rounded, with a vertical joint to ensure precise horizontal and vertical alignment. Inside the rooms, these prefabricated elements

Aerial view

are visible because the height of their lintel is lower than the top of the window, thus allowing them to act as a sunshade. The overall image of the facade is thus characterized by a play of shadows caused by the thickness of the prefabricated elements and their relationship to both the closure and their rounded shape. The base uses a similar style to that seen at the back of the Sheraton, with a two-level colonnade running around the ground floor. The exterior materiality is therefore deliberately more radical than in the previous hotels; the formal expression is achieved by precise design

Detail of the elevation

View from inside

of the prefabricated elements. Elevations

188

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Catching the Light Dona Josefa Apartment Building Manila 1967

The apartment building Doña Josefa Marfori, is located in the bustling

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district of Malate near Manila Bay, with its dense urban fabric and perpendicular intersecting streets. The plot is very different from that of the Monterrey Apartments as it is located at an intersection. This dictated the layout of the building, which is square in plan with two street facades and two blind facades. The popular neighborhood dictated the size of the apartments, which comprise three bedrooms and a living room connected to the service rooms. For the facade, Locsin created a composition with elements that form the terraces and at the same time act as sunshades. The details show the care taken with the texture of the materials, particularly in the treatment of the railings, whose surface effect is obtained by alternating chiseled concrete with plastered concrete. The building was constructed during the same period as the CCP National Theater, where one can also see

View from the street

the sensual quality of concrete catching the light as a theme that had caught Locsin’s interest.

Plans

Details of the elevation

FACADES IN MOTION

189

Full-Depth Facades The MSE is one of the administrative buildings that aimed to establish the tools of national sovereignty, in this case through establishment of

← Makati Stock Exchange Makati 1969

a stock exchange, and as such it has a very high symbolic value. The choice of location, in the Ayala Triangle, underlines the importance of its national institutional role. The ground plan is interesting because it shows the desire to establish the MSE not as a solitary building but as part of a planned urban structure. The MSE inhabits the triangle, the surface of which is occupied by a series of buildings of similar size, set out in a square grid covering the entire plot. In this sense the building, according to Nicholas Polites, was to establish “the architectural standard for new development.” [12] The only exception is the western corner, which was reserved for a Perspective

square building; Locsin would later build Tower One in collaboration with the American firm SOM at that location. The Nielson Tower, the former airport’s control tower, is absent in this plan; the final image is no longer a void in the center of the business district but rather a project that asserts and demonstrates the new financial power of the Philippines. The plan was not implemented as envisaged by Locsin, with the exception of the MSE and Tower One. The rest of the site remained a recreational area for a long time. This plan explains the somewhat strange situation of the MSE, which is aligned with Ayala Avenue but does not form a boundary line or an urban frontage as do earlier administrative buildings. Instead the building is set back, providing an access area to the entrance and enhancing the street facade, which was in turn designed to assert the MSE’s exceptional character. The eight floors provide 17,000 m2 of office space, while an isolated volume at the rear houses the stock exchange trading room. The form adopted is composed of three parallelepipeds that are staggered in plan but nonetheless connected, with the service core in the center. Locsin seeks to minimize the external visual impact by playing on the volumetric offset. This typology is remarkable for the flexibility of design it guarantees and for the structural rationality based on an economic span of 8.5 m, in contrast to the administrative buildings built to date. The long facades are characterized by sunshades made of 20 cm thick vertical concrete slats connected to a lintel. At their base they project out from the windowsill level. This detail is reminiscent of Arthur Erickson’s Fraser University (1965), whose facades are punctuated by the verticality of concrete slats suspended from the building structure. However, Locsin uses this motif not only as a simple sunshade but also as a structural system. The loads are transferred vertically from one floor to the next and then diagonally from the ground floor to the first floor, giving the sunshade an additional role.

12

Polites 1977, 216.

View of the entrance elevation →

190

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Site plan

Details of the elevation

192

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Typical floor plan

FACADES IN MOTION

193

← View of the sunshade

First National City Bank Makati 1972

→

This building of 22 floors, also in Makati and facing the Ayala Triangle, confirms the urban tendency to build higher and higher. When built it was the highest building in the district. [13] This is the first high-rise project by Locsin to introduce massive vertical elements positioned at the corners of the volume. The bank is located at the corner of two streets, which offered Locsin the possibility to propose a new way of placing buildings in Makati, which previously respected the alignment of the main avenues. Locsin arranged the floor areas on two platforms that are articulated and offset such that the volumes seem to slide one behind the other. This offset creates a plaza on the ground floor that Locsin raised above the street to form the main entrance. As in the MSE, the floors offer a open plan that can be fitted out according to need, supported by structural columns distributed over a square grid of 9.44 m. Once again, a service core provides access, but this time it is not in a central position but to one side. This location allowed Locsin to make the ground floor surface independent, with the recessed volume serving as an access hall to the offices. Regarding the facade, the proportion of voids is lower than that of solids, emphasizing the concrete, with the ends dominated by gigantic concrete piers between which are interspersed 1.86 m tall bands. The windows are clearly recessed from them by a distance of 1.8 m, which generates significant shade from direct sunlight. On closer inspection it can be seen that the vertical and horizontal elements are not directly

View from Ayala Triangle

connected, but that a recessed joint separates them and introduces an additional shadow. In effect, the facade appears to have been assembled from separate elements, which serves to lighten its massive impact. For Polites the form of the First National City Bank, like the Makati Stock Exchange, “was dictated in large measure by aesthetics. The architect opted for a shape that looks like three slabs fused together but is actually one building.” [14] Looking at the detailed plans, one can better understand this statement because the massive end piers, far from being load-bearing, are in fact hollow and play no structural role, this being provided by the 1.1 m square columns. The radical nature of the concept, based on the simplification of the elements and their interaction with light, can be related to the Population Center that Locsin created at the same time. Although the two buildings have radically different profiles, one high and one low, their sculptural nature is similar. They show Locsin’s interest in massiveness-lightness, whose principles he was developing at the time, and which were expressed in the Philippine International Convention Center two years later. Despite its repetitive program of offices, Locsin succeeded in introducing a design based on a sculptural effect, allowing the First National City Bank, even today, to stand out from its neighbors.

Typical floor plan

13

Polites 1977, 251.

14

Polites 1977, 241.

FACADES IN MOTION

195

Two years later, not far from the First National City Bank, Locsin erected the building that houses the national telecommunications company,

← PLDT Building Makati 1974

right next to the Ayala Museum, on Makati Avenue. Again, the simple and repetitive program required a particular treatment of the facade to avoid the massive appearance that could result from the superposition of identical floors. Locsin used the limits of the site to compose his floor plan, a truncated triangular shape, introducing a series of recesses, which can also be seen in the section. This time the facade consists solely of 1.8 m tall horizontal bands that run around the entire periphery of the building and bend at the point where the building is set back. The only two interruptions of the bands are introduced at the entrance locations, bringing verticality to the dominant horizontality of the facade. The bands are again added elements and allow the windows to be recessed, but this time the lower angle is broken at 45 degrees to introduce a new geometry in the floors’ stacking system. Perspective

Elevations

196

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Mandarin Hotel Makati 1975

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Located near the Intercontinental, directly on the Ayala Triangle, the Mandarin Hotel consists of more than 500 rooms spread over 14 floors, with the remaining functions placed on the first four floors from street level. With a height of 63 m, the Mandarin is the tallest hotel in its category, and the triangular shape of the plot directly influenced the typological organization. Locsin positioned the guest rooms along each side of the triangle, thus creating an enclosed central void in which the service elements such as the lifts and ancillary rooms are located. The rooms, arranged in a 4.5 m grid, run slightly beyond the triangle’s apex on two sides. The stairwells are located outside of the apexes, adjacent to the last room and in three different orientations. They are thus visible on the facade and are a main element of the hotel’s image. The rooms are arranged in such a way as to take maximum advantage of the view or orientation. The urban situation is extremely noisy, which probably led to the choice of not offering balconies on the facades and of positioning the bay windows diagonally while protecting them with sunshades. As in other hotels, this arrangement breaks an excessively frontal relationship with the exterior and redirects the gaze as imposed by the general plan. The vertical circulation elements are set in resonance with the columns of the supporting structure which, as in the Philippine Plaza, rise to the full height of the building. These vertical lines are accentuated by the position of the sunshades, which, in the initial design, are set back from the facade. The height of the facades is the same on each side, but Locsin introduces exceptions, notably with the circulation elements and the manager’s suite on the top floor, which, recessed in plan, give surprising movement and totally cancel out the bulk that one would expect from the volume. The Mandarin Hotel is probably one of the most accomplished

View of the angle

buildings in its way of treating the decomposition of a volume into vertical elements in order to reduce its visual impact, and in its use of the facade’s depth to accentuate the play of shadows while guaranteeing

View of the main hall

protection from direct sunlight. Unfortunately, the project suffered from poor concrete quality, which was not considered acceptable and had to be covered with stone slabs during the construction phase. [15] This had the unfortunate effect of doubling the thickness of the piers and reducing their slenderness. Nevertheless, this hotel, which unfortunately was demolished in 2015/16, remains one of the best examples of Locsin’s sculptural abilities.

15

Girard 2015b.

FACADES IN MOTION

197

Detail of the facade

Typical floor plan

198

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

L. V. Locsin Building Makati 1979

→

In 1979 Locsin began designing the building into which he would move his office—and where they remain today. The position is probably the most prestigious of all the administrative buildings he planned in Makati, as the site is exactly at the intersection of Makati Avenue and Ayala Avenue, just opposite the Makati Stock Exchange and adjacent to the PLDT Building. The building is thus located on a corner, like the First National City Bank, and is composed of a square plan distributed by a service core on the PLDT side, and repeated in an almost identical manner over 20 floors. At first glance, the Locsin Building is similar in its formal design to the First National City Bank in that it uses large vertical piers with horizontal bands between them to act as windowsills and sunshades. But the comparison ends there, because while in the first case the corners are clearly occupied by vertical reinforced concrete elements, here the piers are offset by 5 m toward the center of the facades and thus allow the creation of glazed right-angled corners. While mass dominates the exterior, the decomposition of the interior space is more complex and allows a fluidity between the interior and the exterior. In terms of materials, Locsin wanted to mix crushed granite with reinforced concrete to give a natural quality to the prefabricated elements. This solution was abandoned for economic reasons and replaced by the addition of glass, which gives the facade an optical vibrancy. [16] On the outside, in the same spirit, the play of shadows is accentuated by the placement of the horizontal concrete bands. These are not in the general plane of the facade but protrude by about 50 cm, taking the role of autonomous elements playing with the intense Makati sunshine. At ground level, Locsin built a podium that hosts outdoor spaces in connection with Alfredo Luz’s art gallery. This element formally connects the Locsin Building to the site by giving it a base on which it stands like a classical temple. At the level of the access ramp to the car park, he added a curved wall between natural elements such as trees and lawns. Locsin thus returned to integrating a building into its environment

View from the street

organically, in contrast to previous administrative buildings, which sit plainly at street level Detail of the sunshades

16

Wright used the same process in the Larkin Building by adding magnesite to certain parts, notably the pillars of the central atrium, to enhance the sculptural effect.

FACADES IN MOTION

199

Perspective and site plans

Ground floor plan

200

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Typical floor plan

FACADES IN MOTION

201

Eaves as the Main Motif: The Oblique in Facade Alongside buildings whose exterior image is dominated by abstract volumes, Locsin developed various projects with oblique facades.

← Welfare Complex Makati 1972–1976

This was a new language in his production, which had previously concentrated on facades that appear to defy the laws of gravity, as seen in the Ayala Museum or the PICC, public buildings with a strong symbolic importance. The oblique facade detail had already appeared in Locsin’s buildings, mainly at the base to anchor structures in their context and to contrast and highlight the upper sections in terms of material and color. From 1972 onward this detail would extend to the entire facade to become an architectural theme. This is seen in the Welfare Complex located in Makati, but also in the Manila International Airport and the Valle Verde Country Club. Their common point is the typological necessity of a low-rise layout, one that raises the question of formal continuity between different buildings. The Welfare Complex, which houses three government agencies, is divided into three distinct buildings, the Population Center, the Nutrition Center and the Asian Center for Training and Research in Social Welfare and Development. [17] All are on the same plot of land, with a program that varies from teaching rooms to offices to areas for gatherings. Its purpose is to provide a framework for education and research on social issues and “to improve the quality of life of the Filipino people and to assure the future of generations to come.” [18] Again, the Marcoses established the Welfare Complex to further position the Philippines on the international scene.

Site plan

202

17

According to Polites it seems that a fourth building was planned but no trace of the project has been found in the archives. Only the site plan of the complex indicates its position.

18

Commemorative plaques placed at the entrance of the Nutrition Center.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Population Center Makati 1972

The first building, inaugurated in 1976, is the largest of the three and

→

also the most complex in architectural terms. The different functions are connected by open-air galleries that run in both directions and provide cross ventilation. In the center, an open-air courtyard faces a staircase to the second floor that is suspended in an outdoor patio. This feature orients users while increasing air circulation, but more importantly it creates a strong visual link with the immediate environment. Walking through these galleries, views of the site’s flora merge architecture and nature. To reinforce this effect, plants cascade down the parapets from soil-boxes incorporated in their upper part. This organic character is also visible in the sections and elevations, where Locsin carefully designs the connection between the ground and the building by means of a prefabricated concrete plinth inclined at 45 degrees. The mineral character of the plinth is identical to that of the Theater of Performing Arts. The fluted concrete is the result of formwork that created a structure of vertical lines; the surface, manually roughened by hammering, captures light while revealing the aggregates of which it is composed, making the plinth appear as an element that rises from the ground.

View from the exterior gallery

View of the patio

FACADES IN MOTION

View of the eaves →

203

Elevations

First floor plan

206

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Sections

Details of the sunshades

FACADES IN MOTION

View of the entrance →

207

In the original plans, the ground is shown as far more uneven than it is today. The base volume was adapted to this irregularity by changing its lower elevation while still creating a horizontal platform on which to place the functions. The windows are recessed from the facades and shaded by gigantic oblique eaves made of prefabricated reinforced concrete that is smooth in texture and light gray in color, which differentiates the eaves from the base. This difference is reinforced by the joints in the eaves, whereas the base appears continuous, despite prefabrication, by concealing the connecting joints in the fluted surface. Locsin clearly distinguished the tectonic aspect of the base from the precisely cut aspect of the floors. The large horizontals created by the eaves unfold and adjust in length according to the program, creating an articulated building that eschews rigidity and flexibly adapts to the required functions. The fluidity of the interior, the prominent eaves, and the creation of a base on which the functions are placed recall the principles of vernacular Philippine architecture, which aims to protect itself from the extreme climatic conditions of the country. The sections show how Locsin intended to produce an architecture that emerges from and merges with its environment, both natural and cultural, making the Population Center an exemplary building in his research. A further two buildings were planned two years later, while the Population Center was under construction. While the eaves are the general motif of the facades of all three buildings, the typologies are completely different, producing different exterior images. In the Asian Center, the functions are organized symmetrically around a central core that houses the entrance, the lobby, and the main staircase,

← Asian Center for Training and Research in Social Welfare Makati 1974

and from which two office wings extend at 45 degrees. While in the Population Center the articulated plan gives changing perceptions and an overall dynamism to the building, the symmetry of the plan for the Asian Center anchors it firmly in the category of an institutional building. It is possible that this choice was influenced by the center’s official status, and that Locsin thus adopted a more classical composition according to the building’s function.

210

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Ground floor plan

Sections

FACADES IN MOTION

View of the entrance →

211

The Nutrition Center is the most different of the three buildings. Its

← Nutrition Center Makati 1974

facade shows a tripartite crown-column-base composition, and this is the second appearance of abutments at the base; they appear again two years later in the PHILCITE. [19] It is possible that the large sloping piers of the Folk Arts Theater developed at the same time were the source of inspiration. However, the dominant element is once again the gigantic concrete eaves that cantilever out more than 4 m. The complexity of the Population Center is completely forgotten in favor of a rectangular plan organized around a double-height hall. The hollow abutments apparently have no static role and are connected to a horizontal strip that defines the windowsill level of the rooms on the upper floor. The roof is probably the most interesting element, as it formally connects the Nutrition Center to the two buildings of the Welfare Complex.

View of the entrance

Detail of the buttresses

19

214

Abutments are already in use in the Magallanes Village Church (1970).

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Inclined Facades Manila International Airport Pasay 1976

Airports are gateways to the country, or in the case of the Philippines

→

a gateway to the islands, and in this sense they carry a very strong symbolic charge as they provide visitors with their first impression as they leave the plane. [20] It is therefore understandable that the Marcoses were interested in increasing the capacity of the Philippines to receive visitors. This opportunity arose after a fire ravaged Terminal 1 on January 22, 1972, leaving it in need of major renovation work. Dating from 1961, it had been built by Federico S. Ilustre next to the Villamor military base in Pasay. [21] For Gerard Lico, Ilustre’s Manila International Airport “showcased to foreign visitors the aspiration of the Philippines for modern progress” and was one of the largest and most modern

View of the exterior

airports in Asia at the time. [22] His architecture was influenced by the international context, and his use of sunshades became the dominant motif of the airport’s image. In 1973 the first feasibility studies for the reconstruction and expansion of the airport were commissioned. These were validated by the government the following year, and again in 1975 by the Asian Development Bank. For Locsin, this was his first airport, and the largest. [23] Its design took place during the period of major works for the Marcoses. He took up the design principles he was experimenting with at the time, notably those of abstraction. The general plan is based on an axis of symmetry that begins in the departure hall and ends at the articulation of the two wings leading to the boarding gates. While in plan the system resembles a head and two arms connected by a central body, in cross section the two departure floors are superimposed on the arrival floor. This configuration obliged Locsin to take departing passengers to the first floor by means of a ramp, allowing him to split the reception facade and reduce its height. The two large, symmetrical ramps are reminiscent of those of the Theater of Performing Arts, with their curved profile and

Detail of the windows

their hammered concrete surface finish. This access system, which seems to emerge from the ground, acts as a pedestal above which floats the volume of the upper floors; a glazed band set back from the facade is positioned between them. The play of shadows brings out the fullness of the concrete, which again dominates the composition. This effect is further accentuated in cross section by the parapets that project above the visitors. The parapet bands are the dominant motif that resolves the entire composition through their deployment in a continuous movement from one end of the airport to the other. From the interior, the recessed position of the windows, also at an angle, directs the gaze outside toward inviting, distant horizons. The superimposition of horizontal planes ensures visual continuity and allows different functions to be housed without affecting the composition of the facade. As in the Population Center, the implementation of a

20

sunshade principle in response to the extreme sunlight made it possible

According to Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) there were more than 85 airports in 2017 owned by the government.

21

Federico S. Illustre (1912–1989) was a Filipino architect trained at the Mapua Institute of Technology who became part of the Bureau of Public Works, under which he carried out several major projects, including the airport.

22

Lico 2008, 399.

23

There are four airport projects, of which three will be built.

FACADES IN MOTION

to project the image of a strong exterior capable of housing a set of disparate functions.

215

Section

Detail of the elevation

216

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Valle Verde Country Club Rizal 1976

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The Valle Verde Country Club was not a public commission; it was built to accommodate the different sports rooms of a private club. In this sense it differs from the projects for the Marcos administration. However it continued his search for expression of a facade characterized by oblique planes generated by eaves and counter eaves. Located at the corner of two streets, the building is characterized on the outside by a base comprised of columns beneath a horizontal floor slab. As in the Population Center, the variation in ground level is taken up by adjusting the column length. In this case the visible material is no longer concrete but an adobe veneer. At the upper level Locsin introduced a new variation of the sunshade, treating it as an inhabited facade. Whereas in the Welfare Center projects these elements were related to the vertical plane of the facade, in the Valle Verde Country Club, the space generated

Floor plan

between the windowsill and the sunshade’s base is continuous with the habitable interior space. As these two elements never touch each other and are cantilevered more than 5 m beyond the pillars, they create a horizontal opening that runs around the entire periphery of the building. This detail gives the building its exterior character while protecting the interior spaces from heavy rainfall by the greater overhang of the upper part. The facade recalls Claude Parent’s experiments with the oblique function presented at the Venice Biennale in 1970. But if Parent’s oblique function seems to serve a visual expression that wants to rise up against the diktat of the modern movement, Locsin’s interest lies in the fact that it produces real transitional space that he additionally furnished with

24

See Violeau 2010.

plants to reintroduce nature to the city. [24]

Elevations

Section

FACADES IN MOTION

217

Following years of major projects came several smaller ones, in which the search for sloping facades continued. This is the case of the Iloilo Airport project, of which only a few archival drawings exist, mainly executed by hand. Although this project does not seem to have gone very far in the studies, the drawings show a facade composed of a sloping base on which a large volume is placed. Between the two a main space, probably the passenger hall, appears to be completely open and entirely surrounded by plants. The inclination of the facade, which similar to the Manila terminal has a sloping upper part, protects the public access while giving movement to the structure.

Elevation

Tumuli: Buildings as Tumuli Other projects, though not realized, again exploited fluted concrete for the texture of the perimeter walls that emerge from the ground at

← Kuwait Convention Center Kuwait City 1979 (estimated date)

an angle, as in the Kuwait Convention Center. There are no facades as such, but simple sloping planes that create a central space screened from the outside. What is new in this case is the repetition of the exterior angle in the interior: Locsin inclined the colonnade that runs around the pool. The effect is that of a building excavated from the ground. In the residential building this principle is taken up by the use of two parallel bars 172 m long, leaning toward each other and thus generating a central, partially covered outdoor space. Typically, the dwellings are oriented toward this courtyard, probably to protect them from the sun and the extreme heat of Kuwait City, thus relegating the distribution corridors to the exterior facades. The cross section of the building is very well thought out, particularly in terms of the openings at floor level in the corridors and through a large, deep loggia. This loggia, through a subtle play of sloping planes, blocks direct views and hence ensures the privacy of the dwellings.

218

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Sections

Plan

FACADES IN MOTION

219

The same principle of sloping facades is again found in the project for the Sheraton Grande Residence in Bali, where the expression of the

← Sheraton Grande Residence Bali 1989

project is clearly linked to the materiality of the concrete. The facades are also sloping and planted with vegetation, as in the Davao Casino Hotel project, and recall the Amathus Beach Hotel (1965) by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Facade design based on questions of climate and layout became an issue of aesthetic exploration that allowed Locsin to achieve a high degree of abstraction in certain projects, while at the same time offering protection from the elements. The sunshade, often used architecturally to solve this problem, became a predominant design element. Locsin thus responded to the concerns of Angel Nakpil, for whom it was often only “a trademark to be stamped on the face of a building regardless of its useful values.” [25] Locsin went beyond the simple application of a pattern to a facade by introducing oblique surfaces that frequently protect the interior from what can be a harsh climate. This approach was used in the base, as in the Population Center, or sometimes became the building itself, as in the Kuwait Sports Center. In both cases they offer a means of continuous connection to the landscape while meeting the needs of the user.

25

Nakpil, 1956, 16.

Perspective-sections

Ground floor plan

Sections

220

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Ground Changes Design Continuity and Transition: The Relationship to the Land Redrawn

“I work in concrete, a sculptural material. You can

As already mentioned, the question of the relationship to the landscape

start shaping a structure outside, and continue it

concerned Locsin in a large number of projects, to such an extent that

inside for harmony, coherence.”

certain structures, such as the office buildings, were designed with

 [1]

equal care given to the ground outside as to the floor of the public

Leandro Locsin

space inside. For Frank Lloyd Wright this ideal of continuity comes from the abandonment of old construction principles, replaced by new construction opportunities linked to the potential of reinforced concrete.“ Any building for human purposes should be an elemental, sympathetic feature of the ground, complementary to its natureenvironment, belonging by kinship to the terrain.” [2] While this consideration may be facilitated by an environment that allows for complex transitions given an abundance of space, this is not the case in urban centers, where land prices are a limiting factor. Nevertheless, Locsin paid attention to this theme in almost all his projects, particularly institutional and religious ones. The treatment of the site was a way to integrate these buildings into their environment and thus to avoid a disconnect between these institutions and their users.

Walls Emerging from the Ground Manila Memorial Park Chapel Paranaque 1964

This project is interesting in many ways, as it shows that Locsin

→

composed his architecture taking into account the elements of the building site. In plan, Locsin used the circle as an element to structure the space, containing its interior volume and burying a large part of the building. From a distance, the building appears as volumes emerging from the ground, while two thick, curved structures encircle a courtyard that geometrically mirrors the position of the sacred space below. An opening at the end of one of these reveals a ramp that descends around the main space to allow access to the underground chapel. The staging of the sequences here is pushed to a high degree of refinement, as the visitor passes from the somber space of the ramp into the chapel, which is naturally lit both from above by a skylight, and also laterally from the opening of over a third of its perimeter onto a lake, the surface level of which is 80 cm below that of the chapel floor.

Section

Relatives or friends of the deceased are then invited to continue their journey under the ramp, this time via a system of large landings that serve seven funeral parlors. While the layout meets the requirement for precise spatial sequences, the cross section also demonstrates Locsin’s mastery of space through the provision of natural light to each underground room. The openings are calibrated and arranged in such a way as to qualify each place: at the center in the chapel, and at ceiling level, above the urns, in the case of the funeral parlors. The dominant material is again reinforced concrete, which is treated to give an exposed aggregate finish on the floors. The walls and ceilings received a hammered concrete finish that reinforces the effect of a structure carved out of rock. [3]

1

Villegas 1989, 35.

2

Wright 1953, 130.

3

“Chiseled concrete” is indicated in the drawings, for wall and ceiling surfaces.

GROUND CHANGES

By his use of materials and construction methods, Locsin succeeded in creating a building with sculptural continuity that reinforces its fusion with the site.

225

Perspective

Reflected ceiling plan

226

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Filipino Garden, East-West Center Honolulu, Hawaii 1960

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While the Memorial Chapel project seems to be unique in the output of Locsin’s first period, another project deserves mention; its archived documents are not dated, and it does not appear in the known inventories of 1976 and 1994. This is the Filipino Garden, located in Honolulu, more precisely in the East-West Center, which aims at crossborder collaboration between the USA, Asia, and the Pacific region. Within the campus layout, various buildings, pavilions, and facilities are constructed, including a Japanese garden and a Thai pavilion. These reflect the traditional architecture of the country represented and seem to have been placed there as an add-on, with no real connection to the site. The founding year of the center corresponds to the period just before the design of the Manila Memorial Chapel and the year in which Locsin received the Pan-Pacific Citation from the Hawaii Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Presumably the project was a follow-up to this recognition and intended to promote Locsin’s architecture and Filipino culture, but there is no certainty of this. However, the link between the two projects cannot be ignored, as the exterior image of the Hawaii project also consists of large, thick walls that are not plumb and curve in the form of several ellipses. The program is a theater for open-air performances, with the stage at the center and the stands at the periphery. Locsin was able to create the garden on the southern edge of the campus in a space created by the separation of the John A. Burns Hall auditorium building and the East-West Gallery, to reflect Philippine culture in a totally contemporary environment. Rather than using a vernacular language, he proposed a dialogue of materials between the concrete that forms the walls and the molave wood that forms the stage. [4] A topography of natural and artificial earthworks creates an alcove of calm in the center of the campus, reminiscent of the architecture of the rice fields of Banaue in the northern Philippines. These two projects did not see the light of day, but they demonstrate how Locsin explored themes of topography and materiality to make a project blend in and become one with its location. Furthermore, they demonstrate that prewar modernist concepts needed to be tempered

4

The molave is a hardwood tree found in the Philippines.

in order to envisage a new local culture.

Elevation

GROUND CHANGES

227

Sections

Site plan

228

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Holy Cross Memorial Park, Holy Cross Memorial Chapel Novaliches, Quezon City 1967

The second memorial park that Locsin undertook is in Novaliches, in the

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northern part of Manila. It is not known whether the architect designed the paths or was only involved in the design of the chapel situated between a road and a pond. In any event, the chapel is of interest as its design reduced the number of architectural elements to the essential, using a vocabulary comprising only walls and horizontal planes. The four walls that define the celebration space do not touch one another, and they can be extended by means of movable glass panels that are stored in deep recesses within the walls’ thickness. Three of the walls are 80 cm thick, while the fourth is longitudinally divided to accommodate service elements such as the sacristy and toilet facilities. The walls continue beyond the line of the roof in order to anchor the building to the site. As in the church of Magallanes, the wall profile varies in thickness from 110 cm at the base to 80 cm at the top, but this

View of the entrance

time in a curved rather than a straight line. Three steps detach the building from the natural ground by 30 cm, and the irregularly shaped base is interwoven with the walls and ancillary fittings. Thus the chapel appears to emerge from the ground in a continuous movement to support a roof whose rectangular geometry contrasts with that of the lower elements. As in Saint Andrew’s, the altar is part of this movement of organic continuity. The materiality was designed to support the impression that the chapel is a mineral element emerging from the ground. The reinforced concrete is again treated to obtain a rough texture capable of catching the

Perspective

dazzling light of Manila. The Novaliches project is contemporaneous with Saint Andrew’s in Makati and the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Quezon. The manner in which the building touches and melds with the ground was of fundamental importance and was resolved through the application of curves, made possible by the use of concrete.

Elevations

GROUND CHANGES

229

Floor plan

Sections

230

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Philippine Pavilion: An Enveloping Ode to Progress Expo ’70, Philippine Pavilion Osaka, Japan 1968

The Philippine Pavilion was Locsin’s first project abroad; it also marked

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the beginning of a long friendship between Locsin and the Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, who built the Canadian Pavilion next door. [5] The first world exhibition to be held in Asia, the master plan was entrusted to Uzo Nishiyama and Kenzo Tange. For Erickson, the previous world exhibition, Expo ’67 in Montreal, and the one in Osaka were diametrically opposed in their urban approach. Whereas in Canada a system of islands allowed visitors to orient themselves, in Osaka the Senri Hills industrial site was structured according to a system of streets with moving pavements, and the common spaces were located within the pavilions. [6] A meeting place therefore was necessary in order to orient the visitor, and Tange’s gigantic roof quickly became the focal point of the fair. [7] According to Peter Blake, for pavilions to be remarkable, “They should be daring experiments, in the tradition of Paxton’s Crystal Palace, or they should be wonderful theater.” [8] Erickson’s pavilion, with its gigantic mirrored surfaces surrounding a central space in which there is a stage, falls into the latter category. The site that Locsin was offered, which was about four times smaller than its Canadian neighbor, obliged him to think of a proposal that would make an impression on the visitor. The striking figure of the pavilion is a roof that rises from the ground to a height of 22 m “to express the aspirations and spirit of an ancient civilization.” [9] At the ridge, a skylight runs the length of the pavilion and reinforces the perfect symmetry of the plan. For Reuben Cañete, the shape of the roof refers to the figure of the mythical messenger bird of Philippine culture, a Sarimanok taking flight, or to the sail of the traditional boat. [10] But this interpretation is somewhat contradicted by Raul Locsin, the partner in charge of the project, during an interview. For him, the soaring roof was not, to his knowledge, motivated by a direct reference to vernacular culture, but rather by the need to stand out from the neighboring Canadian Pavilion. [11] One understands that the Osaka pavilion is not an isolated building, but rather part of a period in which Locsin explored the concept of singular roof spaces. As in Saint Andrew’s Church or the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish that followed, the exterior character of the building was achieved by a dominant roof figure supported by huge piers in visual continuity with the ground.

5

Girard 2015b.

6

Arthur Erickson, in The Japan Architect, no. 174, special issue, “Expo ’70” (May/June 1970), 174.

7

For a detailed description of the process of setting up Expo ’70 see the interview between Tange and Kawasoe transcribed in the same issue.

8

Peter Blake, in The Japan Architect, no 174, special issue, “Expo ’70” (May/June 1970), 180.

9

Polites 1977, 58.

10

Cañete 2012.

11

Girard 2015c.

GROUND CHANGES

231

View of the roof

232

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

View of the interior

GROUND CHANGES

233

Sections

Floor plan

234

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Sections

Plans, sections and elevations of the Perfoming Stage

GROUND CHANGES

235

This theme of visual continuity from floor to roof is again found in the theater project located on Mount Makiling in Los Baños, just above the

← National Arts Center Theater Los Baños 1975

University of the Philippines. The complex consists of housing, a clubhouse, a guest house, and a theater that can accommodate 2,500 people. The National Arts Center is “a training academy for the arts, a center for the fullest development of man as artist and the artist as man.” [12] The theater dominates the complex as the major piece and establishes a dialogue with the volcano of Mount Makiling. For Winand Klassen, the shape of the theater, a truncated pyramid, probably refers to the vernacular architecture of the Philippines. [13] For Cañete, also, the exterior form is clearly a reference to the Ifugao fale, the traditional house of the Cordillera. [14] The roof is pyramidal in shape and supported by four pillars that detach it from the ground, giving it the appearance of a large parasol. To reinforce View of the access

the image of a floating roof, the pillars are recessed from the corners to increase the effect of lightness. The span is 30 m and the overhangs at the corners are 10.40 m. The material used is consistent with this, with reinforced concrete for the load-bearing structures, terracotta tiles for the roof, and inside, a ceiling covered with mahogany, a dark wood that enables adjustment of the acoustics. In terms of continuity with the ground, Locsin proposed sloping piers that formally link to the area of the outdoor benches. Once again, the slope of the reinforced concrete elements creates a strong organic link between the building and the land. This slope is exploited at the level of the intersection between the tiles and the concrete by a channel that collects runoff water from the roof. This is directed to the piers, where it flows visibly into a vertical gutter. This is the first time that rainwater is exploited as an architectural

View of the construction

element, as drains are usually hidden in the piers. It is possible that the location, known for its thermal springs, was the origin of this theme. The Los Baños theater project and the Folk Arts Theater were developed in the same year and show similarities in design choices due in both

12

Imelda Marcos, cited on the official site www. imelda.mybcnet. net.

generally, they are part of a search for large covered spaces that are

13

Klassen 1986, 326.

organically anchored to their location.

14

See Cañete 2012.

cases to the requirement for a large covered space. However, more

Perspective

236

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floor plan

View of the exterior seats → Details of the structure

Section

GROUND CHANGES

237

← Aerial view

Pure Geometric Shapes Kuwait Convention Center Kuwait City 1979 (date estimated)

The unbuilt Convention Center Complex in Kuwait is of an unprecedented

→

size for Locsin, who undertook to provide several facilities for the organization of conferences on 200 hectares of land.

Site plan

Kuwait Convention Center Sports Building Kuwait City 1979 (estimated date)

→

The complex was to include a building for the main conference hall and additional facilities for its general operation, such as a mosque, houses, a sports center, and staff accommodation. This first group is located on the northwestern side of the site, while on the other side is the National Garden, which consists of a series of greenhouses and pools.

Floor plan, elevations and sections

GROUND CHANGES

241

The plan of the conference building is a square of 200 m sides, accessed through a monumental door in the center of each facade. The entrance level is raised by 5 m by means of a plinth with incorporated steps.

← Kuwait Convention Center Conference Building Kuwait City 1979 (estimated date)

At the corners, the upper floors are cantilevered by more than 25 m, creating a monumental effect further reinforced by marble cladding. The composition of the facades is as classical as the plan, with a base and a crown, between which the main floor is inserted, itself entirely covered in mosaics. However, the abstraction mentioned in previous projects is contradicted by the motif of the large doors, whose design is very traditional, literally evoking Islamic architecture. Inside however, Locsin demonstrated his ability to deal with large entrance spaces by once again proposing a triple-height hall with reinforced concrete stairs at the rear. Whereas these spaces were previously artificially lit, here in Kuwait skylights would bring natural light through a grid of beams spanning 60 m. While the building is in keeping with the search for monumentality as developed particularly in the CCP’s institutional buildings, the application of a traditional motif in the conference building gives the facade what Klassen refers to as a kitschy feel.

Sections

242

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Perspective

Floor plan

GROUND CHANGES

243

Similarly, the mosque is based on a system of concentrically interlocking

← Kuwait Convention Center Mosque Kuwait City 1979 (estimated date)

circles around the large prayer hall with a domed roof rising 35 m above the ground. This is offset from the center of the outer enclosure and gives way to an inner courtyard of the same diameter but not covered, which completes the composition. The interest comes from the way Locsin positioned these two spaces within a circular enclosure 100 m in diameter, thereby producing interstitial planted spaces. The external image is thus reduced to a vegetal tumulus from which the dome and minaret emerge, thus radically detaching itself from the architecture of the conference center.

Section, elevations

Floor plan

244

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Benguet Center Building Mandaluyong 1981

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The Benguet Center, demolished in 2011, was located in Mandaluyong, not far from Makati, in what is now an extremely dense area, but at the time of its construction was in the middle of the countryside, at the intersection of two roads. It was built to house the oldest mining company in the Philippines, the Benguet Corporation, which opened the first gold mine in the province of Benguet, in the north of the island of Luzon. Locsin oriented the building on a diagonal axis through the center of the intersection, drawing a series of parallels on which large 3.05 m thick stone-clad walls were built to house the services. In reality the stone used is araal stone, a type of slate found mostly in the Negros region, Locsin’s home province, and which lies to the south of the island of Luzon. Each end of the blocks is angled at 45 degrees. Between these vertical elements are suspended the 14 m span floors, which are arranged freely, with projections that vary according to the needs of the users. The composition of the plan, with the free position of not only the blocks but also the floors, gives great fluidity of movement, particularly

View of the main elevation

on the ground floor, where the entrance hall is continuous and without furnishings. Klassen sees the shape of the piers as a reference to I. M. Pei’s East Building of the National Gallery, which opened in Washington in 1978 [15] while for Gerard Lico they “evoked the regional topography and materiality of the rugged grandeur of the stone-walled Banaue rice terraces of the Benguet region.” [16]

Sections, elevation

If these approaches recall the formal origin of the stone massifs, it is perhaps more enlightening to look for their conceptual origin by bringing in two other architectural references that may have influenced Locsin’s proposal for the Benguet Center. Firstly Frank Lloyd Wright, who in his search for a continuous space adopted an aesthetic that is assured by large stone walls. [17] These great bastions, as Bruno Zevi calls them when he evokes the Pauson house in Phoenix, emerge from 15

Klassen 1986, 325.

the earth and become the backbone of the building. [18] Secondly, the

16

Lico 2008.

National Bank in Teheran, which Jørn Utzon designed in 1960, comes

17

Zevi 1991.

to mind when one observes the cross section of the two buildings. This

18

Zevi 1991, 188.

building, which is less well known in the Danish architect’s output, would

GROUND CHANGES

245

nevertheless be the source of major projects including the Bagsværd Church (1975). Its design is based on two walls, one of which is thickened to accommodate the services, between which the various floors float, and which provide a through hall on the ground floor. The cross sections of Locsin’s and Utzon’s projects show great similarities, demonstrating that the projects are part of a desire for a topographical continuity of the ground upon leaving the street space.

Ground floor plan

Perspective and site plan

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Rizal Amphitheater Manila 1989

The Rizal Theater is a public facility located in Rizal Park overlooking

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Manila Bay, next to the old town of Intramuros, and is named after the Filipino hero José Rizal, who was executed there in 1896. Designed as an open-air stage with a slope of concrete benches oriented toward it, the topography is used not only to enhance the view of the spectators but also to create infills of greenery between staggered concrete walls. Taking elements from the Benguet and the Mount Makiling Theater, the Rizal Amphitheater seems to be built in the middle of the countryside, so well do the built elements merge with the site on which they are placed.

Perspective

The topography of the ground and the relationship between the projects and their location is a theme radically present in certain projects, which can be seen to run through almost all of Locsin’s work. The link between the exterior environment and the interior space, materialized by a visual continuity and different levels that seem to emerge from the ground, is fundamental. It allows his architecture to be tied to the historical and cultural sources of his country, and the resulting spatial notion is totally connected to the exterior environment. The topography is an ally capable of responding to this research. The different sequences allowing access to the heart of the buildings are thus connected by the ground, which becomes the unifying element. The relationship between the exterior and the interior would be reinterpreted to adapt to new client requirements and its development the subject of very elaborate proposals integrating water features and interior gardens. The continuity of the ground would be questioned in projects whose location is detached from the major urban centers and where the question of the vernacular would be posed in a more literal way.

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GROUND CHANGES

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Vernacular Building Local Material and Style: Buildings Subject to Local Conditions

“Our human environment may now be conceived

Locsin’s questioning of the vernacular is clearly evident in structures

and executed according to nature: the nature of

for which location involves precise conditions that also imply materials

Time, Place, and Man; native as was always natural

capable of favoring a link with local culture. It is probably in the context

to cultures wherever life in the past was strongest,

of second homes that Locsin made the most use of this notion of

richest, and best. The level always highest

materiality at the service of sensations, and in which spatial fluidity is

when native.”

guaranteed by technical means. Whether this be through the use of

 [1]

reinforced concrete or wooden frameworks covered with local materials,

Frank Lloyd Wright

depended upon the desired atmosphere. This process is symptomatic of Locsin’s production of temporary housing, such as the dwellings he built in Mindoro.

Secondary Residences: Between Traditional Style and Modern Construction There are eleven second homes in Locsin’s dossier, covering the period from 1956 to 1993, with no temporal continuity. Some of the projects are holiday homes, called either “Beach House” or “Rest House,” while others, called “Guest House,” are part of a larger complex, such as the National Arts Center, or business establishments whose function is to accommodate guests. In both cases, the geographical situation is opposed to that of urban residences, as nature is omnipresent, and the building’s use would be limited to defined periods. These new parameters influenced the design of the projects, especially in terms of plans and construction. The language is not linked to urban residences but rather is rooted in the immediate environment; one sees the emergence of an architecture that uses vernacular references as a conceptual basis, particularly the bahay kubo. The first thing that stands out when reading the plans is the houses’ very different relationship to the land, insofar as they are raised on stilts separating the main floor from the ground. Rest House Asencio Los Baños, Laguna 1960

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The first of the residences in the second home classification is the Asencio Rest House located 60 km south of Manila. Los Baños is known for its hot springs, which make this destination very popular for people wanting to escape the capital’s pollution. This holiday home is very modest, with two bedrooms and no servant’s quarters. The living space is raised on stilts, a reference to traditional Philippine architecture, notably the roof of which the gable ends are complemented by an overhang that forms part of the gallery below. At the overhang’s intersection is a perforated screen that allows evacuation of hot air and ventilation of the underside. Although the general style seeks to blend in with the local environment, the structure is made of reinforced concrete columns and slabs.

Perspective

1

Wright 1957, 107.

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251

This is also the case of the guest houses, or cottages, built in Los Baños, but this time within the framework of the National Arts Center, which is

← Cottage, National Arts Center Los Baños, Laguna 1974

responsible for housing artists-in-residence. What is interesting about these small dwellings is the relationship with the land, which is managed by galleries on stilts that manage access to the rooms. Strictly speaking, these are not houses insofar as the services are shared, but this gallery system would become a recurrent element of secondary residences.

Elevations

View of the patio

Floor plan

A little further away from the cottages described above Locsin built

← Guest House, National Arts Center Los Baños, Laguna 1976

the Guest House, located on the slope facing Laguna Bay. This project adopts a configuration of bedroom pavilions and communal areas organized around a central courtyard, connected by covered galleries. Again, reinforced concrete columns detach the house from the ground, but this time their profile is more pronounced, making them appear as elements emerging from the ground. The given description is “concrete pedestal,” and it supports a wooden floored structure. The reference to Japanese architecture is very strong in this project, especially in the walkways that not only connect the rooms to one another but also 252

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provide framed views of the near and distant landscape. Locsin made a change in the material of the load-bearing columns. In the common areas, the reinforced concrete is covered with natural stone to give them an emphatic look, while in the rest of the structure they are made of roughly squared tree trunks. The distinction increased his desire to further strengthen the connection between private space and location by using traditional vernacular construction methods. All three projects make use of a traditional language applied to contemporary reinforced concrete construction. It is not until Locsin’s holiday home was built that one sees the emergence of a construction method related to the location.

Floor plan and elevations Floor plan and elevations

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253

← View of the living room

Buildings in Symbiosis with Their Location Beach House Oriental Mindoro 1972

Located on the island of Mindoro, the Beach House Locsin built for

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himself is situated in lush vegetation near the beach and rests on stilts that detach it completely from the ground. For Nicholas Polites, “Houses set in nature are doubly subject to the rule that buildings should spring from their sites.” [2] Locsin explored the local lexicon to propose a holiday house that is timeless, as its configuration and materiality are derived from local tradition. Large verandas extend the rooms to the outside and are closed with mosquito nets stretched between roughly squared posts. The balustrades are open-worked or replaced by benches that allow the surrounding nature to be enjoyed. Sliding walls allow the rooms to be opened to the outside and ventilated during the hot weather. The non-load-bearing walls made of mortarbonded shells give texture to the interiors, completing the connection between the house and its surroundings. The Locsin Beach House is part of the tradition of modernity that seeks integration with its site and whose design is a result of the means at hand. Once again, Japan appears to serve as a reference for this project, which is in line with the philosophy of renewal of tradition in modernity, explicitly marked by the suggestion of a tea house based on the tatami frame. The space here is reduced to a single room surrounded by wide verandas on all four sides connected by sliding shell doors. The other Japanese influence seems to have been the Katsura House, consisting of pavilions on stilts connected by covered galleries. It is one of the most representative examples of vernacular construction in which the structure is not made of reinforced concrete; it would take almost twenty years to find this principle in two projects that were built almost concurrently.

View of the exterior gallery

2

Polites 1977, 207.

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Elevations

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Second floor plan

Main floor plan

Details of the doors →

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259

The Beach House for Carson Management shows a pavilion completely surrounded by verandas and built on stilts. Constructive simplicity is again achieved by the use of wood for the entire building, resulting in an elementary pavilion architecture that would be continued in the Zóbel Beach House in Mindoro. Located on the beach, it is the most representative example of a house on stilts designed by Locsin. Divided into three independent pavilions connected by a covered gallery, the house is treated as a local construction independent of international influences. Although it is in the same period as the latest Forbes Park houses, whose architecture was increasingly detached from the Philippine context, Locsin here returned to project principles related to local craftsmanship, despite a client from the urban environment of Makati. The working perspectives show his research on the spatiality of the living and dining room in the center pavilion, complete with wooden panels engraved with plant motifs. This holiday home represents, together with the Locsin holiday home, the synthesis of a work to integrate the vernacular into contemporary production.

Perspective

Floor plan, sections and elevations

Floor plan

Perspective

← View of the exterior gallery

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Eaves Revisited Hi-Cement Administration Building Bulacan 1992

Eaves, originally conceived as climate protection, also underwent

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variations in administrative projects in order to integrate them into new localities. Built for one of the largest cement companies in the Philippines, the Hi-Cement Administration Building is located in the north of Manila on a site occupied by production and warehouse buildings. The project is distributed over two levels in two square buildings offset in plan and connected by an entrance and service block. While the plan organization and the 8.5 m structural grid are quite simple and classical, Locsin emphasized the design of the facade and partly took up the idea, developed in the Population Center, of large reinforced concrete

Perspective

canopies that cast a shadow on a continuous band of recessed windows. While their inclination and projection are similar, the sunshades in this case are made of horizontal concrete louvres placed on supporting frames. Only the outer louvre is angled to give the periphery of the building a certain sharpness. Locsin distinguished the two floors by varying the relative position of the glazing with regard to the columns, which are in the same plane on the ground floor, and behind the windows on the second floor. Also on the second floor, the awnings rise in front of the mullions, thus reducing the window’s visual height. With these few simple principles he managed to compose a facade in two superimposed layers that indicate the different functions of the surfaces.

Floor plan

Details of the eaves

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263

In the same year he constructed a building for the headquarters of a technology park in Laguna, which is still in operation today, a project

← Laguna Technopark Administration Building Laguna 1992

that is also divided into two levels. This time the plan is symmetrical, with the main entrance and vertical circulation in the center, and offices on either side. It is at the level of the cross section that Locsin introduced the greatest value by placing the building on an earthen podium, which raises it above the surrounding ground. The entrance area, as in the Benguet, traverses the floor plan to provide spatial complexity in the form of a double-height glazed atrium. The lower facade is protected from the sun by means of screens in the form of a concrete slab that extends 2 m from the facade. On the roof, eaves overhanging by 2.5 m provide general protection for the Perspective

periphery of the building against both sun and rain.

Detail of the lobby

This last corporate headquarters building is located at La Union, in the north of Luzon Island. The site is slightly above the coastal road

← Bacnotan Cement Plant Administration Building La Union 1993

and overlooks the production facilities. Treated as a large house, the prominent roof uniformly covers the office area, projecting 2.5 m around the perimeter. Locsin introduced a concrete perimeter gallery supported by diagonal braces that connect to the lower columns. The final image is based on the concept of the nipa hut, the house on stilts with its imposing roof, while revisiting materials that correspond to the image of a cement company. Locsin thus returned to a design influenced by the question of location and proposed a response that oscillates between

Perspective

traditional design and the means of contemporary construction.

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Between Vernacular Tradition and Modernity: Three Hotels Matabungkay Hotel Lian 1967

The question of the vernacular also returned to tourist accommodations.

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The following three hotels, in contrast to those built in Manila, showcase a style that is close to formalism or even eclecticism. Although eight years apart, the Matabungkay Hotel that Locsin planned in 1967 in Lian, south of Luzon, broadly follows the principles used in the Davao Insular Hotel. The layout is divided into several buildings in order to reduce the visual impact of the structures, which vary in height from one to two stories. The plan of the main building takes up some of the Davao elements, such as the large longitudinal hall that functions as the reception area and the dining room that extends onto a large

Elevation

covered terrace. In the middle of this space is an interior garden, but this time it is closed off on the upper level by the first floor, which functions as a room for ceremonies. This space, called the mezzanine on the plans, not only has a surface area of almost 500 m2 but is located under the roof, which rises to 9 m at its peak. In terms of form the Lian project is very different from that at Davao, as Locsin introduced a curved roof that has a gentle slope at the bottom, rising steeply as it approaches the top. The front of the buildings, especially the reception building, is reminiscent of the elevation of the torogan, the traditional chief’s house in Islamic architecture, which is typically found on the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines. The very steep roof slope was designed to evacuate rain as quickly as

Floor plan

possible during storms and to provide shelter to the royal chamber, which was detached from administrative functions. [3] By reinterpreting the form of the supporting structure, which is traditionally linear but in this case curves, Locsin gave the hotel an image that connects the new building to a distant past and to the Muslim presence on the island of Sulu since the 14th century. [4] Its division into several buildings connected by a covered elevated passageway also suggests the establishment of hamlets of houses on water, connected by a network of passages. The use of this reference works even better for the reception building, as Locsin took advantage of using the first floor to position the main ceremony space there. In contrast, for the guest room buildings, the

3

Lico 2008, 1 87.

shape of the roof is but a motif whose use remains questionable as it

4

Perez et al. 1994, 21.

has no symbolic or climatic function. Elevations

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Large Houses: Formal Eclecticism The Davao Casino Hotel, planned to the south of the Davao Insular Hotel, is a large structure capable of accommodating about 600 rooms on a

← Davao Casino Hotel Davao City 1980

site extending from the Davao–Cotabato road to the Davao Gulf. The layout is asymmetrical H-shape in plan, with accommodation buildings on either side of the communal buildings. Rooms are distributed on either side of a central open-air atrium. The cross section shows three floors offset by one corridor width. The staggered facades create recesses accommodating growing plants, giving the rooms the impression of being immersed in vegetation and thereby breaking up the building’s substantial scale. The ground floor, one and a half times taller than the upper floors, is in direct contact with vegetation on one side and with

Section

water on the other, which Locsin brings to the foot of the buildings. The communal buildings consist of a main floor with an enormous roof. As in the Matabungkay project, Locsin used a vernacular reference to characterize the architecture of the central buildings. This time the direct connection is to Indonesian architecture, with the main building’s roof rising on either side of the gables, and the reception building’s roofs in several superimposed layers. [5] The general profile of the project recalls the image of a fishing village on stilts found in many coastal regions of Southeast Asia, and also the competition project for the Japanese Cultural Center (1943). The latter was submitted by the architect Maekawa Kunio in 1943 and as in his villas, it attempts to integrate traditional architecture into contemporary buildings. However, when it came to designing the buildings for the guest rooms,

Site plan

Locsin proposed an architecture that contrasts totally with the common areas by applying a completely different style. This is characterized by continuous superimposed bands that are set back on each floor. The rooms are positioned around a central open space planted with lush vegetation that brings freshness to the interior. From a formal point of view, the peripheral buildings housing the guest rooms seem to be implanted around a preexisting hamlet, from which the neovernacular architect creates decor at the service of tourism while at the same time generating a highly eclectic project.

5

See in this regard Dawson and Gillow 1994.

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Zamboanga Airport Zamboanga City Date unknown

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This formalism was also evident when Locsin worked on an airport project, this time in the very south of the archipelago, on the island of Mindanao. His proximity to the Islamic culture of the south certainly influenced the design of the roof, which is based on the traditional Torajan house motif and takes the form of a boat. In this project, the question of the base is treated in the same way as in his major public buildings, namely a roof floating on an organic base. The date of the project is not known, but the representation and the principles of composition seem to place it in the period of the 1970s, because in spite of the traditional form of the roof, the abstraction sought notably by the repetition of concrete elements gives rhythm to the main space. This brings the project closer to the preoccupations present for example, in the PHILCITE. Above all, it heralded the largest of Locsin’s projects, the palace of the Sultan of Brunei, begun in 1981.

Site plan Perspective

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Finally, it is in his largest project, the Istana Nurul Iman in Brunei, that Locsin exploited the formal reference to local tradition. According to

← Istana Nurul Iman Brunei 1980

the architect, in 1980 he received a call from his friend Enrique Zóbel asking him if he would agree to design the new palace of the Sultan of Brunei. [6] Intended to house the Sultan’s private quarters, it should also house the new governmental functions following the proclamation of independence on January 1, 1984.

View of the main roof

A polo player, the Sultan had stayed at the Philippine Plaza Hotel— which Locsin built in the CCP compound to host the IMF conference— during a tournament in Manila. Locsin accepted the commission, and in December 1980 he presented the project plans together with a model measuring approximately 2 by 3 m. The Sultan approved the proposal and immediately set up a construction committee to meet the handover date, three years later, on December 19, 1983. The palace is envisaged as the new image of the recently independent sultanate, and its size is to reflect the country’s ability to handle large projects. Locsin, who in reality wanted to rest, had to build what would be the largest palace in the world, in three years. The dimensions alone give the magnitude of the project: the total area is about 200,000 m2, consisting of about 1,800 rooms, including a throne room with a capacity of 2,000 people and a reception hall capable of hosting dinners for more than 4,000 guests. In addition to private apartments, a mosque completes the program, together with several underground garages, the largest of which is designed for about 200 cars. In contrast to the Kuwait City project, the palace is composed as a set of functions linked by a network of corridors, which Locsin addressed as the real challenge of the project by trying to reduce their length. He opted 268

6

Locsin 1985, 25.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

for a symmetrical composition whose axis connects the main entrance to the throne room, with a courtyard between the two decorated with pools. On either side are the work rooms and the mosque, while the private quarters are located at the northern end of the complex. The mix of functions is resolved by a clear differentiation, both in terms of the visual and of the material distribution. The base is made up of large platforms whose periphery comprises opaque walls that allow Locsin, as in other previous projects, to recess the window location. These elements create large horizontal cantilevers at the entrance level, which are of monumental size. This system of superimposition is also used for the private apartments, which thus adopt an identical style and are integrated into the composition of the whole. The southwestern view is undoubtedly the most demonstrative in highlighting this superimposition of styles and shows how the palace is laid out across the site. Compared with other institutional projects, in Brunei, Locsin did not draw a base emerging from the ground in organic continuity, preferring to establish a dialogue between gigantic platforms that are separately placed on hillocks. The same principle is applied to the private apartments, but here the platforms are partially embedded in the ground, appearing to emerge from the earth before cantilevering out. [7] In some corners the ground is artificially raised to the level of the roof, demonstrating Locsin’s desire to establish a strong dialogue with nature in order to better highlight the roofs of the institutional program. The final project is reminiscent of gigantic sculptures placed on hilltops. The way the building interacts with the land would be reviewed again in the last infrastructure project Locsin planned. In the background of the composition, and standing out from the mainly horizontal layout, large roofs with traditional shapes emerged to house the official ceremonial rooms. The palace is thus essentially composed of a superposition of individual volumes whose form is organic, Detail of the fountain

arranged on habitable bases consisting of less significant structures. In this respect, the design is reminiscent of some of Jørn Utzon’s buildings, such as the Sydney Opera House, which gives importance to the roofs of the halls, while other functions are installed in the base. In Locsin’s case, however, several nuances are notable, first and foremost the way in which the link is made between the two parts. Gigantic concrete piers rise from the ground to the top of the roof in the same way as the Osaka pavilion. The curved shape is repeated in the longitudinal profile, lower in the center and rising at the ends. The final image is reminiscent of traditional Indonesian roofs of the Sumatra region and in particular the rumah gadang (literally “the big house”), which serves both as the official residence of the village chief and as a place for ceremonies. Locsin spoke of a direct application of Malaysian roofing. [8] Between vernacular tradition and modernity, the Istana Nurul Iman Palace is symptomatic of an approach that fluctuates between formalism and constructive truth. Intended as an emblematic building representing the power of the sultan, the architecture is nevertheless characterized by the landscape. Abstraction and symbolism are placed in service of a relationship to the landscape, which Locsin would draw

7

There are no photographs of this part of the building, but the model on display in the Locsin office provides an understanding of the building as a whole.

8

Locsin 1992.

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on for a good number of projects, notably religious. View of the entrance elevation →

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← View of the main entrance

Main floor plan

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← View from the park

Roofs as Symbols Manila Memorial Park, Meditation Tower Paranaque 1964

The Meditation Tower in the Manila Memorial Park is intended to to

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provide a space for quiet contemplation; it is spatially disconnected from the world of graves in the park that surrounds it. Locsin provided an earthen base, upon which rises a tower that shelters a 4 m square chamber within it and is accessible via a gentle ramp. A statue, isolated by a pool of water, is placed in a niche cut into the wall opposite the access ramp. The notion of burial is reinforced by the chamber’s slightly leaning retaining walls that recall the work required to resist the earth. The ramp takes visitors down 30 cm below ground level. Once in the center of the meditation chamber, the visitor is visually isolated from his environment conscious only of the basic elements; earth, light and water. The tower comprises two curved concrete sections that meet to leave an opening at the top, crowned with a glass plate to admit natural light. At the base, the fold is accentuated to emphasize clearance from the

Site plan

ground. Four posts, clad in dry stone, emerge 30 cm from the ground to support the reinforced concrete roof that appears detached and floating above the grass. There are no texts concerning the genesis of this form or its inspiration, but we can nevertheless try to decipher the influences that may have inspired it. The place being devoted to prayer and meditation, Locsin seems to introduce here a religious image in the form of two hands that join in a sign of prayer. A stylized form is then applied in order not to copy a literal image, which would have had the effect of falling into a formal kitsch. This is the first reference that comes to mind when one discovers this building, and probably the most immediate. [9] If one looks a little more closely at the splayed shape set on short, barely visible poles, one can also hypothesize that it refers to the shape of certain Filipino vernacular dwellings found, for example, in the north of the island of Luzon. The dominant figure is the roof that descends very low to the ground, which is raised to offer protection from the natural elements. Winand Klassen, in his chapter on vernacular architecture, describes it in a way that could be applied to the Meditation Tower: “The Ifugao house thus far described is basically a one-room, windowless structure dominated by a heavy, wide overhanging roof, which leaves a minimum of the wall surface exposed to the elements.” [10] The exterior form, but also the typology of a single room covered in such a way so as not to expose the interior walls, probably inspired the Meditation Tower as a fundamental element of the Manila Memorial Park company,

Section

which made it its main logo. Traditional Ifugao house

9

In the same year, 1964, Le Corbusier inaugurated the Open Hand Monument in Chandigarh, using the hand as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. It is possible that Locsin, who admired the Swiss architect, may have been influenced by this monument.

10

Klassen 1986, 48.

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Front elevation

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Pyramid-Shaped Projects The pyramidal shape returned regularly, particularly from the 1980s onward, and underwent different interpretations. This is notably the case for the thickness of the roof, which sometimes takes on the profile of a ziggurat and gives the exterior a stepped profile. Once again, Locsin was part of a movement in which Frank Lloyd Wright was active. In 1958, when Wright published The Living City, he included a plate depicting a roadside market consisting of a base upon which a stepped pyramid roof was placed. [11] A year later, he completed the Guggenheim Museum in New York, whose interior ramp describes a logarithmic spiral whose profile defines the interior space as an inverted ziggurat. The example of the Musée Mondial or Mundaneum (1929) that Le Corbusier planned in Geneva is also based on a continuous spiral that develops around the perimeter of the facade. The image of the ziggurat is here clearly assumed and organic research obtained by “a fundamental architectural conception.” [12] Reference to the infinite can clearly be adapted to a religious building. City Cemetery Bagbag Novaliches, Quezon 1979

The cemetery is adjacent to Holy Cross Memorial Park, located a few

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hundred meters south of the chapel. Locsin proposed a complete layout of the park with design of pathways, plantings, and facilities such as burial niches, church, and administrative buildings. In the end, the project was realized, but not according to Locsin’s original plan, with none of the buildings being built. The overall plan is based on a system of concentric layers that allow for maximum use of the site in order to optimize the number of alcoves in which bodies are placed. This was the first time Locsin explored the figure of the pyramid for a religious building by proposing that the funeral alcoves constitute the tiers. The section shows the difficulties this poses in purely dimensional terms, the niches at the base being considerably larger than those at the top of the structure. Locsin seemed to have doubts as to the relevance of this figure in relation to its use, because he proposed other

Perspective

very different solutions, which function on a single module, and whose expression makes one think of community mausoleums accommodating several dozen deceased. It was not until several years later that Locsin was able to develop three projects in the space of three years, which confirm the extent to which he was attached to the pyramidal form. Plan and section

11

See Wright 1958. This book is part of the Locsin office library.

12

Text by Le Corbusier accompanying the project. Quoted on the site of the Le Corbusier Foundation.

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Located in Quezon, Locsin worked on the campus of a school founded in 1980 for the study of religious music.

 [13]

← Samba Likhaan The Asian School of Music, Worship and the Arts Quezon 1987

With the main buildings,

except for the church and its ancillary facilities, already constructed, Locsin intervened in the upper part of the site called Cathedral Heights. There are several variants, suggesting that the project underwent various redesigns and in the end only the student housing was built. The church project is nevertheless remarkable for its size, one of the largest in dimensions, with a nave length of about 50 m and a height of 30 m. The altar is positioned exactly in the center, at the highest point of the

Elevation

roof, and the faithful gather around it. Although the plan is square, it is oriented, as in the church of Magallanes, along a diagonal marked by the doubling of massive supports that cross and extend to form a cross of Saint Andrew, a motif already used in the church at Makati. Perforated screens are attached to the supports to form giant claustra. The angle of the parapets follows that of the supporting beams and creates a continuity of surface that restores the image of a smoothsurfaced pyramid, unlike that of Novaliches, with its stepped surface. Locsin’s approach radicalized the form so that the overall image is that of a megastructure reduced to a few fundamental elements, leaving no ambiguity about its institutional purpose. Site plan

Perspective 13

280

See https://idmmei.org/record.php?id=2966.

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Manila Memorial Park Dasmariñas, Cavite 1989

Similarly, when designing the entrance to the Manila Memorial Park

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in Dasmariñas, Locsin opted for the solution of a church whose form is based on the pyramid. The site plan gives the limits within which he operates and shows that the church will be the focal point toward which the eyes will converge when visitors enter the park. Before arriving at the church, a central area consisting of a large pool plays the role of distancing the sacred place, which is located on a slight promontory, thereby reinforcing its institutional image. After several sketches, Locsin again decided on the choice of the pyramidal form, as in the Samba Likhaan and Novaliches projects. This time, however, he continued to explore the structure as the main element, no longer asserting a symbolism such as the cross, but rather emphasizing the slanted beams that rise and meet at the top of the church. The plan, a hexagon of 28 m in diameter, is again based on a simple geometric figure and regulates the entire structural framework. The remarkable thing about Cavite is that the large beams are not aligned with the radii of the hexagon but with the altar, changing each time their angle of rotation, and thus the length to reach the top. Thus, the pyramidal profile of the church is skewed, shallower at the front and steeper at the back.

Section

Floor plan

Perspective

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The third in this family of unbuilt pyramid projects is the Everest Hills

← Everest Hills Memorial Park Muntinlupa, Metro Manila 1990

Chapel in Muntinlupa. Located on a hill, the project comprises two main interventions, the entrance area and the chapel. In the entrance area, Locsin demonstrates his interest in landscaping through limited means, of ponds and vegetation. The two parts of the program, the parking lot and the offices, are buried and complemented by a pool dominated by a statue. The parapets and the peripheral walls are in fact containers for growing plants. The resulting image is a composition comprising horizontal mineral surfaces and vegetation reflected in the body of water. The different functions are decorated with patios surrounded by the same system of containers for plants.

Perspective Site plans

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In contrast to this principle of concealment adopted for the entrance area, the chapel emerges from the top of the hill and is the point toward which the entire park converges. It is the largest sacred space that Locsin conceives, with an external diameter of 70 m. In fact, the space covered by the roof not only houses the chapel but also the crypts and niches around which a covered walkway is located. Locsin thus returned to the principle of a circular plan with a peripheral ring in the form of a walkway. However, the much larger size allowed him to introduce a water feature between the peripheral ring and the central church, acting as an intermediate zone and bringing freshness to the interior. In a perspective sketch, this water feature is punctuated by Section and elevation

trees and complemented by plants growing from the upper roof boxes, thereby demonstrating a clear intention to bring the outdoors inside by using an intermediate layer that surrounds the place of celebration. In this project he synthesized various principles he had previously explored, such as asymmetry in elevation contrasting with a plan based on a simple geometric figure—the circle in this case. The altar is again in an intermediate position and its position is emphasized by a circular atrium which reunites the massive inclined beams. To complete the composition, two vertical canopies reach up to the lantern and give it a symbolic value in a space that seems to have no beginning and no end. Connection to the ground is achieved by means of a textured reinforced concrete base that integrates the emergence of the altar in organic continuity. The sacred space appears to have been solely designed as a shelter of monumental dimensions to protect the faithful from the external elements. This is without doubt the most ambitious project from a dimensional point of view but also from a thematic point of view, as Locsin succeeded in combining elements to achieve a formal and thematic synthesis thanks

Floor plan

in particular to the unity of material offered by reinforced concrete.

Perspective

VERNACULAR BUILDING

283

Punctuate the Landscape At the time of his death in November 1994, Locsin was in the process

← Monastery of the Transfiguration Malabay, Bukidnon 1994

of designing the Monastery of the Transfiguration on the island of Mindanao. The project, which would be completed in 1996 by the firm Leandro V. Locsin Partners, comprises a chapel and community buildings. Locsin opted for a plan composition based on buildings connected by a system of covered galleries that house the walking spaces and become the backbone to which the buildings are connected. The galleries run along a north–south axis of symmetry starting from the church, passing through a cloister at the center of the composition, and ending at the courtyard of the dormitory. The floor level is more or less constant throughout the monastery, generating a horizontal reference upon which the main functions are arranged. The relationship to the ground is achieved by varying the base of the facades, which adapt naturally to the topography. The general perspective of the ensemble clearly shows these intentions and the importance of the roof which covers all

Perspective

the functions except for the church. This emerges from the composition, marking the territory with its visual imprint. For the church, Locsin returned one last time to a center plan, with the altar in the middle of the assembly of the faithful. The pews are positioned on three sides, while the fourth, on the side of the sacristy, is left free. A walking space runs around the periphery creating the transitional space found in many of his religious projects. However, in Bukidnon, this transition zone is not characterized by a difference in cross section but is integrated under the pyramidal roof and the delimitation in plan is made by a series of secondary columns. The church was conceived as a space of celebration covered by a roof that protects it without touching it, and whose supports are located outside, seeming to emerge from the natural ground. For the first time, these supports are made of metal, probably to reduce their size and weight. [14] Their position frees up the corners, giving the impression of a roof floating above the ground. This choice of material, quite rare in Locsin’s production, nevertheless implies some technically and visually delicate details. This is the case for the connection to the ground, which would require the use of concrete bases to protect the metal against corrosion. [15] This contradicts the idea of organic continuity so often apparent in his projects, and yet found here in the annex buildings. In addition, the use of black paint uniformly applied to the main structures and secondary posts makes the spatial and constructive interpretation ambiguous. For the last time, the Monastery of the Transfiguration took the pyramid as a dominant figure in its composition and used principles already explored in previous projects. In this sense, it continued Locsin’s theme of religious buildings implanted in landscaped spaces and marks a period of research into large covered spaces, although its realization does not seem to be in total accord with previous organic principles. This concludes a series of projects in which the relationship to the surrounding landscape is fundamental in the formal design of the main buildings. It also ends Locsin’s career with a religious project, just as it

14

“Rigid steel frame” indicated on the plans.

began with the Holy Sacrifice Chapel, and with which we will conclude

15

The original cross sections make no mention of these features; the church’s structure appears to be founded directly in the ground.

this journey. 284

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

View of the entrance

View of the corner

VERNACULAR BUILDING

285

Sections and elevations

Roof plan

286

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Back to the Beginning The Holy Sacrifice Chapel: A First Project

“At the age of twenty, he thought he was free

The journey through Locsin’s work shows a diversity of themes that run

from the routines and prejudices that paralyze our

through his projects without being confined to programs, places, or

actions and put blinkers on our understanding, but

periods. Far-reaching abstraction, classicism and organicism, climatic

thereafter his life was spent acquiring, bit by bit, the

adaptation and aesthetic continuity, landscape punctuation and

freedom he thought he possessed.”

vernacular tradition are not discovered in the course of commissions,

Margueritte Yourcenar [1]

but are already present and united in his first work, which he completed while still a graduate: the Holy Sacrifice chapel in Diliman. To set the stage for Locsin’s work we began this book with the last known project in the archives. It is time to conclude this journey with the first work that brought Locsin to early international recognition at the age of 25.

First Chapel Project Don Bosco Chapel Victorias, Negros 1953

Holy Sacrifice was preceded by the Don Bosco Chapel, which was

→

not built. In 1953 Locsin, still a student, was asked by Frederic Ossorio, president of Victorias Milling Corporation, to design a chapel for the Don Bosco Technical School in Victorias, Negros Occidental. This is the first project in the office archives and would have a decisive impact on the future architect’s career. In 1947 Frederic Ossorio had already commissioned Antonin and Noémi Raymond, then living in the United States, to design a chapel for his workers in order to keep them away from Communist ideas. Antonin Raymond was a former student of Frank Lloyd Wright who had followed his teaching at Taliesin and had worked in Japan in 1919 on the Imperial Hotel project. The Chapel of Saint Joseph the Worker is often considered the first modern religious building in the Philippines. [2] Built in reinforced concrete, it was “an opportunity for Raymond to return to his prewar conceptions of religious architecture, abandoning the mysticism that had brought him closer to Paul Claudel for the more pragmatic approach of the Dominican Father Marie-Alain Couturier […]. It is in this movement—with its desire to introduce the most recent trends into the house of God— that the Raymonds’ research in this church must be placed.” [3] Ossorio was pleasantly surprised by the success of Saint Joseph’s Chapel and decided to build a second church building, this time for the technical school campus. Locsin was commissioned by a very open-minded client who gave him complete freedom in the project’s design. In this church, he established the principles of a new religious architecture that he was developing for his final thesis, and that he partially theorized in the unfinished text “Directions for the Building of a Church.” In this work, he emphasizes the primary purpose of the church, namely to embody the manifestation of God’s presence on Earth and in which communion with the Divine is celebrated through a series of rites, such as baptism, the Eucharist, and the preaching of the divine word, but also as a place for individual devotion. According to Locsin, these different rites must be possible within the same space and it is the task

1

Yourcenar 1968.

2

See Lico 2008, 423; and Vendredi-Auzenneau 2012 citing the article published in Life magazine in 1951.

3

Vendredi-Auzenneau 2012, 106.

4

Leandro Locsin in Villalon and Perez 1996, 15.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

of the architect “to satisfy these several purposes of the church edifice.” [4]

291

Elevation and section

Framing plan

292

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Locsin proposed a church characterized by a circular plan with a central altar. The pews are positioned on concentric radii that place the faithful in close proximity to the priest. This configuration calls into question the primacy of a model based on the basilica plan, which clearly defines a very strong hierarchy between the faithful and the preacher. Locsin was part of an era that saw the questioning of certain secular principles of religious architecture. Here the sense of community becomes the major issue and is accentuated by the roof. This is materialized by a dome that independently covers the altar and the assembly. On the periphery, a covered annular space allows for easy access to the pews in a non-hierarchical manner. There is no single entrance but several ways of accessing the interior. The church is reached by four access paths that are largely defined by three nearby buildings and a campus path. Structurally, the dome is designed with curved metal beams to which are attached secondary beams covered by what appear to be metal plates. The planned construction is thus a standard primary-secondary-tertiary system that is assembled in stages and can be prefabricated. Peripheral walls surrounding the columns have the function of creating an interior– exterior transition that contains and delimits the celebration space. Following the hasty departure of Frederic Ossorio to the United States for professional reasons, the project was abandoned until Locsin met Pastor John P. Delaney, who was looking for an architect to construct a new church to be located on the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman. Locsin explained the vision of the Catholic religious space that he had developed in his dissertation, and the clergyman appeared convinced, since he entrusted him with the project.

The Actors of Construction The Holy Sacrifice Chapel was Locsin’s first completed building and

Holy Sacrifice Chapel → Diliman 1955

not only marked the beginning of his architectural production but also propelled him to the forefront of Philippine and international architecture with its unexpected silhouette, structural prowess, and typological invention. There were four key players in this success: the architect, Leandro Locsin; Jesuit Brother John P. Delaney; civil engineer Alfredo L. Juinio; and the company of David Consunji. Apart from the clergyman, who died shortly after the completion of the church, the other three would collaborate on numerous projects thereafter. Locsin was given the mandate after explaining to Delaney his vision of a church in which the separation between the congregation of the faithful and the altar would disappear. Since these principles had been

View from the park

developed in the unrealized project of the Don Bosco Chapel in Negros, he asked Frederic Ossorio for permission to use it again. Ossorio granted the request, allowing the 1953 project to be developed and built, this

5

The company of D. M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI), was founded on December 24, 1954, and replaced David M. Consunji Civil Engineers and Contractors. It also built a large number of buildings for Locsin including the Monterrey Apartments, Tower One, and Exchange Plaza, and the Sultan’s Palace in Brunei; they would later become a major player in the development of Makati. For a complete understanding of the birth and evolution of DMCI, see Consunji 2004.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

time on the campus of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. On May 11, 1955, Delaney presented the construction team to the Catholic community on campus. Juinio suggested that David Consunji’s company be awarded the masonry work, assuring Delaney that he was honest and capable of doing this pioneering work. [5] “The pouring 293

of the cement had to be a continuous job, an operation that lasted 24 hours! This was to avoid cold joints and leaks.” [6] The shell was poured on August 25, 1955, in one day and the church was consecrated the following year on December 20. Delaney died soon after of a heart attack, on January 12, 1956. Holy Sacrifice Chapel was both the first reinforced concrete shell in the Philippines and the first chapel with a centered plan. It marked a turning point in Philippine architecture and is quoted extensively in books on Philippine architecture. [7] For Fernando Zóbel de Ayala, the result is the fruit of a meeting of brilliant minds working toward a common goal. It is also a work in which different artists were called upon to intervene; Arturo Luz, for the terrazzo design of the walkway floors; Billy Abueva, for the statue of Christ; and Vicente Manansala, for the mural paintings representing the Stations of the Cross. [8] It also completely oriented the career of the young Locsin who, following this work, was entrusted with other projects, particularly those in the center of Makati.

Location and Typology Section and floor plan

For the Ossorio project in Victorias, the chapel is located at the intersection of the entrance axes of three existing buildings, and at the center of the composition. In Diliman, it is located in the middle of an empty plot, and the circular form allows for visitors to be welcomed along several pedestrian paths that wind through the grass and connect to the surrounding circular walkway. The chapel is completed by service buildings housing the sacristy and the annex rooms necessary for the functioning of the community. We can consider that the Diliman site further reinforced the concept of a circular space with multiple entrances, and that the decision not to impose a singular axis to enter the sacred place is consistent with a church that is open to dialogue with its faithful. The circular layout shows an interesting gradation in the entrance sequence, the faithful having to pass through several layers before being able to sit in the pews. Caryn Paredes-Santillan analyzes this intermediate zone concept and describes it as a threshold that connects two spaces together, while marking a time of pause to become aware of a change of place. [9] At Diliman, this place is characterized by a ringshaped canopy, with periodic curved reinforced concrete screens. These screens support the canopy as it cantilevers out over the park, and extend inward to the level of the pillars supporting the dome. The lower headspace generates compression and clearly indicates to visitors the intermediate nature of this area. The concrete screens are obviously structural, but they also act as filters in that they provide a visual

6

David Consunji, in Guiguio 2010, 50.

boundary to the sacred space. In addition they become the support for

7

See on this subject the chapters devoted to Locsin in Klassen 1986 and Lico 2008.

8

It was Locsin who proposed that artists intervene in the major elements of the interior, a practice he would continue in many of his projects, mainly public buildings. In Diliman, these artists were at the beginning of their careers, but like Locsin, they all became National Artists, demonstrating the architect’s early ability to detect great talent.

connect the assembly of the faithful to the Divine. Locsin placed Billy

9

See Paredes-Santillan 2009.

Abueva’s statue of Christ in the dome, which, suspended in the void,

10

Originally, the Stations of the Cross were to be painted by Fernando Zóbel, who began the work only to abandon it after leaving for Spain.

murals by Vicente Manansala representing the Crucifixion. [10] Passing beneath the annular canopy, one enters a unique space covered by the dome, whose uninterrupted span of nearly 30 m shelters worshippers and priest in communion. Located 10 m above the altar, an oculus of 5 m in diameter pierces the top of the dome to bring light and symbolically

contrasts with the abstraction of the space, giving it a sacred character. 294

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Floor plan

Site plan

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

Exterior view →

295

This dome would be the center of attention, not only allegorically but also for its construction. John Delaney considered it a functional element capable of symbolizing communion: “A church is no more than a covering, a roof, for an altar […] and for the community that gathers in familial oneness about the altar to seek, through a holy interchange of gifts, the union with God.” [11] We have seen that in subsequent projects, Locsin treated the covering of the space in this unifying sense, seeking each time new structural and visual solutions. In the case of the Holy Sacrifice Chapel, the structural choice of the dome allowed for a considerable reduction of its visual impact. While the original project shows fabrication with layers of metal profiles and closing plates, the choice of reinforced concrete allowed simplification of the materials, thereby reducing the dome’s thickness. The plans for the metal option indicate a thickness of 76 cm, whereas the concrete shell thickness is 20 cm at the outer circumference reducing to 8 cm at its top. Symbolically, the overall impression given is that of a roof that seems to float above the congregation, seeking in every way not to disrupt the flow of the ceremonies, which is in keeping with Delaney’s idea of a church intended as a simple roof. This sense of lightness is reinforced where the dome meets the canopy, which is arranged as a circumferential void that admits a peripheral band of light around the worshipers. View of the shell

Constructively, it’s a tour de force insofar as it required new means, particularly in the composition of the concrete and its implementation. In his memoirs, Consunji describes in detail the thoughts that led to the construction solution, while highlighting the problem of financing that appeared at the beginning of the studies. To obtain the necessary funds, Delaney set up a system based on the charity of the parishioners, who were kept informed of the chapel’s progress at every important stage, asking them to make an additional effort. “This is your church. Help us build it. Give till it hurts.” [12] He finally managed to raise enough funds to build the chapel and at the same time make it the property of the faithful who saw it as the fruit of a collective sacrifice. These limited financial means probably played a decisive role in the choice of reinforced concrete instead of metal. The latter would probably have been more expensive because of the complexity of the elements needed for assembly, but also because of its unsuitability for

11

John Delaney, cited in Consunji 2004, 132.

the tropical climate of the Philippines, making its supply limited and its

12

Consunji 2004, 132.

maintenance cost very high. [13] The economy of materials was obvious

13

A famous example is the San Sebastian Church built in 1891 in Quiapo, one of the historic districts of Manila. Entirely prefabricated in Belgium, the Gothic style church was assembled on site and classified as a historical monument for being the only metal church in the Philippines and the only one in the world entirely prefabricated. But its existence has been in jeopardy in recent years, especially due to major corrosion problems. Its design is sometimes attributed to Gustave Eiffel but this has never been verified. Interview with Tina Paterno, who was part of the committee in charge of the restoration, April 2013, Manila.

14

The book The Structures of Eduardo Torroja, published in 1958, is part of Locsin’s library. It was published after the Diliman project, but it is likely that Locsin knew of the Spaniard’s projects through journals.

15

See Picon 1997.

16

Sigfried Giedion, “Spatial Imagination,” in Giedion (1958) 178–99, here 185. Giedion sees the vault as “a springboard for the spatial imagination.”

17

David B. Brownlee, “Adventures of Unexplored Places: Defining a Philosophy, 1901–51,” in Brownlee and De Long 1991.

and part of a period when experimentation with thin shells was gaining momentum, notably with the research carried out by Pier Luigi Nervi and Eduardo Torroja. [14] Of the latter, Frank Lloyd Wright would say that he was the most organic of engineers, seeking to match form and function. [15] For Sigfried Giedion, the new experiences with the vault are an opportunity for new spatial experiments: “The vaulting problem is certainly not the main factor in creating a community life. But it is revealing of the possibilities that an epoch possesses to express, by the means of space, the forces in it and which it seeks to externalize.” [16] For Louis Kahn also, the dome and the vault possess the “spiritual quality” capable of giving a new impulse to contemporary buildings and would lead architects to rethink and discover new spaces. [17] Locsin and Juinio put in place a much-needed solution that achieved the objective of responding to architectural, structural, and economic imperatives. 298

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

The Construction Site and the Contribution of David Consunji Constructing the chapel posed problems, particularly in terms of the concrete quality and strength. Juinio proposed that Delaney hire the DMCI company, founded by David Consunji a year before, with which he had trained while a student in the civil engineering department of UP Diliman. Consunji started his career in design but after completing several buildings, he decided to switch to construction, an area in which he felt far more comfortable. For Juinio, the contractor had the necessary qualities to build the chapel. He trusted him completely, having worked with him during and after his studies and having seen his knowledge and interest in the new technologies of reinforced concrete. For Consunji, the quality of concrete is essentially based on its manufacture. “Take mixing concrete for instance; often a builder relying too much on manual methods could not control precisely the amount of water added to the mix. Or the mixing procedures would be inconsistent, so that you could get very different grades of concrete in the same job site. […] These observations would help me later on in my career. I could see what worked and what didn’t, and I began to think intensively about how to make the work proceed more efficiently and with consistently reliable quality.” [18] For the thin shell at Diliman, Juinio required a concrete with a higher strength than that usually used in the Philippines. He was aware of Consunji’s interest in new techniques and that he had been evaluating them. For the chapel, he needed a minimum strength of 3,000 psi [19] while the standard is closer to 2,400 psi. This was the only way, he felt, to achieve a 30 m span with such a thin shell. [20] DMCI was able to guarantee the quality of the concrete thanks to the experience of the workforce and the choice of aggregates. For Consunji, the biggest challenge was placing the concrete: it could not be poured from the top of the scaffolding without requiring a large amount of water, which would reduce its strength and durability. The concrete had to be placed manually, as close as possible to the mold and in one operation, in order to guarantee static continuity while avoiding joints. The contractor invented an ingenious system based on simple techniques and tools. Scaffolding was built just above the formwork in the form of walkways to accommodate wheelbarrows and buggies that were supplied by four concreting towers at equidistant positions from each other around the dome. In this way, the concrete was placed manually on the formwork and could be poured without discontinuity, a non-negotiable condition to ensure its quality. He estimated the time required at 18 hours, that is, a full day from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

18

Consunji 2004, 100.

19

The psi unit corresponds to pounds per square inch, a unit of pressure. 3,000 psi = 20.68 MPa.

20

Consunji 2004, 132–33.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

299

The Inauguration Scheduled for August 25, 1955, the thin-shell construction could not tolerate any rain during the concreting, a very high risk in the middle of the rainy season. The event that left its mark on that day, and which is recounted in most of the literature on the chapel, was the constant threat of a storm that was apparently raging all around the construction site, but which spared it completely. [21] Consunji mentioned his concern on the morning of the concreting and told Delaney about it. Asked if he should postpone the work, the clergyman is said to have replied: “Do the pouring. I will do the praying,” organizing continuous prayers on campus in which the faithful took turns during the entire day. [22] As Zóbel says, Holy Sacrifice Chapel was the product of collaboration between several personalities from different backgrounds who would, with the exception of Delaney, rub shoulders on a regular basis during their careers. If the form of the dome and its proportions refer to a certain formal classicism, its conception and the means used for its realization marked a new stage in religious design in the Philippines, demonstrating that local techniques allied to a close interdisciplinary collaboration would allow for the achievement of previously unthinkable results. [23] It also demonstrates the strength of Locsin’s design, which from his first project, established a series of themes that he would continue to explore and develop throughout his career.

302

21

Lico, Klassen and Paredes-Santillan relate this event, but also Consunji, who seems to be the most reliable source given his presence on-site that day.

22

Consunji 2004, 134.

23

The dome takes the exact proportions of the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. The external diameter of the walkway corresponds to the internal diameter of the Roman edifice, that is, 43.4 m. In its upper part, the oculus of 5.5 m in diameter that pierces the shell to admit light is the same device found in Rome.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

An Overture to the World Fernando Nakpil Zialcita already dreamed “of finding Filipino atheists and agnostics who regard our baroque churches, together with rice terraces or the farmer’s house, as a basic component of their heritage.” Leandro Locsin had the ability to integrate different parameters, whether from the vernacular or from modern architecture, and succeeded in synthesizing them by transforming and adapting them to his needs. When the Spanish or the Americans took power in the Philippines they were certainly going to impose their vision, but they would quickly be confronted with a resistance that not only sought to regain military power but demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to adapt the imposed models. By adapting them, Filipinos would be able to reappropriate them as an integral part of their identity. Locsin applied the same principle and succeeded, while basing himself on models provided by history or contemporary production, in producing architecture whose compositional elements were rethought and adapted to his needs. This freedom of adaptation may have to do with the rather isolated position of the Philippines on the international scene. It also has to do with the personality of Locsin himself, who did not seek to copy critically recognized models but rather to define an architecture that is perfectly adapted to his country. The limited number of theoretical texts he produced is perhaps due to the workload he endured throughout his career. However it can also be explained by the difficulty of theorizing a production that does not want to be subjected to a project framework constituted by constraining rules, but instead wants to interpret and integrate new data. In this sense, Locsin is probably one of the most inspiring and demonstrative architects when it comes to pin down the elusive identity of the Philippines, which, far from being defined by identifiable motives or principles, is an example of an open attitude to the world and to its changes.

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

303

An Overture to the World Fernando Nakpil Zialcita already dreamed “of finding Filipino atheists and agnostics who regard our baroque churches, together with rice terraces or the farmer’s house, as a basic component of their heritage.” Leandro Locsin had the ability to integrate different parameters, whether from the vernacular or from modern architecture, and succeeded in synthesizing them by transforming and adapting them to his needs. When the Spanish or the Americans took power in the Philippines they were certainly going to impose their vision, but they would quickly be confronted with a resistance that not only sought to regain military power but demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to adapt the imposed models. By adapting them, Filipinos would be able to reappropriate them as an integral part of their identity. Locsin applied the same principle and succeeded, while basing himself on models provided by history or contemporary production, in producing architecture whose compositional elements were rethought and adapted to his needs. This freedom of adaptation may have to do with the rather isolated position of the Philippines on the international scene. It also has to do with the personality of Locsin himself, who did not seek to copy critically recognized models but rather to define an architecture that is perfectly adapted to his country. The limited number of theoretical texts he produced is perhaps due to the workload he endured throughout his career. However it can also be explained by the difficulty of theorizing a production that does not want to be subjected to a project framework constituted by constraining rules, but instead wants to interpret and integrate new data. In this sense, Locsin is probably one of the most inspiring and demonstrative architects when it comes to pin down the elusive identity of the Philippines, which, far from being defined by identifiable motives or principles, is an example of an open attitude to the world and to its changes.

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

305

Epilogue

An arrival in Manila, a chance encounter with a building or two, a reaction, resonance, a triggering of connections. Sometimes meaningful outcomes begin with small things. Leandro V. Locsin was a person not particularly given to self-promotion or calculation. Exacting and sure-footed as he was about his work and design sensibility, it was remarkable to my mother, brother, and me that he always seemed somehow astonished that people reacted positively to his work … and at the accolades, recognitions, and honors he received through the course of his life. He had a characteristic humility, almost as if he intuitively recognized – as the bookends of his projects seem to parallel – that his path emanated from other forces of which he had the good fortune to be a channel. This work by Jean-Claude Girard is special and in keeping with that character. In his text, the threads and analyses of the body of Locsin’s work unfold with a spirit of discovery. The structure materializes largely as a result of Jean-Claude Girard’s learned professional reaction to the work of another architect and a culture previously unknown to him before his first visit to Manila. In an age of publicity and hype, this monograph is due almost entirely to the dedication of Jean-Claude Girard’s efforts – with no commercial self-interest, trade, or calculation by Locsin’s collaborators, descendants, or his successor firm that still honors the memory of his name and principles – an outcome that my father would have greatly appreciated. This monograph is perhaps one of the first published attempts to view the work of a modern Filipino architect through a synthetic lens and the articulation of design strands in its context over an entire career. For many of the projects both built and unbuilt, it is the first time the design documents and details have been publicly seen by people other than the limited number of clients, the projects’ contractors, collaborating architects, design professionals, and researchers who have come through the Locsin offices over six decades. The projects reveal influences, enduring threads, and design concerns permeating through the body of work, as well as important inflection points that take the firm’s work in a variety of directions over time. Jean-Claude Girard’s detective work, focus on the less published projects, and positioning of these works in the larger context of contemporary movements on the global scene at the time are important contributions to the Philippine perspective and to architectural knowledge in general. The transition into a post-pandemic world warrants the consideration of more enlightened benchmarks and a necessary consciousness to build more responsively and sustainably in an environment with evident limitations. Notably, there are relevant

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and lasting lessons in this monograph for present and future generations of students, designers, and architects. It is striking that such distinctive, responsive design was executed at a range of scales – architecture that was descriptive of time, place, and referential to its culture and context … radical as some of the forms might have seemed at the time. Jean-Claude Girard’s thesis defense in June 2018, of what was to become this book, was a time for circumspection. The enthusiasm and value attached to the work by the thesis panel and professors in Lausanne was not lost on the few of us from Manila who came halfway around the world to observe. We wondered what other threads and consequential outcomes might arise from that small chance encounter in Manila many years ago, and now that this monograph has arrived, the circle – like Leandro V. Locsin’s first Chapel – seems complete. Architecture and the lessons it holds continue to have relevance if it collectively retains meaning, memory, and wonder for those who come upon and engage with it. We have Jean-Claude Girard to thank for the passion and initiative of chronicling the oeuvre of Leandro V. Locsin.

Leandro Y. Locsin Jr. October 2021

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Girard, Jean-Claude. 2015a. Interview with Ed Ledesma, January, Manila. Girard, Jean-Claude. 2015b. Interview with Andy Locsin, February, office of Leandro V. Locsin Partners.

Besa, Maya, et al. 2016. Muhons: Traces of an Adolescent City. Manila, NCCA.

Girard, Jean-Claude. 2015c. Interview with Raul Locsin, January, office of Leandro V. Locsin Partners.

Blake, Peter. 1960. The Master Builders. London, Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Girard, Jean-Claude. 2018. “L’oeuvre de Leandro V. Locsin (1928–1994), architecte. A la recherche de l’identité élusive de l’architecture philippine du second après-guerre.” Diss., Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne.

Blake, Peter. 1996. Philip Johnson. Basel, Birkhäuser. Boesiger, Willy, and Oscar Stonorov, eds. 1937. Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret: Oeuvre complete, vol. 1, 1910–1929. Zurich, Éditions d’Architecture.

Guiguio, R. V. 2010. “UP Chapel at 50.” In UP Diliman: Home and Campus, edited by Narita M. Gonzales and Gerry Los Baños. Diliman, Quezon City, The University of the Philippines Press.

Borsi, Franco. 1987. The Monumental Era: European Architecture and Design, 1929–1939. New York, Rizzoli. Brownlee, David B. and David G. De Long. 1991. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. New York, Rizzoli. Bunoan, Ringo, ed. 2015. What Ever Happened to Bobby Chabet?: 1937–2013. Taguig, Metro Manila, King Kong Art Projects Unlimited. Burckhardt, Titus. 1986. Sacred Art East and West: Its Principles and Its Methods. London, Perennial. Cañete, Reuben Ramas. 2012. “Poet of Space, Master of the Modernist Vernacular: National Artist Leandro Valencia Locsin.” BluPrint, special issue 3. https://bluprint.onemega.com/ early-years-leandro-locsin/

Hines, Thomas S. 1974. Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner. New York, Oxford University Press. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. 1975. In the Nature of Materials: The Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright. New York, Da Capo. Itoh, Teiji. 1969. The Elegant Japanese House: Traditional Sukiya Architecture. New York & Tokyo, Walker/Weatherhill. Joaquin, Nick. 1969. “A Stage for Greatness.”Philippines Free Press, September 13. Nick [Q.d.M.]. 1981. Reportage on the Marcoses: 1964–1970. Mandaluyong City, Anvil Publishing.

Charollais, Isabelle, and Bruno Marchand. 1996. “Entre représentativité et fonctionnalité. Le ‘Palais’ de l’OMS.” Faces no. 39, 48–53. Cohen, Jean-Louis. (1994) 2007. Mies van der Rohe. Paris, Hazan. Consunji, David M. 2004. A Passion to Build: A Memoir of David M. Consunji. Quezon City, Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance and Dacon Foundation.

Johnson, Philip. 1979. Writings. New York, Oxford University Press. Kalaw-Ledesma, Purita. 1987. The Biggest Little Room. Manila, Vera-Reyes. Kalaw-Ledesma, Purita, and Amadis Maria Guerrero. 1974. The Struggle for Philippine Art. Manila, Vera-Reyes. Klassen, Winand. 1986. Architecture in the Philippines: Buildings in a Cross-Cultural Context. Cebu City, University of San Carlo. Koolhaas, Rem, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. 2011. Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, edited by Kayoko Ota with James Westcott. Cologne, Taschen.

Cordero-Fernando, Gilda, and Nik Ricio, eds. 1978. Turn of the Century. Quezon City, GCF Books. Curtis, William, J. R. 1984. “Modern Architecture, Monumentality and the Meaning of Institutions: Reflections on Authenticity.” The Harvard Architectural Review 4, 64–85.

Lachica, Eduardo. 1984. Ayala: The Philippines’ Oldest Business House. Makati, Filipinas Foundation Inc.

Curtis, William, J, R. 1994. Denys Lasdun: Architecture, City, Landscape. London, Phaidon.

Layag, Sibyl. 2014. “Lindy and Andy Locsin: Architectural Anchor, Moral Compass.” https://bluprint.onemega.com/ succeeding-success-lindy-and-andy-locsin/

Curtis, William, J. R. (1982) 2004. L’architecture moderne depuis 1900. Paris, Phaidon.

Lico, Gerard. 2003. Edifice Complex: Power, Myth, and Marcos State Architecture. Manila, Ateneo University Press.

Dawson, Barry, and John Gillow. 1994. The Traditional Architecture of Indonesia. London, Thames and Hudson.

Lico, Gerard. 2008. Arkitekturang Filipino: A History of Architecture and Urbanism in the Philippines. Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, University of the Philippines Press.

Drexler, Arthur. 1960. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. New York, George Braziler. Duldulao, Manuel. 1996. A Vision of Makati: The City. Manila, Reyes Publishing.

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Lico, Gerard. 2017. “Rising from the Ashes: Post-war Philippines Architecture.”DO.CO.MO, journal 57 (February), 46–55. Locsin, Leandro. 1964. “The Elusive Filipino Soul in Architecture.” Exchange, no. 33 (4th quarter), 18–25.

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Locsin, Leandro. 1985. Interview with students, office Leandro V. Locsin Partners. Locsin, Leandro. 1992. Commemorative Lectures by Recipients, Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes for Arts and Culture. Fukuoka: 4. Locsin, Leandro, and Cecilia Locsin. 1967. Oriental Ceramics Discovered in the Philippines. Michigan, Charles E. Tuttle. Manuel, Maria Teresa, ed. 1979. Tao, Humanism at Work in Filipino Society. Manila, The Center. Marchand, Bruno., ed. 2012. Pérennités. Lausanne, Switzerland, Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes. Marcos, Imelda, 1981. Paths to Development. Manila, National Media Production Center.

Sahakian, Marlyne, et al., eds. 2016. Food Consumption in the City: Practices and Patterns in Urban Asia and the Pacific. London, Routledge. Smith, Winfield Scott, ed. 1958. The Art of the Philippines, 1521– 1957. Michigan, Associated Publishers. Stewart, David B. 1987. The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture: 1868 to the Present. Tokyo and New York, Kodansha International. Tanizaki, Junichirō. (1933) 1977. In Praise of Shadows. London, Vintage Books. Tiongson, Nicanor, ed. 1991. TUKLAS Sining: Essays on the Philippine Arts. Manila, Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Maurette, Fernand. 1907. “Les Philippines d’après le recensement de 1903.” Annales de Géographie 16, no. 86, 148–58.

Vendredi-Auzenneau, Christine. 2012. Antonin Raymond: Un architecte occidental au Japon (1888–1976). Paris, Editions A. et J. Picard.

Migayrou, Frédéric, ed. 2017. Japan-ness: Architecture et urbanisme au Japon depuis 1945. Metz, Editions du Centre Pompidou-Metz.

Viati Navone, Annalisa, ed. 2014. L’opera sovrana: Etudes sur l’architecture du XXè s. offertes à Bruno Reichlin. Mendrisio, Mendrisio Academy Press / Silvana Editoriale.

Moore, Charles W. 1921. Daniel H. Burnham: Architect, Planner of Cities. New York, Da Capo.

Villalon, Augusto, and Rodrigo D. Perez III. 1996. Leandro Locsin: The Poet of Space. Manila, Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Nakpil, Angel. 1956. Address on a Review of Philippine Architecture. Manila, University of Santo Tomas Press.

Villamayor, Erlinda. 1974. Development Issues on Makati, Philippines, a Maturing New Town. Makati, Filipinas Foundation.

Nora, Pierre, ed. 1997. Les lieux de mémoire. Paris, Editions Gallimard.

Villegas, Ramon. 1989. “Leandro Locsin: Renaissance Builder.” Design & Architecture Magazine 1, no. 1, 28–38.

Paras-Perez, Rodolfo. 1990. Fernando Zóbel. Manila, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc.

Violeau, Jean-Louis. 2010. “Du supermarché à l’hypermarché Claude Parent trente ans après.” amc, 194.

Paredes-Santillan, Caryn. 2007. “A Study on Bipolarity in the Architecture of Leandro V. Locsin.”Diss., The University of Tokyo.

Whitney, David, and Jeffrey Kipnis. 1996. Philip Johnson: The Glass House / La Maison de verre. Milan/Paris, Gallimard/Electa.

Paredes-Santillan, Caryn. 2009. “Approaching the Sacred: A Study of the Spatial Manifestations of Liminality in the Architecture of Leandro V. Locsin.” Paper presented at the 2nd Architecture and Phenomenology Symposium, Kyoto, Japan.

Wilson, J. Gilchrist. 1962. Exposed Concrete Finishes. London, C. R. Books.

Perez III, Rodrigo D. 1963. “An Introduction to Filipino Architecture,” The Japan Architect, issue Japan and Asia (June 1963). Perez III, Rodrigo D. 1991. “Arkitectura: An Essay on Philippine Architecture.” In Tiongson 1991, 6–59.

Wright, Frank Lloyd. 1953. The Future of Architecture. New York, Horizon Press. Wright, Frank Lloyd. 1957. A Testament. New York, Bramhall House. Wright, Frank Lloyd. 1958. The Living City. New York, Horizon Press. Yourcenar, Marguerite. 1968. L’oeuvre au noir. Paris, Gallimard.

Perez III, Rodrigo D., et al. 1994. Encyclopedia of The Philippines, vol. 3, Philippine Architecture: Historical Essays. A Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas. Manila, Cultural Center of the Philippines. Picon, Antoine. 1997. L’art de l’ingénieur, constructeur et entrepreneur, inventeur. Paris, Editions du Centre Georges Pompidou, Le Moniteur. Plaquette, C. 2005. The History of the St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church. Polites, Nicholas. 1977. The Architecture of Leandro Locsin. New York, Weatherwill. Rebori, Andrew N. 1917. “The Work of William E. Parsons in the Philippines Islands” (2 parts). The Architectural Record 41 (April), 305–24, 423–34. Rodell, Paul A. 2002. Culture and Customs of the Philippines. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press. Roman, Antonio. 2003. Eero Saarinen. An Architecture of Multiplicity. New York, Princeton Architectural Press. Rowe, Colin. 1976. The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. Rudolph, Paul, and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy. 1970. The Architecture of Paul Rudolph. New York, Rizzoli. Sahakian, Marlyne. 2014. Keeping Cool in Southeast Asia: Energy Consumption and Urban Air-Conditioning. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

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Zevi, Bruno. 1991. Frank Lloyd Wright. Zurich, Verlag für Architektur. Zialcita, Fernando, and Martin I. Tinio. 1980. Philippine Ancestral Houses. Quezon City, GCF Books. Zich, Arthur. 1986. “The Marcos Era,” The Wilson Quarterly 10, no. 3 (Summer, 1986). Zucker, Paul. 1944. New Architecture and City Planning. New York, Philosophical Library.

Architectural Works

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

HOUSING

RESIDENCES

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

Date 1953 1955 1956 1958 1958 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1967 1970 1970 1979 1987 1989 1990 1992 1993 1994 1957 1967 1989 1990 1991 1992 1956 1957 1957 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1959 1960 1960 1960 1960 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1962 1962 1962 1962 1962 1963

Name Don Bosco Church Holy Sacrifice Church Chapel de la Salle Prelatial Church of the Immaculate Conception Mausoleum for family Estate Area Cadiz Church Manila Memorial Park Chapel Mausoleum for Don Ricardo G. Lacson Mausoleum for Carlos Revila Familly Holy Cross Memorial Park Chapel St-Andrew The Apostle Parish Church Magallanes Village Church Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Memorial Park (city cemetery) Samba Likhaan. The Asian School of Music, Worship and the Arts Manila Memorial Park Dasmariñas Everest Hills Memorial Park Muntinlupa Malamig Chapel Chapel Bacnotan Church of the Monastery of the Transfiguration Mausoleum for Rustia Family Monterrey Apartments Apartment Building Dona Josefa Marfori VDA de Consing St. Michael II Chua Residential Paseo del Sol Townhomes Malamig development Rest House Chongbian Villa G. Yvanovich Villa Cavender Jaime Zóbel de Ayala Villa Nicanor Yñiguez Villa Jaime Lacson Villa M. Fernando Villa Jose M. Reyes Villa Jose Aldeguer Villa Felino Neri Villa William Powell Villa Michael Joseph Villa Robert Ho and Anita Magsaysay-Ho Villa Jose Tuason Jr & Sr Villa Angel Heredia Villa Sergio Montinola Villa John T. Quimson Villa Manuel Escaler Villa Fernando Garcia Villa Nat. Life Insurance Villa Lourdes Montinola Villa Pacita L. Soriano Villa Arturo B. Rotor Villa Jaime Asencio (rest house) Villa Jesus Jalandoni Villa Oppen Villa Rene Unson Villa Alfredo Ablaza Villa Robert Siy Villa U. de Sequera Villa Manuel Del Rosario Villa Jose M. Reyes Villa Jose Yulo Villa Johnny de Leon Villa Alberto Quiros del Rio Villa Leandro Locsin Villa Enrique Carlos Villa Ramon Pertierra Villa Henry Moran

314

Localisation Negros UP Diliman Bacolod City Ozamis City North Cemetery, Makati Negros Occidental Parañaque North Cemetery, Makati Manila Memorial Park Novaliches, Quezon Bel-Air, Makati Magallanes Village, Makati Quezon Bagbag, Novaliches, Quezon Quezon Dasmariñas, Cavite Muntinlupa, Metro Manila Biñan, Laguna Bacnotan, La Union Malabay, Bukidnon Baliwag, Bulacan Ayala Ave., Forbes Park North, Makati Adriatico St, Manila Baguio P. Tuazon St, Cubao, Quezon Biñan, Laguna Cebu Calle Hidalgo, Makati Domingo St, Urdaneta Village, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong Mars-Jupiter, Bel-Air, Makati Panay St, Quezon Bel-Air 3, Village, Makati Cubao Diliman, Quezon Tamarind Rd, Forbes Park, Makati San Lorenzo Village, Makati Aguila St, San Lorenzo Village, Makati Palm Ave., Forbes Park, Makati Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City Balete St, Forbes Park, Makati Lot X Co Owners Sub, Quezon City Wack Wack Sub, Mandaluyong Cubao, Quezon Urdaneta Village, Makati Balete–Morave Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Pili Ave., Forbes Park, Makati Recoletos Circle, Urdaneta Village, Makati Bo, Antos, Los Baños, Laguna Pili Ave., Forbes Park, Makati Bel-Air, Makati Diliman, Quezon Cambridge Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Urdaneta Ave., Urdaneta Village, Makati Pili Ave., Forbes Park, Makati Urdaneta Village, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Talisay St, Forbes Park, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Kawayan Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Pili Ave., Forbes Park, Makati Greenhills, Mandaluyong

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

# 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

Date 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1965 1965 1965 1965 1966 1966 1967 1967 1967 1967 1967 1968 1968 1968 1969 1969 1969 1969 1969 1970 1970 1971 1971 1972 1972 1972 1972 1972 1973 1974 1974 1974 1974 1975 1976 1977 1977 1976 1977 1978 1979 1979 1981 1982 1983 1989 1990 1990 1991 1991 1991 1992 1992 1993 1994 -

Name Villa Domingo Locsin Villa Eugenio Sanbuenaventura Villa Ramon Cojuangco Villa Mauro Prieto Villa Tansengco Villa Salvator de Leon Villa Emerson Coseteng Villa Ramon Yulo Villa J. R. McMicking (remodeling) Villa Luis Revilla Villa Cesar Legaspi Villa Serafin Sanson Villa Antonio Floirendo Villa Manuel Lopez Villa Antonio Araneta Villa Miguel Yulo Villa Leland Villadolid Villa Ricardo Cu Unjieng Villa Florencio Reyes Villa Chalermbhand Villa Agustines Villa Antonio Floirendo Villa C. Gatmaitan, Jr Villa Philam Insurance (Zalamea) Villa Vicente Paterno Villa Alejandro Roces Villa Gilberto Teodoro Ski Lodge Cliff Robertson Villa Conrado Ocampo Villa Luis Guerrero Villa Gregorio Locsin Villa Ciro Locsin Villa Jose Alberto Quiros Villa Ileana Maramag Beach House Locsin Villa Edon T. Yap Villa Rafael G. Panganiban Beach House Villa Antonio Tamayo Villa Australian Embassy Villa Cristino Concepcion, Jr Villa Conrado Lorenzo National Arts Center Guest House Villa Vermen Verallo Villa Raul Forés Villa Rose D. Cruz, Villa Villanueava Jr Villa Widjaja Villa Victor G. Bitong Villa Jaime Zóbel de Ayala Assumpta Convent Guest House Villa Jose Yulo, Jr Villa Valencia Villa Donald Trillos Residence Carson Management Beach House Alex Go Villa Francisco Bayot Zóbel Beach House Residence Gines Soriano Residence Jaime Augusto Zóbel de Ayala II Isidro Consunji Guest House Bacnotan Cement Corporation Residence Florante Aguila (AJM Corp.) Villa Albert Onstott Villa José Cojuangco Villa Alfredo Melian Villa George Cohen Villa Jose Yulo Villa B. & M. Incorporated Villa Alfonso Zóbel

315

Localisation Real St, cor. Domingo St, Urdaneta Village, Makati Cor. Talisay Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Bauhinia St, Forbes Park, Makati Anahaw Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Urdaneta Village, Makati Parañaque, Rizal Marakina, Rizal Cambridge Circle, Forbes Park, Makati unknown Molave St, Forbes Park, Makati Baltao Subdivision, Parañaque Calle Antigua, Molo, Iloilo City Forbes Park, Makati Wack Wack Sub, Mandaluyong, Rizal La Vista Subdivision, Quezon City Kawayan-Talisay Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Tamarind-Sampaguita Rd, Dasmariñas, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Acacia Rd, Dasmariñas Shrivikorn, Bangkok, Thailand San Rafael, San Miguel, Manila Dominican Hill, Baguio City Dasmariñas, Makati Pasay Rd, Dasmariñas, Makati San Juan, Rizal Banyan Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Pine Hill St, Quezon City Nevada Dasmariñas, Makati Avocado St, Dasmariñas Polk St, San Juan, Rizal Greenhills, San Juan Casa de Nipa, Canlubang, Laguna Paraiso St, Dasmariñas, Makati Oriental Mindoro Van Buren St, Greenhills, San Juan Dasmariñas, Makati Tolosa, Leyte Dasmariñas, Makati Forbes Park, Makati Dasmariñas, Makati Greenhills, Mandaluyong Mt Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna San Miguel Village, Makati Carissa Rd, Dasmariñas, Makati Tamarind Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Jakarta, Indonesia Valle Verde Sub, Pasig Harvard Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Assumption Subdivision, Antipolo, Metro Manila Canlubang New City, Laguna Silay, Negros Brompton Ave., Houston Balaytigue, Batangas Caballero St., Dasmariñas Puerto Galera, Mindoro Sarangani St, Alabang Cambridge Circle, Forbes Park, Makati Bauhinia St, Instia St, Forbes Park, Makati Bacnotan, La Union Pili Ave., Forbes Park, Makati San Roque, Antipolo, Rizal Pili Ave., Forbes, Makati Calatagan, Batangas Princeton Rd, Wack Wack Sub, Mandaluyong Peñafrancia St, Manila Anahaw Rd, Forbes Park, Makati Forbes Park, Makati

PUBLIC & PRIVATE BUILDINGS

OFFICES

# 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206

Date 1955 1960 1960 1961 1961 1961 1962 1964 1964 1965 1967 1967 1968 1968 1968 1968 1969 1971 1972 1972 1974 1974 1974 1974 1974 1975 1976 1976 1976 1976 1979 1980 1981 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1983 1984 1987 1987 1989 1990 1992 1994 1957 1958 1961 1961 1962 1963 1964 1964 1964 1965 1966 1969 1972 1974 1977 1978

Name Movie House Commercial Credit Corporation Filipino Garden Fiat Motor Building Liberty Motors Office Building Philippine American Cultural Center C. A. T. Clubhouse-Tarlac, Pavilon Asumption Auditorium Expansion Don Bosco Technical Institute UP, Student Union CCP, Museum Complex CCP, Theater Commercial Building (amalgamated) UP, Continuing Education and Dormitory Philippine Osaka Pavilion Expo ’70 Magnolia Plant and Offices – Main Bldg. UP, Searca Dormitory Building UP, Dean Umali Hall (UPLB) Auditorium Malacañang Palace Population Center of the Philippines CCP, Folk Arts Center CCP, Philippine International Conference Center Ayala Museum Asian Center of the Philippines Nutrition Center of the Philippines National Arts Center Theater National Arts Center, Cafeteria Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibitions Manila International Airport Valle Verde Country Club Greenbelt Square Building Istana Nurul Iman CCP, Kanlungan Architectural Foundation of the Philippines Vigan Airport Carlos P. Romulo Medical Center CCP, Design Center of the Philippines Iloilo Airport Social Hall Private Hangar for the Sultan of Brunei Qatar Carpark Municipal Hall Extension Museo NG Malacañang Compound Amphitheater Rizal Park National Museum, National Gallery of Arts and Culture Kemayoran Tennis Center Aquino Center Qatar Commercial Parking CCP, Art Gallery Manuel A. Roxas Arts Center Montessir Zóbel Museum, Ayala Center (preliminary studies) Kuwait Conference Center Complex Zamboanga Airport Makati Medical Center Office Bldg 1 Ayala and Co Office Bldg 2 Ayala and Co Magsaysay Bldg Standard Vacuum Oil Company Sarmiento Office Building Sarmiento Office Building Administration Office Building Central Azucarera de Tarlac Central Azucarera de Tarlac Building J. M. Tuazon Building L. V. Locsin Building National Life Insurance Company Makati Stock Exchange First National City Bank PLDT Building EEI Administration Bdlg De Leon Bldg

316

Localisation Capitol Subdivision, Bacalod Lot 3A, Buendia Ave., Makati East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii España Ext, Quezon Port Area, Manila Quezon San Miguel, Tarlac San Lorenzo Village, Makati Pasong Tamo, Makati College of Agriculture, Los Baños, Laguna Roxas Blvd, Manila Roxas Bldv, Manila Makati Los Baños, Laguna Osaka, Japon Aurora Blvd, Magdalena Hemady Ave., Quezon Los Baños, Laguna Los Baños, Laguna Manila Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Manila CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Manila Makati Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati Mt Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna Mt Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Manila Manila Bo Oranbo, Pasig, Rizal Paseo de Roxas, Makati Brunei CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Manila Vigan Makati CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd, Manila Iloilo City Mindoro Brunei Doha, Qatar Puerto Galera, Mindoro Malacañang Rizal Park, Manila Intramuros, Manila Jakarta Hacienda Luisita, San Miguel, Tarlac Qatar CCP Complex, Manila Roxas Blvd, Manila Brunei Makati Kuwait City Zamboanga Makati Makati Makati San Luis-Sans Carlos, Ermita Stanvac Branch Office, Iloilo City Ayala Ave., Makati Davao San Miguel, Tarlac Ayala Ave., cor. Side St, Makati Ayala Ave., Makati E. de Los Santos Ave., Makati Ayall Ave., Makati Ayall Ave., Makati Paseo de Roxas, Makati Makati Rodriguez Ave., Quezon Ermita, Manila

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

# 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244

HOTELS

Date 1979 1979 1979 1980 1980 1981 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993 1959 1966 1967 1967 1975 1975 1975 1980 1981 1984 1985 1989 1991

Name Usiphil Bldg Integrated Bar of the Philippines L. V. Locsin Bldg Cecil Offices Bldg PCI Bank Building Benguet Center Building Benguet Corporation Tower (proposed) Planters Development Bank Bldg City Bank Office Building II (proposed) Kalayaan Bldg, Additional 8th Floor Girl Scouts of the Philippines Headquarters Bldg Hi-Cement Administration Bldg Laguna Technopark Administration Bldg Makati Stock Exchange, Trading Floor expansion 12th Additional Office Space for Ayala Life Bldg Ayala Triangle, Office Tower I Ayala Triangle, Philippine Stock Exchange Plaza Bacnotan Cement Plant Administration Bldg, Bacnotan Administration Building Facade for Asian Transmission Burke Building Don Juan Cojuangco Office Bldg FBN Bldg Office Building Philam Life Office Building Two Story Building Bernardino Jalandoni Davao Insular Hotel Sheraton Philippines Hotel Manila Intercontinental Hotel Matabungkay Hotel Manila Hotel Philippine Plaza Hotel Mandarin Hotel Davao Casino Hotel Malaysian Hotel Muara Beach Resort Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center Sheraton Hotel Grande Residence The Jakarta Ascott Executive Residences

Localisation Sucat, Manila Doña Julia Vargas Ave., Pasig Ayala Ave., Makati Ave., Makati Cecil St–Boon Tat St, Singapore Makati Ave., cor. Salcedo Ave., Manila Doña Vargas Ave., cor. San Miguel Ave., Mandaluyong Mandaluyong Gil Puyat Ave., Makati Salcedo St., De la Rosa St., Legazpi Village, Makati P. Faura, Ermita, Manila Norzagaray, Bulacan Biñan–Santa Rosa, Laguna Ayala Triangle, Makati Ayala Ave., Makati Ayala Triangle, Makati Ayala Triangle, Makati La Union Binondo, Manila Dakota–Santa Monica St, Ermita Salcedo St., Legazpi Village, Makati Ortigas Ave., Quezon Cagayan de Oro City Salas-Mabini, Ermita, Manila Davao Manila Makati Lian, Batangas Luneta, Manila CCP Complex, Manila Makati Davao City Kuala Lumpur Brunei Jakarta Bali Jakarta

#

1993

# 15

1994

#

1991

#

1992

#

1989

#

1990

#

1987

#

14

1988

#

1985

#

1986

#

1984

#

1983

#

1981

#

1982

#

1979

#

1980

#

1977

#

1978

#

1976

13

#

1975

11

5

#

1973

12

#

1974

10

1971

9

1972

#

8

1969

#

7

1970

#

1967

# 6

1968

#

1966

#

1965

#

1963

#

1964

1961

# 4

1962

# 22

1959

# 3

1960

#

2

1957

#

1

1958

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

1956

1955

#

1953

1954

Timeline of Works

#

#

#

#

#

#

16

17

26

18

19

20

24

25

27

23 HOUSING

28

31

41

50 54

61

66

70

75

79

30 32

29

42

51

55

62

67

71

76

80 82

33

43

52

56

63

68

72

77

83 88

34 44

53

57

64

69

73

78

65

35

45

58

36

46

59

37

47

60

74

81

86 89

94

96

98 103 104 108 109 110 114 115

90 95

97

99

105

111 113

91

100

106

112

84

92

101

107

85

93

102

154 155

87

117 118 119

120 121 123 126 128 129

116

122 124 127 125

38 48 39

49

40 PUBLIC & PRIVATE BUILDINGS

137

138 140 143

144 146

147 149 153

139 141

145

148 150

142

156

157 162 163 158

167 168 169 170 175 176

164

171

151

159

165

172

152

160

166

173

161 OFFICES

HOTELS

FILIPINO ARCHITECT

191 192

193 195 196 197 200 201 202 194 198 199 232

203

233 234 235

179 180

181

174

204

205 206 207 210 212 208 211 209 236 237 238

317

177 178

239 240

241 242

213 215 216 217 221 214 218 222 219 223 220 224 243 244

182

About the Author

Jean-Claude Girard was born in 1972 in Delémont, Switzerland. In 1998, he graduated in architecture from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), winning the prestigious SIAV award, granted by the Engineering and Architecture Society of the Canton of Vaud, for his final project. After working several years for Salvi Architecture followed by Atelier Bonnet, he founded his own practice in Geneva in 2007 (www.jcga.ch). Convinced that theory and history are inseparable from the practice of architecture, Jean-Claude Girard is also active in research and teaching. From 2008 to 2012, he was assistant to Professor Bruno Marchand at the EPFL. In 2013, he was appointed lecturer of first-year design and construction at the Haute école du Paysage, d’Ingénierie et d’Architecture in Geneva. From 2013 to 2018, he wrote and defended a doctoral thesis at EPFL on Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin. He regularly publishes articles and gives lectures on his practice and specific themes, such as art and architecture, or tropical architecture.

318

LEANDRO V. LOCSIN

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without my wife, Marlyne Sahakian, who first introduced me to the Philippines in 2006, and with whom I traveled to the Philippines on several occasions, culminating in a one year stay between 2012 and 2013 with our two children. From the first time I suggested the idea of a doctoral thesis on Locsin in 2012 to the publishing of this book in 2021, she has been a constant source of encouragement. I am extremely indebted to Professor Bruno Marchand for his unfailing support, infectious enthusiasm, meticulous proofreading, and relevant contributions, all of which created the optimal working conditions for a doctoral dissertation. I could not have hoped for a better supervisor. More generally, Bruno Marchand awakened my interest in the theory and history of architecture, and motivated me to undertake this PhD in 2013. I thank him sincerely not only for his support of my work, but his contribution to architectural studies and to inspiring generations of architects through his teaching. Andy Locsin, son of Leandro Locsin, was a tremendous source of support in this endeavor through granting me unlimited access to his father’s archives, and the possibility to work with his colleagues, namely Vicky Gonzales and Sudarshan V. Khadka Jr. I thank them most sincerely for their assistance in organizing my archival work. I am grateful to Neal Oshima, photographer and tireless advocate of Philippine culture, for introducing me to his friend, Andy Locsin. Without this precious contact, this research might not have come to fruition. Thanks to Neal’s work and keen attention to detail, we were able to save, through photographs, a large part of the office archives. In Manila, Carlos Celdran, an inspiring guide to Philippine culture who passed away too soon, first made me discover the soul of his city – one step at a time, as he would say. It was through his guided tours that I first encountered the architectural work of Leandro Locsin. I am indebted to Renato Salvi who first introduced me to the world of architecture, with all the magic it can contain. His immediate support for the idea of this research project certainly contributed to my motivation from the onset. I am also grateful to Pierre and Mireille Bonnet. The seven years spent in their office in Geneva taught me the poetic rigor of architecture. They have also given their encouragements and support to this project. For this book, I also thank Pablo Lavalley for rich exchanges around the graphic design, as well as all the sponsors who contributed generously to its publication. Finally, I thank my parents, who gave me the opportunity to study architecture at the école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and who have unconditionally supported all my life choices. I owe them much.

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Photo credits — © Akio Kawasumi: cover page, endpapers, p. 6, 12, 34, 39, 41, 48, 50, 56, 58-59, 60, 66, 67, 69, 70-71, 72, 76, 77, 78-79, 80, 81, 83, 86, 88, 89, 92, 97, 98, 110, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123 (top), 124-125, 136, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158 (top), 160-161, 162, 163, 171, 178, 185 (top), 187, 191, 194, 195, 197 (top), 198, 203, 204-205, 208-209, 212-213, 214 (top), 222, 252, 253, 240, 248, 254, 255, 260-261, 268, 269, 270-271, 272-273, 285, 306-307, 322-323 | © ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Catrina Werner: p. 10, 24, 25 (bottom), 55, 62-63, 84-85, 197 (bottom) / Gustav Neuenschwander: p. 23, 138 (bottom), 277 / unknown: p. 25 (top), 137 | © Courtesy of Leandro V. Locsin Partners: p. 14, 68, 73, 98, 188 (top), 236 | © Philip Escudero: p. 17 | © Jean-Claude Girard: p. 19, 29, 30, 65, 112, 113, 123 (bottom), 127 (top), 130, 132, 144, 156 (bottom), 164, 174, 185 (bottom), 188 (bottom), 189, 199, 214 (bottom), 215, 238-239, 293, 298 | © For all plans: Leandro V. Locsin Partners Archives. Photographed by Neal Oshima, except p. 17 (JCG), 19 (JCG), 40 (JCG), 88 (JCG), 98 (Locsin), 118 (Polites), 157 (Polites), 216 (top), 220 (JCG), 225 (JCG), 226 (bottom JCG), 252 (JCG), 253 (JCG), 262 (JCG except perspectiv), 265 (JCG), 274-275 (JCG), 279 (JCG), 281 (JCG), 283 (JCG), 292 (JCG), 294 (Polites) | © Reuters.com: p. 21 | © NARA / unknown: p. 26 (top) | © US Army Signal Corps / unknown: p. 26 (bottom) | © DCMI Photo Archive / unknown: p. 57 | © Carlos and Ina / Wordpress.com: p. 103 | © GoogleEarth / Edmon Canoy: p. 104 / unknown: p. 127, 229, 252, 276 / Marco Diaz: p. 140 | © Skyscrapercity.com / Gladita: p. 106 | © Diccionario Geográfico Estadístico Histórico de las Islas Filipinas, Madrid: p. 138 (top) | © Bureau of Health for the Philippine Islands: p. 139 | © The Philippines Herald, April 14, 1967: p. 182, 183 | © The Sunday Tribune Magazine, June 1, 1941: p. 183 | © Paredes / unknown: p. 184 | © Patrick Kasingsing: p. 186 | © Blueprint / unknown: p. 245 | © mASEANa_ PH2020+1 Workshops / Ed Simon: p. 288, 296-297 / Patrick Kasingsing: p. 300-301.

Texts — Jean-Claude Girard Translation from French into English — Richard Palmer Copy editing — Keonaona Peterson Project management — Freya Mohr, Alexander Felix Production — Amelie Solbrig Layout, cover design and typesetting — Pablo Lavalley – oficio.ch Font — Next (by Ludovic Balland) Image editing — prints professional, Jan Scheffler & Kerstin Wenzel GbR, Berlin Paper — Juwel Offset 120 g/m² Printing — Eberl & Kœsel GmbH & Co. KG, Altusried-Krugzell Library of Congress Control Number — 2021947184 Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. ISBN 978-3-0356-2092-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-0356-2093-1 © 2022 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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