Chapter 6

POSTCOLONIAL MODERNITY:
Architecture of Early Independence
(1946-1960s)

Presented by:
Lagamon, K.M.

FREDERICO S.
ILUSTRE

- 2-decade consulting architect of the

Bureau of Public Works (1945-1970)
-Witnessed shifts in government policy
due to changes in the presidency which
reflected the style of official architecture
from high modernist to neovernacular
persuasion
-Received his degree in architecture from
Mapua Institute of Technology; secured
license from the Board of Architecture in
1937
- Worked as a draftsman in the office of
Juan Nakpil in 1935 & as an interior
designer for Puyat and Sons in 1936

*In 1936, he joined the Bureau as a

draftsman until the war ended. During the
Japanese occupation, he was promoted to
consulting architect at the Bureau. After
the war, joined AFWESPAC of the US Army
as supervising architect assisting in
infrastructural aspect of postwar
rehabilitation. In 1947, he assumed the
position of supervising architect for NHC
and rejoined the Bureau in 1949 as
supervising architect.
- Best remembered for Quezon Memorial
Monument (result of a national design
competition in 1951 where he won the
grand prize) in Elliptical Park in Quezon
City
- Other works which still exists and are
stored at the DPWH Archives include:

1. THE PHILIPPINE COCONUT

ADMINISTRATION
(PHILCOA) BUILDING (1958)
.architect: Frederico S. Ilustre
.buoyant rectangular volume supported by stilts
.elevation was entirely protected by latticed
screen of open-work masonry to shield the
internal
structure from heat and glare
.verticality was heightened by two equally
spaced, upright louvers running the height
of the building.

2. THE QUEZON MEMORIAL CIRCLE

(1950s)
architect: Frederico S. Ilustre
monument was a testament to the persistence of
art deco even in the mid-twentieth century design
consciousness
rises 66 meters from its base on a 36
hectare elliptical lot making it the
tallest structure of its kind in the Philippines
metric height represented the late
President Manuel L. Quezons age
when he succumbed to tuberculosis.
a spiral staircase led to an observation
platform atop that accommodates
60 people provided a panoramic
view of the city
winged figures atop the 3 pylons
represent Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao

COMPLEX (1950s)
designed by Enrique J.L. Ruiz
one of the hallmarks of Philippine-American cooperation
presented as a gift of the American people to the Philippines
as a sign of gratitude to
Filipino soldiers who fought side-by-side with the Americans in
World War II.
design was characterized by no-nonsense composition,
symmetry, and axial spatial configuration for efficient delivery
of medical services

architect: Frederico S. Ilustre

reputed to be the largest and most modern in the Southeast Asian
region
terminal was designed along a finger-type plan to fit the terrain and
airport requirements
total area: 2,773 sq.m.
building was divided into 4 functional buildings interconnected by
sheltered passageways
wide expanse of tempered glass fronting the apron gave full view of
terminal activities from the
main lobby
was provided with overhanging control tower with a view of two
runways to facilitate efficient ground control of incoming and
outgoing flights
building burned down in 1981

Jose Rizal Centennial Commission unveiled the plan to build such

that composes of a national theatre, national library, and a national
museum at Wallace Field in Luneta
centrepiece for this project was Juan Nakpils unbuilt National
Theater (1959)
reflecting pool was provided to improve the setting for the National
Shrine
retrofitting included the superimposition of a stainless-steel shaft
over the obelisk that increased the height of the monument from 12.7
m to 30.5.
towering shaft installed with a beacon light
on top to make the monument conform with
the ultramodern National Theater in terms
of proportion and cutting-edge imagery
since the retrofitting of the Rizal monument
caused public uproar in the popular press,
the steel shaft was later removed and
transferred to Baclaran, Pasay City
remaining there as a landmark until 1990s.

Juan Nakpils unbuilt National Theater (1959)

National Theater failed to

materialize
on Wallce Field; instead was built
in Makati
becoming the historic Rizal
Theater (but was
demolished in 1980s to give way
for Shangri-La Hotel)
National Library- plain
rectangular prism whose
faade almost covered by grids of
vertical slats except at the center
where planes of curtain wall
rendered transparency to the
building, became a reality in 1962
under the Hexagon architects:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Jose Zaragoza
Francisco Fajardo
Edmund Lucero
Gabino de Leon
Felipe Mendoza

PROVINCIAL CAPITOL (1962)

Gaite
important postwar capitol edifice that deviated Beaux Arts formalism
ith wraparound louvers and sun baffles
use of concrete translated into a saw-tooth folded plate roof
plex laid out in classical proportion and axial symmetry despite its mode

TEAM 10 avant-garde group

which included
Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer
produced
modernist layouts and architecture
that saw the most visible expression in
the new South American capital city of
Brasilia

(1960s)
designed by Gaite, Ruperto
achieved visual weightless of a
massive, elongated, octagonal structure
with the use of two tapering stilts
octagonal structure dimensions: 10 x
40 meters was setting for relief
sculptures carved out of adobe
depicting the life and accomplishments
of Manuel L. Quezon as a national
leader.
8. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION COMPLEX (1967)
in Arroceros , Manila
designed by Ilustre
featured a rectangular block whose mass was suspended by
sculptural stilts to attain visual weightlessness
surface of the block accented with fenestration of delicate vertical
louvers
feature lifted from Basilia was the thin shell dome structure whose
geometry was sanctioned-off to taper before reaching the ground

ARCHITECTURE FOR THE PREMIER

STATE UNIVERSITY

William Parsons
Dilimans master planner in 1939
responded with a grand design focused on
core
of green park space approachable via a grand
boulevard (now known as University Avenue);
his calling for a series of paired structures built
opposite each other in the oval-shaped center,
perimeters surrounded by hectares of open
field

Ar. Cesar H. Concio

first campus architect of UP
responsibility of building UP Diliman
was given
designed Palma and Melchor Halls,
both exhibiting similarities in massing
and volume
His meeting with Niemeyer in Brasilia
exposes Niemeyers influence on his
designs, especially the parabolic
Church of the Risen Lord in the
University of the Philippines, Diliman

privileged function over form

manifested in the faade styles of the
Benitez/ Malcolm Halls (arcaded
hallways, balustrated verandas,
pedimented entrances, columns,
capitals) vis--vis the Palma/ Melchor
Halls (notable in their lack of
ornamentation rather structures were
simplified masses of volumes and
planes)
same transitional style could also be
seen in
Quezon Hall (proposed by Cesar
Concio and Juan Nakpil in 1949) where
classical columns had been paired
with plain entablature and had no
capitals
The Carillon (also designed by
Nakpil)

FROM MID-FIFTIES
ONWARD
International Style of Modern
Architecture became the unifying
motif in the construction of
buildings in Diliman
more functional application of
design, minimal treatment of
volumes and detailing
*ex. Church of the Holy Sacrifice
(1955) by Leandro Locsin
Church of of the Risen Lord (1955)
and the Student Services Center
or Vinsons Hall (1957),
use of openwork masonry
to increase ventilation

Architectural design looked toward skies of

inspiration in 1950s.
a year for design inspiration itself for
architecture and consumer products that
enthusiasm for air and space travel
translated into visual use of long, lean
horizontal line (suggesting airplane
wings),parabolic arches (directing the eye
to the sky), and sharp angles (expressing
speed)
complex mathematical computations
allowed new shapes and structural works to
be devised from thin concrete shells,
concrete folded plates, and space
frame structures
also the aspiration of the jet age; Cadillac
introduced its aircraft inspired tail fins in
1959 and greatly influenced the design of
jeepneys and tricycles.
Jet-age styling was manifested such as the
50,000-gallon water tank elevated on a 28meter steel tower at the Philippine Atomic
Research Center in Diliman whose form was

a 3-dimensional curved plate structure of

reinforce concrete whose thickness is small
compared to its dimension
characterized by its 3-dimensional. loadcarrying behaviour
ex. Church of the Risen Lord and Church of
Holy Scarifice

FOLDED PLATE
roof structure in which strength and
stiffness is derived from pleated or folded
geometry
a special class of shell structure formed by
joining flat, thin slabs along edges to create
a 3-dimensional spatial structure
i.e. International Center in Diliman and

1. THE SCIENCE PAVILION

AND THE PLANETARIUM
architect: Cresencio de Castro
National Science Development Board provided
these 2 ultra-modern edifice
*Science Pavilion
built for scientific conferences and movie projections
capacity of a maximum 300 persons
thin shell concrete domical structure resting on a 2-storey glass
cylindrical base
dome meets the ground in the form of a concrete carabao head
*The Planetarium
thin shell, yoyo-shaped structure with highly-textures staggered
base
housed a core of 2.4-movements of celestial bodies on the
concave ceiling of thin shell

2. THE ARANETA COLISEUM (1959)

located on a 34 hectare site in Cubao, Quezon City
named after J. Amado Araneta- an industrialist-sportsman and
president of the Progressive Development Corporation, the company
which initiated the design and construction of the said structure
between 1960-1963 reigned as the biggest domed coliseum in the
world
was constructed as a reinforced concrete cylinder capped by
aluminum dome structure with a 108 dia.
base of the coliseum and its tiers were of cast concrete
framework of the dome (made of 48 main steel ribs meeting in a ring
the floated high above the floor) designed and fabricated by Atlantic,
Gulf and Pacific Corporation
dome was suspended
10 stories (36.8 meters) above
the arena floor whose area is 400 sq.m.
even today it still remains as one
of the largest clear-span domes in the world;
largest indoor facility in Southeast Asia.

later known as the Philippine Atomic Research Center

designed by Cresenciano de Castro
took seven years of research, planning, and
construction to complete.
facility was comprised of an arc-shaped nuclear
laboratory building and an egg-shaped reactor building
of the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission
Reactor building was airtight concrete structure with a
20.7m diameter circular plan and a height of about 26
m
East of the reactor building, connected by an entrance
tunnel was a semicircular administration and auxiliary
laboratory