thesis project of leandro locsin

MAS Context Fall Talks 2022

The Complex and Multifaceted Work of Leandro Valencia Locsin

September 27, 2022 at 12PM

Online talk by Jean-Claude Girard with a response by Geoff Goldberg.

Contributors

• Jean-Claude Girard
• Response by Geoff Goldberg

The largely unknown oeuvre of the Philippine architect Leandro V. Locsin (1928-1994) embodies the search for identity in the built environment. Having completed his studies, Locsin opened his practice in 1953 in the capital Manila which, after the aerial attacks by the Allied forces for the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, had been almost completely destroyed. The reconstruction, as well as technical innovations and favorable political and economic conditions, made it possible for him to design a wide range and large number of projects, including hotels, commercial buildings, churches, cultural venues, and public buildings. His work combines inspiration from modernism with local traditions and comprises a total of 245 projects, of which more than half were completed.

During his talk, architect Jean-Claude Girard, author of the book Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser), discussed the complex and multifaceted work of Leandro Valencia Locsin rooted in the local conditions of the Philippines. Chicago-based architect Geoff Goldberg served as a respondent to the talk.

You can purchase the book from its publisher or your local bookstore:

→ Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser, 2021).

St. Andrew the Apostle Parish Church, Makati, 1967. © Akio Kawasumi.

Population Center, Makati, 1972. © Akio Kawasumi.

Ayala Museum, Makati, 1974. © Akio Kawasumi.

CCP Folk Arts Theater, Pasay, 1974. © Akio Kawasumi.

CCP Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibitions, Pasay, 1976. © Akio Kawasumi.

Contributor Bios

Contributor

Jean-Claude Girard is a Geneva-based architect. He is the founder of the architecture office Jean-Claude Girard Architecte and a lecturer at the School of Landscape, Engineering, and Architecture (HEPIA) in Geneva. He studied architecture at EPFL and his final project, which dealt with the theme of interreligious sacred space, won the 1998 SIA Prize (first prize for architecture). From 2013 to 2018 he developed a doctoral thesis on the Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPF) in Lausanne under the supervision of Professor Bruno Marchand. In 2021, he published a comprehensive monograph on the works of Leandro V. Locsin titled Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser).

Geoff Goldberg has practiced architecture and urban design in Chicago for more than 30 years. Projects done under his direction include planning for an urban airport, building a new city college, and design management of large public transportation initiatives. He has taught architectural design at the University of Illinois at Chicago, urban design at Harvard University, and the history of form at the University of Chicago. Goldberg has published architectural and engineering histories, and has been awarded for his work in design, urban planning, and historical research.

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Leandro Valencia Locsin

Filipino architect.

• Jean-Claude Girard
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Birkhäuser
• Copyright year: 2022
• Audience: Architekten/-innen, Bauhistoriker/-innen, Studierende
• Main content: 320
• Illustrations: 250
• Coloured Illustrations: 250
• Keywords: tropical modernism ; modernism ; concrete ; Eero Saarinen ; brutalism ; Philippines ; manila ; concrete architecture ; Vernacular architecture ; climate
• Published: December 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9783035620931
• ISBN: 9783035620924

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Approaching the Sacred: A Study of the Spatial Manifestations of Liminality in the Churches of Leandro V. Locsin

Leandro Valencia Locsin: Philosophy and Ideology

A celebrated Filipino architect, artist, interior designer, and musician Leandro Valencia Locsin (15 August 1928 – 15 November 1994) is one of the most influential brutalist architects in Southeast Asia . Locsin has been an active architect from 1955 to 1994. During his term, He produced 75 residential projects and 88 other buildings, including 11 churches and chapels, 23 public buildings , 48 commercial buildings, six major hotels, and an airport terminal building. In 1990, the late Philippine President, Corazon C. Aquino declared him a National Artist in the field of Architecture.

Here are the varied philosophies and ideologies of Leandro Locsin evident in his architecture:

1) Creating New Filipino Architecture | Leandro Locsin

Since his childhood, Leandro Locsin has been a part of a culturally rich environment that made him aware of the forms and spaces of Spanish- period Filipino architecture, the bipolar qualities of which are apparent in his work. Locsin has a style of architecture that has been attributed to having a distinct and profound Filipino character. He developed the then-contemporary architecture in the Philippines by studying various facets like archaeology, history, folk architecture, music and Philippine modern art. 

These talents of Locsin display beauty in his forms and its appearance that reshapes the urban landscape. He met some of his influences like Paul Rudolph and Eero Saarinen when he visited the United States . Before Locsin contributed to architecture in the Philippines, western architecture was considered the symbol of modernity, sophistication, order, and power, and regarded locally-produced buildings as old- fashioned as well as provincial. With Locsin, modern architecture came to be known as an amalgam of East and West. He established an architectural identity by the use of monumental and bold forms in his architecture. 

Every building that Leandro Locsin designed adopts climatic features of Southeast Asia along with the traditional style of the Philippines. He studied the vernacular philippine traditions merged with the modern architecture that defines his work to emerge of a new contemporary Filipino architecture. Some of Leandro Locsin’s notable works are the Cultural Center of the Philippine, Diliman Church of the Holy Sacrifice, the University of the Philippines, the Philippine International Convention Center, the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel, the Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1, and the Philippine Stock Exchange Building.

2) Poet of Architectural Space

Leandro Locsin articulated every space using geometry so straightforwardly and came to be called the ‘Poet of Space’. He is known for creating a distinct style by using simplistic design, floating volumes, and the use of duality of light and heavy. Along with this, Locsin is also famous for using concrete as it was a relatively cheaper material and easy to form in the Philippines. 

A few of design principles of Locsin are the use of native materials, the dominant form of the roof, wide overhanging eaves, having massive supports, spacious interiors with lattices, trellises, and various ornamental details. He understands the poetry of the space by giving great attention to the sense of place, abstraction, symmetry, proportion, and materiality linked to the use of concrete and traditional materials. Locsin also focuses on Filipino architecture as a synthesis and reflection of the people’s aspirations, traditions, culture, economic resources, technology , environment, climate, and all other components of Philippine society.

3) Bipolar Architecture | Leandro Locsin

Leandro Locsin brought art into his architecture , and along with his forms and spaces, he attempted to re-introduce the architectural experience of a building. The Philippines has a hybrid culture that produces new forms and harnesses the bipolarity to communicate architecture. In 1957, this lightness was visible in the design of Monterrey Apartments by incorporating bipolar elements in both exterior and interior space. 

Locsin harmoniously tried to blur the boundaries of modern architecture into the climate of Southeast Asia. Throughout the year, the Philippines has high temperature and high humidity because of its location near a volcanic zone. Subsequently, Locsin produced durable architecture with open and vast spaces for ventilation . With this bipolarity, He brought the western influences that are now deep-rooted with the traditional Filipino architecture.

Leandro Locsin interprets an understanding of traditional forms and the processes involved to produce them, which is very different from the other Filipino architects. The influence of Locsin is undeniable by the use of bipolarity to express Filipino principles in his design and architecture. He used the concept of bipolarity in his dynamic architectural forms and spaces. 

The following manifestations emerged on understanding his philosophy and ideology for the bipolarity in architecture: 

i) Floating effect

Leandro Locsin created the floating effect in his works by using the vernacular forms and human integration in a traditional house on stilts. 

Reminiscent of the traditional houses, Locsin gave importance to the upper floors where the ground floor is used, as storage. This floating effect emphasizes the entrance to the buildings and the process of ascending. The Church of the Holy Sacrifice (1957), the CCP Theater of Performing Arts (1966), Alfredo Luz’s Magsaysay Center (1967), and Jose Zaragosa’s Meralco Building (1968) are some of the examples that showcase this effect.

The floating quality makes the building appear to be levitating as well as giving a sense of massiveness and lightness . This effect is further based on buoyancy and gravity that form 2 groups known as singular floating masses and multiple floating planes. The difference between these groups is that the former contains more mass. Multiple floating planes consist of 3 types- vertical stacking support, slanting support and curved support.

ii) Grounded Flight

Leandro Locsin transformed the floating quality of the buildings into much lighter forms. They are characterized by not being rectangular blocks and having a connection to the ground, which provides the building support too. The foot base of the building supports it and articulates the separation from the ground. What makes it different from the floating effect is that the grounded ‘flight’ has much evident movement in its form, and it also has a dominant roof form inspired by the traditional architecture.

iii) Enclosed Openness

Leandro Locsin had a poetic harmony between the interior and exterior architectural spaces. He focussed on creating an enclosed openness that segregated spaces and at the same time, maintained a continuous flow throughout the rooms. The bipolar quality emerges as the forms undergo the endless flow of detachment and integration. Such spaces often have multiple enclosures permeable with barriers around a central core like in traditional Filipino architecture. The Church of the Holy Sacrifice, National Arts Center and the Monastery of the Transfiguration are a few examples of such enclosed spaces.

iv) Alternative Spatial Characters |  Leandro Locsin

Leandro Locsin creates the spaces by laying emphasis on the non-physical barriers and dividing them by an alternation of opposite spatial characters like narrow-wide, and light-dark. He designs a low entrance with dim-lit spaces, and he creates contrast by having large, light, and airy inside space to allow synthesis of the spatial characteristics. 

The dominant core with high ceilings and narrow residual multiple rooms of human scale often have no other tangible barriers and yet allow easy integration. Some examples of this bipolar quality are evident in the Ayala Museum, PICC, CCP Theater, the clubhouse of the Canlubang Golf and Country Club, and the Nutrition Center.

Yachika Sharma is an architect who recently graduated from Chandigarh College of Architecture. She has a profound passion for architecture, poetry, art and travelling. She believes that it is crucial to go on to an adventure to fathom a city and unravel the little subtleties of city life.

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The focus of this contribution is on the importance of tropical architecture in the work of Leandro V. Locsin, in the context of post-WWII in Asia. Based in the Philippines, Locsin is immersed in the Christian tradition – the main religion of a country that was dominated by the Spanish crown from the mid 16th-century to 1898, and where the Catholic Church remains powerful across much of the archipelago today. Attention is focused on Locsin’s religious buildings and projects, where he succeeded in giving a new treatment to the tropical architecture of faith-based structures, through the integration of climate considerations and the reinterpretation of vernacular architecture of the Philippines.

How to Cite

• Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)

Copyright (c) 2020 Jean-Claude Girard

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

Author Biography

Jean-claude girard, école polytechnique fédérale de lausanne.

(Delémont, Switzerland, 1972) Graduated in architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 1998. In 2007, he founded Jean-Claude Girard Architecture and from 2012 he is currently teaching architeture and construction in Geneva. In 2018, he took a doctorate degree at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne with a dissertation on Leandro Locsin.

COUTURIER, Marie-Alain, La Vérité blessée, Paris, Plon, 1984.

GERARD, Lico, Arkitekturang Filipino: a history of architecture ans urbanism in the Philippines, Diliman,

Queszon City, Metro Manila, University Press of the Philippines, 2008.

GIRARD, Jean-Claude, L’oeuvre de Leandro V. Locsin (1928-1994), architecte. A la recherche de l’identité élusive de l’architecture Philippine du second après-guerre, thèse No. 8593, Lausanne, Laboratoire de théorie et d’histoire 2, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 2018.

LOCSIN, Leandro, “The Elusive Filipino Soul in Architecture”, Exchange, 4th Quarter, No. 33, Manila, The United States Educational Foundation in the Philippines.

PAREDES-SANTILLAN, Caryn, Approaching the Sacred: A study of the spatial manifestations of liminality in the architecture of Leandro V. Locsin, Kyoto, Japan, 2nd Architecture and Phenomenology Symposium, 2018.

REBORI, Andrew Nicolas, “The work of William E. Parsons in the Philippines Islands”, The Architectural Record, No. 41, New York, January-June 1917.

VENDREDI-AUZENNEAU, Christine, Antonin Raymond. Un architecte occidental au Japon (1888-1976), Paris, Editions A. et J. Picard, 2012.

VILLALON, Augusto, PEREZ III, Rodrigo, Leandro Locsin. The poet of Space, Manila, Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1996.

VILLEGAS, Ramon, “Leandro Locsin: Renaissance builder”, Design & Architecture Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, Makati, 1989.

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Leandro Valencia Locsin

Leandro V. Locsin was a Filipino architect, artist, and interior designer, known for his use of concrete, floating volume and simplistic design in his various projects. He was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for Architecture in 1990 by the late former President Corazon C. Aquino.

Leandro V. Locsin was born August 15, 1928 in Silay City, Negros Occidental, a grandson of the first governor of the province. He later studied at the De La Salle Brothers in 1935 before returning to Negros due to the Second World War. He returned to Manila to study Pre-Law, before shifting to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Santo Tomas. Although he was a talented pianist, he later changed again to Architecture, just a year before graduating. He was married to Cecilia Yulo, to which he had two children, one of whom is also an architect.

Diliman Catholic Chaplain, Fr. John Delaney commissioned Locsin to design a chapel that is open and can easily accommodate 1,000 people. The Church of the Holy Sacrifice is the first round chapel in the Philippines with the altar in the middle, and the first to have a thin shell concrete dome. The floor of the church was designed by Arturo Luz, the stations of the cross by Vicente Manansala and Ang Kiukok, and the cross by Napoleon Abueva, all of whom are now National Artists. Alfredo L. Juinio served as the building's structural engineer. Today, the church is recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Institute and the National Museum respectively.

In his visit to the United States, he met some of his influences, Paul Rudolph and Eero Saarinen. It was then he realized to use concrete, which was relatively cheap in the Philippines and easy to form, for his buildings. In 1969, he completed what is to be his most recognizable work, the Theater of Performing Arts (Now the Tanghalang Pambansa) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1974, Locsin designed the Folk Arts Theater, which is one of the largest single span buildings in the Philippines with a span of 60 meters. It was completed in only seventy-seven days, in time for the Miss Universe Pageant. Locsin was also commissioned to build the Philippine International Convention Center, the country's premiere international conference building and the seat of the Vice Presidency.

The current building was dedicated in 2004, and was designed by the L. V. Locsin and Partners, led by Leandro Y. Locsin, Jr. Most of Locsin's work has been inside the country, but in 1970, he designed the Philippine Pavilion of the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. His largest single work is the Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei.

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A retrospective exhibition titled The Poet of Concrete: The Architecture of National Artist Leandro Locsin will open to the public on Sept. 26. This showcase celebrates the life and works of Leandro Locsin, a pivotal figure in Philippine art and design.

The first section of the exhibition invites visitors to explore Locsin’s creative journey and illustrious career, providing a comprehensive timeline of his most iconic buildings. It features a collection of facsimiles of original drawings, photographs, and models, curated with the help of Leandro V. Locsin Partners (LVLP). This section also highlights Locsin’s contributions to La Salle University, his accolades as an outstanding alumnus, and showcases both his first and last projects, including structures that have since been demolished.

The second part of the exhibition examines Locsin’s enduring influence, as seen through the current work of LVLP, now led by his son, Andy. It presents images, text, and scale models of key projects designed by the firm since Locsin’s passing in 1994. Interviews with partners provide insights into their experiences with the National Artist and illustrate how his philosophy continues to shape their work.

Produced by the Center for Campus Art (CCA) at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), the exhibition is a collaboration with the Cultural Center of the Philippines and LVLP. It also looks forward, featuring young talents from DLS-CSB’s School of Environment and Design. Under the guidance of Architects Jim Caumeron and Kyle Nuestro, students have conceptualized and designed buildings inspired by Locsin’s Brutalist principles. Their scale models and discussions showcase how Locsin’s legacy informs a new generation of artists.

The exhibition will also include excerpts from essays by Filipino architects such as Gerard Lico, Caryn Paredes-Santillan, and AJ Javier, who reflect on Locsin’s impact.

The Poet of Concrete is curated by CCA Director Architect Gerry Torres and will be open to the public until Dec. 14 at the 12F Gallery of the Benilde Design + Arts Campus, located at 950 Pablo Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila. 

For more information, visit facebook.com/BenildeCampusArt.

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Forging Modernism: The early years of Leandro Locsin

He was the first Filipino architect that truly made an international reputation. At the height of his career in the late ‘70s, National Artist Leandro Locsin (1928-1994) was the most influential architect in Southeast Asia, with his crowning international project in the form of the enormous Istana Nurul Iman, the palace of the Sultan of Brunei finished in 1984—still the largest single residential structure ever built.

To the people of the Philippines, Locsin’s prestige has never been in doubt. His Modernist buildings, which combine a monumental solidity with a graceful lyricism of line and motif, had been celebrated ever since his first major commission was unveiled in 1956.

Early Years

Known as “Lindy” to his friends and admirers, Locsin was that rare combination of Filipino painter, musician, and poet of architectural space. Born of the prominent sugar-growing Locsin clan in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Lindy was the eldest of Guillermo Locsin and Remedios Valencia’s seven children, and was named after his paternal grandfather, Don Leandro Locsin y de la Rama, who was Negros Occidental’s first governor.

Like many boys of prominent Negrense families, he studied with the La Sallian brothers in Manila from 1935 until 1947 (except for that brief but horrifying wartime interlude from 1942-45 during which he fortunately decided to return home to Silay, escaping the massacre of his classmates and teachers during the brutal Battle of Manila).

Already gifted with a precocious artistic talent, Lindy contemplated taking a pre-law course before deciding to enroll as a Piano major instead at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), while dabbling in painting—thanks to the proximity of the College of Architecture and Fine Arts (both colleges were located inside the UST’s Main Building at the time).

Getting to know Manila’s emergent Modernist art movers in the late ‘40s, Lindy was also a regular habitué at Lyd Arguilla’s Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) in Malate, where he would meet and befriend Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who had just returned home after finishing his MFA at Harvard—and would later be pivotal in hiring Lindy as a student draftsman at Ayala Corporation in 1953 when they were doing the master plan for Makati.

Perhaps it was due to his interest in the arts, while realizing that there was a dearth of good architects in the country during that period of post-war reconstruction, that pushed Lindy to shift from Music before graduating in 1949, and transfer to Architecture, where he would be overseen by mentors like National Artist Victorio Edades, who was himself both architect and painter.

Edades’ advocacy of Modernism was a profound influence on the young Locsin, and would instill in him a strong sense of aesthetic progressivism in which the powerful use of modern materials like concrete and glass, and the deployment of abstract, brutalist forms found in the International Style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, were complemented with the aestheticized treatment of architectural form and detailing by pioneer Modernists like Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

READ MORE:  The Emerson Coseteng House by National Artist Leandro Locsin

Searching for a synthesis of this in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, Lindy would have looked at the most recent developments of Filipino and Japanese architecture that had been grappling with these issues. Among them would have been the work of National Artist Juan Nakpil, who also taught at the UST before the war, and who was then finishing several buildings for the newly transferred University of the Philippines (UP) campus at Diliman using an Art Deco-meets-International Style design aesthetic. This would be complemented by Cesar Concio’s more “brutalist” interpretation of massive but simplified forms in UP Diliman buildings like Palma Hall.

Another was the post-war work of Japanese architects like Sutemi Horiguchi and Kenzo Tange, who were themselves embroiled in a post-war debate as to how to translate Modernist architectural forms using a Japanese sensibility: whether to continue traditional idiomatic stylizing (called sukiya) in modern structures, or to discard the “vernacular look” completely and go for a more ambiguous “Asian spirit” translation using purely Modernist forms.

These debates would soon resound in construction sites throughout the Philippines in the ‘60s and ‘70s, with Lindy at the forefront of their translation. During his early years as an architect, Lindy also benefitted from a brief visit to the US to meet some of the groundbreaking Modernists that he had come to admire, such as Eero Saarinen and Paul Rudolph.

The UP Chapel

The first opportunity for Lindy to jump into these design and aesthetic debates occurred when Zobel recommended him to the Ossorio family of Victorias, Negros Occidental, to design the family chapel. The project was cancelled when the Ossorio patriarch departed for the US, however, and Lindy was left with an unbuilt design that would be resuscitated after his graduation from the UST in 1954, when Father John Delaney, the controversial parish priest of UP Diliman, requested him to design a Catholic chapel inside the campus.

Adapting the Ossorio chapel design to this new site, Lindy produced a unique circular plan for this chapel, which maximized the number of seated parishioners in the given area. To complement the circular plan, Lindy also decided to cover it with a thin-shell reinforced concrete dome—the first ever designed and built in the Philippines—and in whose eaves he would place a cantilevered concrete awning that was open in all directions, flanked radially by thin-walled columns that supported the dome, giving a salakot hat-like impression from afar that was reinforced by adding a steel tripod tower at the dome’s apex to hold a cross.

This article first appeared in BluPrint Special Issue 3 2012. Edits were made for BluPrint online.

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Inside a Brutalist Structure: Rediscovering Leandro Locsin's PICC

Architecture takes the spotlight in its now almost empty halls

(SPOT.ph) Mention the acronym PICC and people would think back to some of the crowd-drawing affairs they've attended at the indoor venue: college graduations at the famous Plenary Hall, a week-long business convention at the Delegation Building, or an elegant wedding at the Reception Hall. For others, it's a common sight on television during Philippine-hosted functions of global leaders. This is the Philippine International Convention Center , a world-class facility that has been the home of local and international events since September 5, 1976. And while it hasn't exactly seen crowds in the last couple of years given the current restrictions, the imposing structure standing on reclaimed land in Pasay City is taking back its much-deserved spotlight as an architectural wonder made possible by no other than National Artist Leandro Locsin .

"It was both unnerving and refreshing to see a venue associated with crowds and activity bare and empty. It’s like finally beholding a work of art (as a big fan of architect Leandro Locsin) without the distraction of crowds; a chance to intimately get to know a structure in all its physical facets, and how the architect probably beheld the structure before it opened to the public. For the first time, the stage that held the show, IS the show," Brutalist Pilipinas Instagram account owner Patrick Kasingsing once said in a statement in March 2021. 

Also read: The Brutalist Architectural Gems to Check Out in Metro Manila This Cool IG Page Features Unique Buildings From All Over the Philippines

PICC and the Brutalist Movement in Manila

The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) followed the popular aesthetic of the time: brutalist. Brutalist architecture rose to fame as a movement in the 1950s and continued well into the 1970s. It derived its name from the French phrase Béton brut or raw concrete, which perfectly describes a brutalist building's monolithic appearance and large-scale use of poured concrete. You can see this style in a number of buildings erected during late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' regime , including the Cultural Center of the Philippines (1966) and Manila Film Center (1982) within the complex. Interestingly, brutalist buildings are preferred around the world in the post-war years for the supposed low cost of concrete—though the national debt incurred through infrastructure at the time would say otherwise, but we digress.

Like all these buildings during the Marcos administration, the PICC is characterized by its heavy use of bare concrete throughout a floor area that spans more than 70,000 square meters. Defined lines and striking corners also quickly catch the eye, as if the structure is making sure that its presence is constantly felt. More than four decades later, brutalism still has the same impact on viewers and passersby.

"Here's a fun fact: The recent resurgence of brutalism is really because of graphic designers, photographers, and artists. My first encounter with brutalism was through this defunct tumblr blog, Fuck Yeah Brutalism, which depicts photos of brutalist buildings around the world. Two things appealed to today's creatives about brutalism: While its looks may be polarizing, one thing brutalism has is stage presence. It is a wonderful subject to photograph in various parts of the day and carries patina and texture that most of its modernist contemporaries lack. It is also a very honest and unpretentious architectural style more absorbed with performing its brief of sheltering users in an efficient, economical manner with fewer resources than dazzling spectators. It is a post-war style after all. The very graphic, expressive appeal of the style and its emphasis on material honesty appealed to today's generation of creatives who value unbridled creative expression and honesty to one's self sacrosanct," Kasingsing told SPOT.ph in an e-mail exchange. The more than 17,000 followers of the account @brutalistpilipinas can attest to the reemergence of Brutalism's popularity.

The writer and creative director added: "While brutalism in its original iteration is dead, its spirit finds revival in the works of architects taken by its honesty and expressivity. Béton brut is slowly becoming a fashionable concrete finish and more architectural works are embodying material honesty, or leaving materials in its natural finish, a hallmark of brutalism."

Reviving a Convention Center Amid the Quarantine

Inside its imposing architecture, the PICC has made use of all the extra time it had because of canceled events especially at the height of the pandemic.

"We have been busy preparing our Center for the new normal in events since [2020] to comply with [the Department of Tourism and the Department of Trade and Industry's] guidelines. We have procured and installed equipment relative to safety and sanitation. We are also improving our equipment and connectivity relative to digitization so that we can fully support our clients' requirements for virtual and hybrid events. We have been cleaning and maintaining our meeting rooms and facilities regularly as if we are fully operational. We have also taken advantage of the lull in our event calendar by undertaking new constructions, major repairs, and renovations, such as replacement of carpets, conversion of air conditioning to the latest technology, installation of additional ramps for PWDs, and construction of new fire exits as well as new offices for lease," PICC Deputy General Manager Roberto A. Garcia told SPOT.ph.

Seating arrangement in most of PICC's halls were adjusted to adapt to what is dubbed the "new normal." 

The Plenary Hall, for example, can sit up to 1,921 people should a one-seat-apart rule be followed or up to 1,305 people should the two-seats-apart rule be implemented. The Reception Hall and the meeting rooms at the Delegation Building and the Secretariat Building are also versatile enough for a theater set-up, a classroom set-up, a U-shape set-up, or a dining set-up to meet the protocols by the Inter-Agency Task Force. 

Once the venue of grand social events, the PICC is now open to host small and intimate weddings. Their package for a sit-down lunch or dinner for 30 people starts at P142,500, which includes the use of the venue for four hours; access to the Banquet Halls and the Garden for ceremony and reception; prenuptial shoot; and even an anniversary lunch.

They've also adapted to hosting digital events by offering multi-platform event packages: Green Studio Packages, which start at P310,000; and Studio Rental Packages, which start at P52,000. The former is inclusive of four-hour use of the venue, food for the staff, provision of a green screen, Zoom subscription, and other things that you may have to use for a virtual event. The latter is a cheaper option if you already have your preferred technical suppliers.

The PICC celebrated its 45th anniversary last September 5, 2021; and while current conditions are far from what the event venue is used to, it just gives us more than enough reason to revisit and rediscover a Philippine architect's magnum opus.

The Philippine International Convention Center is at Vicente Sotto Street, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Pasay City. To book your next event, e-mail [email protected] or visit PICC's website .

UPDATED (January 18, 3:15 p.m.): This article has been edited to correct the number of globules for the chandelier.

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Leandro V. LOCSIN

Leandro v. locsin／ arts and culture prize 1992.

Arts and Culture Prize 1992 [3rd]

--> Architect Born August 15, 1928 （aged64）

Mr. Leandro V. Locsin is a celebrated architect of the Philippines. He designed numerous modern building, which adopt climatic features of Southeast Asia and the traditional style of the Philippines. His accomplishment contributed remarkable to the development of architectural culture in Asia.

The details of title, age, career and award citation are at the time of announcement of the Prize.

Award Citation

Mr. Leandro V. Locsin is a distinguished architect in the Philippines who has blended modern architecture harmoniously into the climate of Southeast Asia.

The Philippines has high temperature and high humidity; it is located in a volcanic zone and is thus vulnerable to earthquakes. As a result, durability and ventilation are necessities in Filipino architecture. Large roofs, long eaves and high ceilings are typical characteristics of traditional Filipino architecture.

Mr. Locsin's works beautifully incorporate such traditional qualities with the openness and vastness of modern architecture. His unique interpretation of architectural features such as lattice and curved lines are eloquently expressed in his modern, Western form of art. What lies behind this originality is his principle: to synthesize or to blend Western and Eastern culture. Without this theme, the modern architecture of the West could not have taken root within the existing Filipino architecture.

His private life is characterized by continued commitment to other arts and culture. He is a fine pianist, a deeply committed admirer of oriental art and the visual and performing arts. When his multi-faceted artistic talent is fully exhibited in architecture, its details display a well-calculated beauty of form, and its appearance reshapes the urban landscape.

His architecture enjoys broad recognition and he has garnered many honors and awards. The Filipino architects of the early 20th century were trained in Europe and the United States, and since then almost every Filipino architect of note has taken undergraduate or graduate studies abroad. Mr. Locsin, however, has pursued his studies within the Philippines, and has acquired his formal education from the University of Santo Tomas. His phenomenal career is not only evidence of a natural wealth of talent, but also a tribute to his Filipino mentors and to Filipino culture which in its colorful variety has been a cradle of genius.

As such, Mr. Locsin's achievements have contributed immensely to the advancement and recognition of Asian architectural culture. Therefore, he is surely worthy of the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes.

Biography of Leandro V. LOCSIN (PDF)（PDF, 57.1KB）

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Shelter from the storm: community structures, Tagpuro, the Philippines, by Eriksson Furunes with Leandro V Locsin Partners

9 April 2019 By Portia Ladrido Buildings

Credit: Alexander Eriksson Furunes

Community structures in Tagpuro in the Philippines by Eriksson Furunes with Leandro V Locsin Partners adapt to the destructive forces that wrecked their Tacloban antecedents

In November 2013, the largest tropical cyclone to make landfall in recorded history ploughed across the islands in Eastern Visayas, one of the poorest regions in the Philippines. Haiyan, the super typhoon, left more than 6,000 people dead, more than 27,000 injured, and 3.9 million people were forced out of their homes. The damage was particularly severe in Leyte and the city of Tacloban, where most of the temporary evacuation centres were built to meet the immediate needs of the victims.

‘One of the mothers who joined the workshops said: “I didn’t know that we were capable of building that”.’

Among the structures compromised across the city were facilities belonging to Streetlight Philippines, a nonprofit organisation that runs health and educational programmes for Filipinos living in the slums of Tacloban. One of these was a newly built study centre, initiated and built by architecture students from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The centre had been nestled in a former children’s park overlooking the ocean and the scenic San Juanico Bridge, opening up towards the sea to reduce resistance against strong winds. It had provided a calm, peaceful refuge for children, a place where they could be encouraged to play or do their homework instead of being out in the streets, exposed to a myriad of social vulnerabilities, abuse or exploitation in downtown Tacloban.

Tacloban (2010) project 01 study center photo by nelson petilla

Source: Nelson Petilla

Study centre, by Eriksson Furunes with Trond Hegvold and Ivar KV Tutturen, Tacloban (2010)

The structure was built in close association with the community it served, starting with workshops that could help the students to identify the users’ wants and needs, such as choosing to situate the centre towards the seafront, building a mezzanine for the older children, and making use of materials that are readily accessible in their community. The main structure was made of locally sourced wood, which was anchored to a hollow block wall at the back of the building – akin to a quintessential Philippine architectural style during the Spanish colonial era, the Bahay na Bato , where the upper half consists of timber and the lower half is made of concrete blocks.

For web double image

When Typhoon Haiyan battered most of the city, the study centre did survive the peak of the typhoon, but it was eventually destroyed by the storm surge that followed. The water rose so rapidly that Erlend Johannesen, the founder of the nonprofit, recalls ending up on the roof of the office with 72 of the children, youths and parents; protected from the typhoon wall by the hill behind them, but still subject to the flood.

In the typhoon’s aftermath, resettlement areas were built further inland, in Tagpuro, a district around 12 kilometres north of central Tacloban. Streetlight followed the resettlement, acquiring a property in the area where they were most needed. Johannesen shares that there are still not enough buildings for schools, amenities and services in this area. ‘You move around a hundred thousand poor into the middle of nowhere, you’re lacking infrastructure,’ he says. ‘There’s still no water now, the deep wells have E-coli.’

For web drawings 1

Drawings of the Tacloban project (2010) - click to download

Johannesen got in touch with Alexander Eriksson Furunes, one of the three architecture students (with Trond Hegvold and Ivar KV Tutturen) who had built the study centre, to lead the construction process for a new community building in Tagpuro. Johannesen and Furunes both underscored that they wanted a community-driven rebuild, similar to the workshops they had done for the study centre in Tacloban, where locals would feel accountable for and be able to take ownership of what they would create.

Through weekly workshops, it became clear that the community wanted to replicate the old study centre; Streetlight also identified that the residential facilities from downtown Tacloban had to be moved to the north; thus, the facility would also include an orphanage. The workshop participants sourced wood from trees fallen during the typhoon, as timber buildings would best withstand future winds; they also studied other types of houses that may have details they want to duplicate, for example, one resident identified a bamboo veranda, and another drew a slatted window from a house in the vicinity. Children would write poems about what specific parts of a building meant for them, which parents would design and make into prototypes.

Tagpuro (2016) process 04 drawing the plan photo by alexander eriksson furunes

Source: Alexander Eriksson Furunes

Crucially, the workshops enabled families to articulate psychological issues they had to deal with as a consequence of experiencing Haiyan. Sudarshan Khadka from Filipino architectural firm Leandro V Locsin Partners – who joined Eriksson Furunes on the project – revealed that some of the participants specifically did not want galvanised iron (GI) corrugated roofs because they saw people getting sliced by them during the typhoon. This type of roof also emphasised the sound of rain, which was an issue because there were kids who would cry when it started raining as they would associate the sound with their trauma. Instead of the GI roofing, the new buildings were given a standing-seam roof that will only crumple under strong winds. Architecture and the processes of reconstruction became a means for the community to start reclaiming their lives.

In order to be resilient against typhoons, the building features open voids, making use of diamond-shaped, light, timber-slatted frames set between concrete volumes, to make sure that strong winds can pass through it. Construction techniques were essentially similar to the ones employed in building the old study centre in Tacloban, but to further ensure that the structure could withstand a disaster equivalent to Typhoon Haiyan, mock-ups were built to test their strength.

For web drawings 2

The new community building in Tagpuro (2016) - click to download

From conceptualisation to construction, the entire project lasted almost three years, including more than 400 hours of workshops, and opened in 2016. The new study centre now has a music room, a library, bathrooms and a staffroom built in heavy volumes while open areas serve as a space for the children’s after-school activities. The new facilities have three concrete volumes: an orphanage housing at-risk children and youths, a new study centre, and Streetlight’s on-site office which contains an open area with shared workspaces as well as meeting rooms for the Streetlight staff.

The design and construction of the programmes in Tagpuro are indeed a departure from the majority of the architecture in downtown Tacloban, where the main roads have been rebuilt and side streets are back to being lined with concrete buildings and stores topped with corrugated roofs. There are still ruins that have not been attended to, ‘spaghetti wires’ hanging over corners, and buildings remain enveloped with worn-out paint. Ventilation and liveability still look to be a potential concern, but six years on, the town is again filled with the archetypal sound of a Philippine city: the noise of tricycle engines, the laughter of children and street vendors, and music blasting from jeepneys.

For web drawings 3

Just weeks after Typhoon Haiyan, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) declared a 40-metre no-build zone in Tacloban, based on protocols detailed in the 1976 Philippine Water Code, but the policy has been criticised for its potential both to undermine safety and hinder efforts to rehabilitate those displaced. Anakbayan, a human rights group, called the no-build zone ‘anti-poor’ as it did not offer to alleviate the economic issues that come with relocation, and Alfred Romualdez, the mayor of Tacloban when Typhoon Haiyan happened, also slammed the government policy, saying that it was a ‘knee-jerk and haphazard response’: unilaterally designating a 40-metre band along the Leyte coastline fails to take into account other factors such as elevation, oversimplifying the designation of ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ spaces.

Some families have rebuilt their homes despite the no-build zone, mostly shanties that snake along the coastline, made out of plywood, cardboard boxes, plastic sheets and tarpaulins – materials that are weak in the face of a natural disaster. The economic needs of the Filipinos living in downtown Tacloban will almost always overpower their fear of a calamity, especially with the lack of livelihood opportunities and poor attention to infrastructure presented by resettlement areas.

Tagpuro (2016) project 15 on the porch photo by alexander eriksson furunes

On the porch of the Tagpuro project (2016)

Having the space, time and resources for a project like the one in Tagpuro is not commonplace, but perhaps, it can serve as a reminder that it can be done. In seeing the new study centre and orphanage come to life, Margarita Allunam, one of the mothers who joined the workshops says: ‘I didn’t know that we were capable of building that’. Especially after the disaster, she tells how building a site they can call their own was an exercise in getting together, asking for and offering help – an act of cooperation and volunteerism called bayanihan in Filipino; a form of social support that is all the more highlighted during times of crisis.

‘ Bayanihan  gives value to solidarity and reciprocity over monetary currency, which mirrors the common relations, knowledge and resources present in this specific local context’

‘There’s no good English word for bayanihan , right? It’s not community service, it’s deeper. It’s much more culturally rooted’, says Johannesen. ‘In Norway, we have the same term, which is dugnad , and it has the same cultural depth to it and that’s what we saw, really.’ Bayanihan gives value to solidarity and reciprocity over monetary currency, which mirrors the common relations, knowledge and resources present in this specific local context. ‘This model of organisation can give shape to new power structures and trigger dialogues with an equal standing to power holders such as the government, international organisations, aid organisations or outside interest groups acting on behalf of the people’, argues Furunes.

Surrounded by warm waters that will continue to get warmer, the Philippines will only become more vulnerable to natural disaster. When typhoons clobber the country, the resilience of Filipinos is widely talked about. It is as though resilience is the Filipinos’ national identity; author Jose Raymund Canoy recently argued that the story of the Filipino is the story of ‘human resilience in a weak state’, largely because Filipinos do not have a choice but to be resilient for themselves and for each other.

Community structures, Tagpuro

Architect  Eriksson Furunes with Leandro V Locsin Partners

Project lead (Tagpuro)  Alexander Eriksson Furunes, Sudarshan Khadka, Jago Boase

Photographs  Alexander Eriksson Furunes unless otherwise stated

This piece featured in the AR April issue on Oceans – click  here  to purchase your copy today

Since 1896, The Architectural Review has scoured the globe for architecture that challenges and inspires. Buildings old and new are chosen as prisms through which arguments and broader narratives are constructed. In their fearless storytelling, independent critical voices explore the forces that shape the homes, cities and places we inhabit.

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dance - arts - culture... life from the philippines to canada.

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Saturday 7 April 2012

Leandro locsin: philippine national artist for architecture.

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Cultural Center of the Philippines

Designed by architect, leandro v. locsin, national artist for architecture 1966/1969, ballet philippines pasay, philippines.

The CCP was created by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1966 through Executive Order No. 30 with the purpose of promoting and preserving Filipino arts and culture.

• Title: Cultural Center of the Philippines
• Creator: Designed by Architect, Leandro V. Locsin, National Artist for Architecture
• Date Created: 1966/1969
• Location Created: Pasay City, Manila, Philippines
• Art Genre: Structure, Theater
• Art Form: Architecture
• Depicted Location: Pasay, City
• Depicted Topic: Buiding, Architecture

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