Space

image from: http://mikarchitect.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/the-school-of-design-and-arts-building/

 A lazy walk while listening to a music entering the SDA building

A mind boggling shape representing the mind boggling physics class and a random shape representing the random topics we discussed in Worlite.

top view of the space i feel inside the SDA. kind of flat and compressed because i feel so small in that great structure. :)

Spanish Colonial Era

The Spanish Era has a large role in the Philippine history. They have affected the Philippines very much in terms of culture, architecture, beliefs, and most especially, our religion.

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Paoay_Church

They have built the early churches here in the Philippines and have spread the Catholicism throughout the whole country using their power, therefore, I think that the churches is their greatest structures that they contributed in the Philippines, especially the four UNESCO world heritage site which are the Paoay church in Ilocos, the San Agustin church in Manila, the Miag-ao church in Bicol, and the Sta. Maria church also in Ilocos. I have been in those four churches and my favorite is the Paoay church – its buttresses, the moment I went down the vehicle, my eyes were immediately drawn to its buttresses even though at that time I didn’t know what it was called – I only had hstarc1 at the time. The least is the Miag-ao Church, it’s probably just because it was already painted white and I liked the old picture that I saw somewhere in the internet.

The materials they used in building the structures are much more advanced than before, and i just realized that while other countries especially in Europe are already having structures near the modern period, it was just the beginning of having structures at all in the Philippines.

                                  http://www.librarylink.org.ph/featarticle.asp?articleid=110

Another structure that I liked in the Spanish era is the bahay na bato. Only families with a high status could have a bahay na bato, of course it was because they are the one who can afford it, but there’s one thing in the bahay na bato that could indicate the social status of the family and it was the newel post. Their planning is very logical and is still applied in the present day, only called differently. They had the Caida, equivalent to today’s Foyer, the Cuarto, today’s Bedroom, the Cusina, today, kitchen, and many more but what intrigued me was their Banyo, now called the Comfort Room. They have to build it outside the house for sanitary, they didn’t have yet the plumbing system so they have to make the most out of what they got. I also liked how they keep their houses cool without the help of air-conditioning unlike today. They were already smart enough at that time to know about the passive cooling effect. At the houses we visited last year in Vigan, they have this huge fan on the ceiling and it function like the present day’s electric fan, I’ve seen one exactly like that in a restaurant in Subic, it was a Spanish inspired restaurant, the name is Magellan’s, it was also somewhat like a museum, and they uses the large fan to cool the place though it was open area, I was amazed at those fan and was always looking at them whenever we were there. Amazing how they used those simple technologies and making it very much effective. Everything back then was just so simple and environmentally friendly, but, everything back then was also very much controlled by the Spanish.

Treehouse

I chose bird as my concept for my treehouse. I think they practically belong with the trees. They basically lived there; they build their nest to take care of their eggs there until they hatch. Another reason is that for me, birds have freedom that only they could have; they had the ability to go anywhere they like as long as they have their wings to fly. I wanted my treehouse to be a place where people could just hang out, bond, to get away with everything that’s worrying them, their problems, and just do what is relaxing for them like listening to their ipods, reading books, sleeping, talking and many more. In short, I want them to have their freedom and to be just themselves in that place.

Like I said, it would be a place where they hang out, so I planned on putting a sitting area, a place where they could lie, of course, those place should be comfortable, soft to touch like the bird’s feathers. The form of the treehouse may not literary look like a bird. It would not be a literal translation of a bird. I just wanted to interpret the meaning of a bird for me and hopefully it would translate to the people who would step into my treehouse.

Another characteristic of birds is that they are graceful. The way they fly is very fluid most especially that of an eagle and a phoenix so I planned on using slightly curved fluid lines in designing the structure of my treehouse, it would also form the seats and space where they could lie. I think I’m going to use the bird’s wings as the form of the treehouse because that’s what makes them unique. Their wings give them their freedom.

My treehouse would probably have different levels. The first level would be the busiest or noisiest area; that would be the place where people could talk, laugh, a place where friends could chat and laugh about something. The second level would be for the people who like it more serene, who like to be just sitting there, listening to music, to be thoughtful or just to be there. The third level is the most peaceful part. It should be the quietest because here is where people could sleep.

That’s basically my idea of my treehouse. Hopefully this idea of mine would work. 

An Insight About Philippines and its Architecture. :)

In more than one year of studying architecture, I often hear that Philippine architecture, some say that it does not exist, but for me, it’s otherwise. I think, Philippine architecture reflects the culture of our country. I think, even other county’s architecture reflects their culture and environment. Filipinos definitely have culture; we have a personality that is ours. Some of us eat with their hands, even today that we already have spoon and forks; some say that it’s even more enjoyable and food gets more delicious when we eat with our bare hands. We are very hospitable and open as foreigners say. We have different cuisines compared to other countries, the adobo as our specialty, also sweet mangoes could be found here. Architecture is influenced by many factors such as topography, climate, culture, beliefs, and many more. I wouldn’t say that our topography is from other countries, even climate nor our culture and belief.

The different historical structures here in the Philippines basically show our culture. Preserving these important structures is like preserving our culture. History is what makes the present. Everything wouldn’t be completely like today if any of the past, the history didn’t occur, that’s why I think that historical structures are important and should be preserved.

The best and most famous example of Philippine architecture is the “Bahay Kubo”. I think, from bahay kubo, it just evolved. As they say, there is no permanent in life except changes, people change, things change. We just became adaptive of what is in nowadays, what is modern. It is the same with fashion; we dress whatever is fashionable in modern world. You wouldn’t want to walk or have a date with someone wearing the Filipiniana or what Maria Clara wears a long time ago right? But I think, as time comes, what’s modern now doesn’t mean it would still be fresh in the future. It would sag in time, maybe not immediately, but there would come a time. I think what’s more important is the significance of a structure or what it means to us and the bahay kubo for me is still the best description of a Philippine architecture. It uses local materias, built and designed by the locals and with the consideration of the climate and topography of our country. Just like the Coconut Palace, among all the brutalist architecture around the CCP or Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Coconut Palace is the most unique structure and the only structure in CCP complex that I think is very Filipino. I have read in an article that the materials used in this structure is locally made, plus the fact that the design is very tropical, the coconut trees outside the palace gave an even more tropical feeling. The feeling that it gave me when I first saw this is that I’m in some province in the Philippines. Since everything in the CCP complex is brutalist, when I saw this, I can’t help notice how it stands out, the way it feels so cool and comfortable. I grew up in a province so the view just reminds me of home.

Studying the critical regionalism, I realized that everywhere, they could have their own architecture. Even if nowadays modern structures are very much trending in different places, it could be translated and make it unique with the features of local materials and to cope up with its environment and making it their own. I think that critical regionalism contradicts what international style is. Critical regionalism, though it is modern, it still considers where the structure would be built, while international style, whether built here in the Philippines or some other countries, it would still have the same feature.

I like critical regionalism more than international style because the former brings out what is ideal or the highlight of a certain place. It gives a person the feeling that he/she is in that certain place, meaning, giving the people the feeling of the architecture in that certain place like for example, here in Philippines, using bamboo, or other local materials, though it is not a “bahay kubo” or that it may be very modern, it still gives the person the feeling that he/she is in the Philippines. It is like modernizing Philippines, like being a modern Filipina – strong, has a voice, has her own personality, but still having Filipino traits such as being conservative, very respectful, and also hospitable. Unlike international style buildings, when you enter one international building in America and an international style here in the Philippines, it would have the same formal feeling.

In studying history of architecture, there was once a question that what if I was given a project to build a modern structure in place of a historical structure, would I do it? Would I have demolished a historical structure in place for my own modern, and much more complex design? I hesitated, maybe because, I don’t know how historical or significant the building was, but it was also because it would be an opportunity for me. So if given that choice, I would probably study more about the structure, its function, what had happened there and decide whether it would be worth saving or maybe it would be better off without and probably make my own history, but still, like the coconut palace, I would’ve design a structure, though modern, is very Filipino.

In the past meetings of our history of architecture class, I have already learned a lot of trivia about Philippines. I’ve learned about the oldest and great structures or even places here in the Philippines. Before, I wouldn’t even think of visiting the different places here in the Philippines. If given a choice whether to have a tour outside the country or around the country, I would definitely, with no hesitation, grab the chance to go out of the country, but now, after discussing the historical places here in the Philippines, I would like to go and visit those places first, appreciate what we have, then, just then that I would go visit and appreciate what other countries have.