American Colonial

Architecture
Tropical Hybrid Design
Familiar local architecture icons from Hispanized
colonial structures overlaid with a neoclassical
massing.
Colonial Infrastructures
Buildings were built to facilitate ventures in military
control, public health, education, and commerce.
Official Architectural Styles
▪ Colonial Revival Mission
Use of clay roof tiles, adobe, concrete, stucco, gabled
roof, round arch entrances, arcades, corridors, and
mirador towers.
▪ Neoclassicism
Revival of using Greek and Roman orders as decorative
motifs.
Bureau of Public Works
▪ The nerve center of colonial architectural production
▪ Function was confined to the construction of roads
and public buildings
▪ Consultations, repair, design and supervision of
construction
▪ Consulting architects: William Parsons, George
Fenhagen, and Ralph Harrington Doane.
Camp John Hay
Baguio.

■ Protected Baguio and the nearby

gold mines and projected the
American military presence in
northern Luzon
■ Also served as a rest and
recreation camp for officers and
men.
Fort William
McKinley
Manila.

■ Home of the Philippine Division

■ The main American ground unit in
the Philippines.
Capitol of Pangasinan. Supervised by Ralph Harrington Doane, consulting architect.
Philippine General Hospital; Manila. William Parsons.
Manila Hotel. William Parsons. (One of the most prestigious hotels in the world during its time.)
Improvements in Sanitation
Cubeta
▪ Also known as “pail system”.
▪ Way of introducing the concept of toilet among the
dwellers of the bahay kubo.
▪ Public toilet sheds were also installed in congested
nipa districts.
▪ A latrine system was also developed for remote areas.
The Sanitary
Barrio
■ Neighborhood concept
■ Nipa houses built on highly
regulated blocks of subdivided lots.
■ Built-in system of surface drainage,
public latrines, public bath houses
and laundry, and public water
hydrants, which are free of charge.
Tsalet
■ “The healthy housing alternative.”
■ Tropical features of vernacular
buildings combined with hygienic
structural principles and modern
materials that gave premium to
light, ventilation, and drainage
■ Constructed of wood or
ferroconcrete.
■ Steps leading to a veranda, floor to
ceiling partitions, bedrooms, living
and dining room, kitchen, and toilet
and bath.
Urban Planning
Proposed ideas of organized comprehensive urban
planning based on the principles of the City Beautiful
Movement.
Formulaic Elements
▪ A civic core
▪ Wide radial avenues
▪ Landscaped promenades
▪ Visually arresting panorama
Proposed plans for the development of Manila and Baguio, by Daniel Burnham.
Improvements in
Construction
Importing American Architecture and building
technology.
New Materials and Systems
▪ Use of steel-framed skeleton construction, reinforced
concrete (ferroconcrete), and concrete hollow blocks.
▪ The Kahn Truss System, trussed bars were placed
within concrete moulds for floor slabs and beams.
▪ Production of prefabricated components and precast
concrete ornaments.
▪ Adoption of standardized plans and modularized
systems for building types.
Gabaldon
Schoolhouses
■ Set of mass-produced model
schoolhouses.
Davao Municipal Hall and Calape Municipal Building (Bohol).
Filipino Architects
Pensionado Program, scholarship launched by the
government that allowed Filipino students to pursue
university education in the United States.
First Generation
▪ Carlos Baretto
▪ Antonio Toledo
▪ Tomas Mapua
▪ Arcadio Arellano
▪ Tomas Arguelles
▪ Juan Arellano
Carlos Baretto
▪ First Filipino architect with an academic degree from
abroad; first pensionado.
▪ Became one of the pioneering staff of the Division of
Architecture.
Antonio Toledo
Manila City Hall.

■ Regarded as the master of the

Neoclassic style.
■ Among the first architect-
educators.
Department of Tourism Building. Antonio Toledo.
Leyte Capitol Building. Antonio Toledo.
Tomas Mapua
■ First registered architect in the
Philippines
■ Established the Mapua Institute of
Technology in 1925, the first
architectural school in the
Philippines.
De La Salle University, Main Building. Tomas Mapua.
Arcadio Arellano
Gota de Leche Building, Manila.

■ First Filipino to be employed by the

Americans as one of their
architectural advisors.
■ Pioneered in the establishment of
an architectural and surveying
office in the country.
Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Revolution, Manila. Arcadio Arellano.
Tomas Arguelles
Heacock’s Building.

■ One of the major department

stores of the period.
■ Advocated the enforcement of the
Building Code of Manila
Juan Arellano
Metropolitan Museum, Manila. Art
Deco.

■ Promoted the shift to] proto-

modern (art deco and streamline
modern) and nativist phase of
Philippine architecture.
National Museum (formerly the Legislative Building), Manila. Juan Arellano.
Post Office Building, Manila. Juan Arellano.
Benitez Hall (Education) and Malcolm Hall (Law), UP Diliman. Juan Arellano.
Second Generation
▪ Andres Luna de San Pedro
▪ Pablo Antonio
▪ Fernando Ocampo
▪ Juan Nakpil
Andres Luna de
San Pedro
Regina Building, Manila.

■ Introduced new architectural forms

in the Philippines by incorporating
modern and exotic design motifs
through the grammar of art deco.
Crystal Arcade, Manila. Andres Luna de San Pedro. (Manila’s most modern building before WWII, Art Deco.)
Pablo Antonio
FEU Main Building. Art Deco.

■ National Artist for Architecture;

■ His buildings were characterized by
clean lines, plain surfaces, and
bold rectangular masses.
■ He also became president of the
Philippine Institute of Architects.
Ideal Theater and Galaxy Theater. Pablo Antonio.
Fernando
Ocampo
Manila Cathedral. Neo-Romanesque.

■ Designed with straightforward

simplicity, synthesizing traditional
designs with art-deco ornaments.
■ co-founded the UST School of Fine
Arts and Architecture in 1930.
UST Central Seminary Building. Fernando Ocampo.
Juan Nakpil
Gonzalez Hall, UP Diliman. Main
Library.

■ National Artist for Architecture.

■ Worked largely in the Art Deco
style, combining stylized flora and
angular forms.
Quezon Hall, UP Diliman (Admin Building). Juan Nakpil.
Quiapo Church, Manila. Juan Nakpil. (Reconstruction and addition of dome and belfry.)
The Commonwealth
■ Transition government;
■ Increasing population in Manila;
■ A new city was being contemplated to cushion the
impending urban sprawl.
Barrio Obrero
▪ Homesite project
▪ Aims to provide the workingmen and permanent
employees with homes at reasonable cost.
▪ Will serve as model residential and community center.
Post-war and the
Republic Years
Third Generation
▪ Otilio Arellano ▪ Jose Zaragoza
▪ Carlos Arguelles ▪ Francisco Fajardo
▪ Cesar Concio ▪ Augusto Fernando
▪ Cresenciano de Castro ▪ Carlos Banaag
▪ Gabriel Formoso ▪ Gines Rivera
▪ Leandro Locsin ▪ Antonio Heredia
▪ Alfredo Luz ▪ Mañosa Brothers (Jose,
▪ Felipe Mendoza Francisco, and Manuel
▪ Angel Nakpil Jr.)
Modern Architecture
Modern architecture provided the image that
represented growth, progress, advancement, and
decolonization.
Features of Modern Architecture
▪ Utilization of reinforced concrete, steel and glass.
▪ The predominance of cubic forms, geometric shapes,
Cartesian grids.
▪ The absence of applied decoration.
Cesar Concio
Church of the Risen Lord, UP Diliman.
Palma Hall (Arts and Sciences) and Melchor Hall (Engineering), UP Diliman. Cesar Concio.
ANGEL NAKPIL
National Press Club Building, Manila.
Alfredo Luz
Ramon Magsaysay Center, Manila.
Gabriel Formoso
Pacific Star Building, Makati City.
Carlos Arguelles
Philamlife Building, Manila.
State Architecture
Capital cities, institutional buildings, and national
monuments as symbols of national power.
Federico Ilustre
GSIS Building, Manila.

■ Head of the Division of

Architecture.
Quezon Memorial Shrine, Quezon City. Federico Ilustre (Art Deco)
Veterans Memorial Building, Manila. Federico Ilustre. (Demolished)
Ruperto Gaite
Quezon City Assembly Hall, Quezon
City.
Juan Nakpil
SSS Building, Quezon City.
Space Age
Architecture
Significant events in science fueled faith in technology
and this was transcoded in architecture and design.
Marcos de
Guzman
Residence of Artemio Reyes.

■ Plateriform, saucer-shape motif.

Mañosa Brothers
Residence of Ignacio Arroyo.
Mutya ng Pasig Revolving Restaurant.
Thin Shell
▪ A three-dimensional curved plate structure of
reinforced concrete;
▪ Thin compared to its dimension and load-carrying.
Cesar Concio
Church of the Risen Lord, UP Diliman.
Leandro Locsin
Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, UP
Diliman.

■ National Artist for Architecture.

Church of St. Andrew, Makati City. Leandro Locsin.
Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City. (Designed by the Progressive Development Corporation owned by J.
Amado Araneta; one of the largest coliseums and indoor facilities in Asia, also one of the largest clear span
domes in the world.)
Folded Plate
▪ A roof structure in which strength and stiffness is
derived from pleated or folded geometry.
▪ Formed by joining flat, thin slabs along their edges.
Juan Nakpil
SSS Building, Quezon City.
Commercial Bank and Trust Building and Rizal Theater. Juan Nakpil.
Victor Tiotuyco
UP International Center, UP Diliman.
Modern Churches
Worship spaces adapted the new and straightforward
geometries. Sculptural acrobatics was achieved with
the use of poured concrete (liquid stone).
Jose Ma.
Zaragoza
Santo Domingo Church, Quezon City.
Carlos Arguelles
Cathedral of the Holy Child, Manila.
Carlos Santos-
Viola
Iglesia ni Cristo, Central. Quezon City.
Felipe Mendoza
Manila Mormon Temple, Quezon City.
Planning
Developments
Addressing the growing dilemma in urban migration.
The New Capitol City
R.A. No. 333 of July 17, 1948: Quezon City was
inaugurated as the new capital city and the Capital
City Planning Commission was created.
Arellano-Frost
Plan
■ Constitution Hills, new site of the
government center located on a
high plateau.
Suburbia and The Bungalow
Subdivision development went full blast, patterned
after the American suburbia (automobile culture).

Generated from planning concepts such as “Garden

City” (Ebenezer Howard) and “neighbourhood units”
(Clarence Perry).
Housing Agencies
▪ People’s Homesite Corporation (PHC)
First government housing agency; established model
residential communities for the low income bracket.

▪ National Housing Corporation (NHC)

Constructed Heroes Hill, the residential units for military
officials.
PHHC
▪ People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation, merged
PHC and NHC.

▪ Designed and developed the mass-fabrication of low-

cost bungalow units (Kamuning Housing Projects and
Projects 1 - 8 and 16).

▪ Single-detached, duplex, and rowhouses.

Mid- and High-income Subdivisions
▪ Philam Life Homes
Developed by the Philippine American Life Insurance
Company for moderate income families.

▪ Ayala y Compania
Developer of exclusive suburban villages; aimed to
transform Makati into the most modern community in the
country.
Regional Tropicalism
Tropicalism intertwined with the incorporation of
attributes of the region’s endemic and traditionally
built environment.
San Miguel Corporation Building, Mañosa brothers and IP Santos, father of Philippine Landscape Architecture.
Benguet Corporation Building, Leandro Locsin. (First and oldest mining company in the Philippines.)
GSIS Building, Pasay City. Jorge Ramos.
Felipe Mendoza
Development Academy of the
Philippines, Pasig City.
Pierced Screens
Masonry that is perforated, pierced, or lattice-like;
functioned mainly as diffusers of light and doubled as
exterior decorative meshes.
Abelardo Hall (Music), UP Diliman. Roberto Novenario.
Vinzon’s Hall, UP Diliman. Cesar Concio.
Brise Soleil
Or sun breakers; an architectural baffle device
placed outside windows or projected over the entire
surface of a building’s façade.
Captain Luis Gonzaga Building, Rizal Avenue corner Carriedo. Pablo Antonio.
Julio Victor Rocha
Roque Roano Building, UST Manila.

■ Initiated the successful use of brise

soleil.
Meralco Building. Jose Zaragosa. (First building to rise along Ortigas Avenue.)
Skyscrapers
Manila Ordinance No. 4131 allowed maximum height
of buildings to be increased from 30 to 45 meters.
Angel Nakpil
Picache Building, Manila.

■ Considered as the first skyscraper

in the Philippines.
Luis Ma. Araneta
Araneta-Tuason Building, Manila.

■ First to use vertical brise soleil as a

decorative feature.
Cresenciano de
Castro
Asian Development Bank Building,
Manila.

■ Introduced the use of exposed

aggregate finish.
Insular Life Building, Cesar Concio. (First office building to surpass the old height restriction in the Makati CBD.
Redeveloped in 2005 by the Japanese firm, Takenobu Mohri Architects and Associates.)
Neo Vernacular
A nostalgic attempt to recreate a style from the past.
“Folk architecture” and the bahay kubo became
architectural archetypes.
Juan Nakpil
Cotabato Municipal Hall.

■ Tausug house silhouette; naga

tadjuk pasung gable finial.
Sulo Hotel, Mañosa Brothers.
Otilio Arellano
Philippine Pavilion, 1964 New York’s
Fair.
Leandro Locsin
Philippine Pavilion, 1970 Osaka World
Exposition.