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38th Nationwide Architecture Week: “Arkitekturang Local”
By Arch. Ma. Joycelyn B. Mananghaya, Dean FEATI University College of Architecture
Every 2nd week of December, the College of Architecture, FEATI University celebrates the Nationwide Architecture Week. This yearly event started in 1971 when then President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared the 2nd week of December as Architecture week. That 1st celebration coincided with the Golden Anniversary celebration of the practice of architecture as a profession in the country.
This year’s theme of the NAW is ‘Arkitekturang Local’. It is a very relevant theme as we endearingly put importance to our own architecture, the product of Filipino architects and artisans – may it be made of indigenous materials and employing local construction techniques, or the modern architecture that we Philippine architects proudly produce as our own architecture, imbibing in it our own design sensitivities and the Filipino’s spirit of creativeness.
Our local architecture deserves to be elevated in the ranks of the architectures of the world. The world’s vernacular architecture has been recognized and valued and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has its own Scientific Committee that aims to preserve the vernacular architecture found in different parts of the world.
The CHARTER ON THE BUILT VERNACULAR HERITAGE (1999) that was ratified by the ICOMOS 12th General Assembly, in Mexico, October 1999 giving importance to vernacular architecture:
’The built vernacular heritage occupies a central place in the affection and pride of all peoples. It has been accepted as a characteristic and attractive product of society. It appears informal, but nevertheless orderly. It is utilitarian and at the same time possesses interest and beauty. It is a focus of contemporary life and at the same time a record of the history of society. Although it is the work of man it is also the creation of time. It would be unworthy of the heritage of man if care were not taken to conserve these traditional harmonies which constitute the core of man's own existence.
The built vernacular heritage is important; it is the fundamental expression of the culture of a community, of its relationship with its territory and, at the same time, the expression of the world's cultural diversity….. etc.”
Local architecture does not refer solely to vernacular architecture. It could also refer to the architecture, modern or traditional that is representative of our identity, of our sensitivities as a people, as a nation. Questions have been raised as to what really is Filipino architecture, a discourse that has been put to many inquiries by the architects themselves.
Until now some architects put forth this question. For me, Filipino architecture is local architecture – the architecture that is built and made by us Filipinos, having produced solely from our own creativeness, it expresses who we are, in it, reflects the rich characteristics of our environment. Filipino architecture is not a single expression of creativity but the diverse expressions of architecture of different Filipinos architects and artisans alike, who have been exposed to our local environment, thereby producing an architecture that is uniquely and distinctly known to be Filipino.
For this year’s NAW celebration, FEATI University’s College of Architecture has invited specialists in the field of Filipino architecture to share with us their knowledge and expertise on local architecture. One of them is Arch. Rosario Encarnacion Tan, an expert on traditional Philippine Architecture who has co-authored books such as ‘Folk Architecture’, 1990, a valuable sourcebook of traditional Philippine architecture, technology and culture; the ‘Philippine Ancestral Houses’, 1980 that holds a compendium of information and photographs of Spanish Colonial houses; and the Main Entry in the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Oxford 1995. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines, College of Architecture, Cum Laude.
Another speaker is Arch. Alfredo Fernandez who specializes in Architecture Law. He is currently pursuing his studies in Law and is the incumbent Consultant of the United Architects of the Philippines on Professional Practice within the framework of RA 9266 (The Architecture Act of 2004). He is an active faculty member of the College of Architecture, De La Salle University (Dasmarinas). |