The Heritage Conservation Society

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=51357

   
Sept 26, 2005

By Augusto Villalon

WHAT
ARE THE CREATIVE industries? What do they actually do? Do they
contribute to the national economy? Do they enhance national
well-being? Are creative industries a force to be reckoned with?

The
Department of Trade and Industry, Citem, Cultural Center of the
Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and British
Council organized the First Philippine Creative Industries Forum which
brought the creative community together to answer those questions.

A
succession of stereotypes has clouded public perception of the creative
industries, relegating them to the background: Creativity is for the
elite, that it is nonessential for nation-building, that the creative
sector is fractious, undisciplined and unreliable, and so on.

What
are the creative industries? Another stereotype immediately leads to
artistic endeavor, flaky at best. However, creativity goes beyond that
stereotype.

Publishing, handicraft, architecture, film, tourism,
food, cultural heritage are a few of the many professional disciplines
that are creative industries. These are business enterprises that
employ a number of people whose earnings contribute to the national
economy.

Because of the lack of data, the creative industries
could be considered a young sector in our national economy, but it
could be one of the oldest in fact. Traditional livelihoods, like
agriculture, trading, woodcarving, loom-weaving, basketry, and other
crafts-based activities, have been sustaining Filipinos for a long time.

The
DTI, Citem and Design Center Philippines have successfully built up
crafts-based production as a base for employment and export
manufacturing for Philippine products which have become extremely
successful in the international market.

The many international awards won by Philippine products in trade fairs all over the globe is proof of their excellence.

Another
recognition of excellence is the recent pirating of Ballet Philippines
dancers by Hong Kong Disneyland for the theme park’s daily
song-and-dance extravaganzas.

When the Singapore Art Museum was conceptualized, work by Filipino artists was one of the backbones of its collection.

Over the last five years, three Filipino projects were winners in the prestigious Unesco Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Awards.

At
the recently concluded Holcim Awards for Sustainable Architectural
Development, nine awardees were from China, one from Japan, and two
from the Philippines.

The awards certify that the Philippine cultural industry is world-class.

To
really know the impact of creative industries in the country, an
inventory should be done to determine the number of people working in
the sector and their contributions to the national economy.

Once
the statistics are in, my forecast is that the numbers will prove arts
and culture contribute significantly to national economy.

Most highly prized

Richard
Florida, in his book "The Rise of the Creative Class," says that
creativity is "the most highly prized commodity in our economy."
Creativity is multidimensional. Therefore, it can be economic,
technological and organizational, and is not confined just to the
artistic and cultural as people are made to believe.

Creativity, says Florida, cuts across disciplines.

Because
creativity is essential to the success of any endeavor, people with
exceptional creativity are the individuals who make a strong mark as
the key assets of not only the organizations but of nations as well.

How to make the creative industries a force to be reckoned with?

Awareness
is crucial. Not many people know what the creative industries are and
how they contribute to the psychic and economic Philippine well-being.

At
the conference, the strongest sentiment was that the national
government should aid and support the creative industries on a level
higher than it currently does.

Government support is definitely
needed. But what support should it give? That was the challenge the
conference threw to the participants.

Instead of the usual
top-down approach where government is expected to solve all ills, why
not a partnership between the cultural community and the government
that focuses on specific issues that need immediate attention?

It
really came down to the private sector, the cultural community in this
instance, having to take the lead and tell the government what it
needs. The public sector should respond to the needs of the private
sector.

Before expecting the government to institute programs for
the cultural industries to flourish, culture should flourish in each
Filipino.

What it means is that if culture is going to be
respected as essential in nation-building, we should respect culture in
our own homes first. If teachers tell our children that our culture is
worth a second look, will our children believe their teachers if their
parents do not provide the example that Philippine culture is worth
saving?

Nestor Jardin, CCP president, said that a mayor once
asked him: "Sining at kultura, makakain ba ‘yan?" (Can you eat arts and
culture?)

Creativity, art and culture per se might not be edible,
but as the creative industries they certainly put food on many tables.
And going beyond that, they definitely put the Philippines on the world
map.

Time has come to change the negative stereotypes that have
sidelined the creative community, which should now enjoy recognition as
an essential force in nation-building.

Culture is, after all, the human factor that makes Philippine society different from other societies in the world.

Feedback is welcome at afvillalon@hotmail.com

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=50606

   
Sept 19, 2005

By Augusto Villalon   

THE
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(Unesco) included the restored Far Eastern University campus in Manila
among the recipients of the prestigious Unesco 2005 Asia Pacific
Cultural Heritage Awards.

Previous Philippine winners were the
Gota de Leche Building in Sampaloc, Manila, (2003) and the Nielsen
Tower, now Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati (1999).

Ivan ManDy, a professional streetwalker who organizes heritage walks in central Manila, tells the FEU story:

"The
Far Eastern University, located in Manila’s chaotic and overcrowded
University Belt, is the proverbial rose in a sea of thorns.

"Years
of neglect… led to the [campus] falling into hard times, hardly a fit
place to inspire the minds of our country’s future [leaders]. But then
the FEU administration decided… to roll up its sleeves and do
something.

"In one fell swoop, [the campus] morphed from an
uninviting, graffiti-infested, makeshift patchwork of classrooms,
food-areas and dingy business stalls to [restore itself to] the
gleaming Art Deco complex worthy of educating the best minds of the
country.

"This is the FEU campus today, a touch of architectural class in a city that seems to have forgotten how beautiful she once was.

"That
the university… is in the midst of one of the most high-density and
polluted districts of the city did not deter FEU from battling urban
blight head on.

"But what particularly makes the FEU campus
noteworthy is that it proved to many how old buildings do not have to
mean derelict and unfashionable. In fact they [the restored buildings]
are hip and cool…"

"Buildings in the FEU campus were
constructed between 1930-1950; they had been mostly designed by
National Artist Pablo Antonio. Felipe Mendoza designed the other campus
structures, notably the chapel.

"All of campus structures were
restored to their original appearance. All new buildings were designed
in a contemporary style compatible with the old. Without resorting to
architectural mimicry of the heritage architecture, the new blended
perfectly with the old.

Restoration
"Lourdes
Reyes Montinola, chair of FEU, led the restoration project. Pablo
Antonio Jr. did the architectural works and conservation on work
originally done by his father. Conservation consultant was Augusto
Villal¢n.

"Unknown and unappreciated to many Manile?os, the
campus boasts of the largest collection of 1930s Art Deco period
buildings that survive in Manila, or even in the country.

"If you
are lucky enough to get (or sneak) in, as I did in 2001 when I joined a
walking tour of the campus, you will find even more surprises.

"A
well-proportioned quadrangle [designed by pioneer landscape architect
Dolly Q. Pèrez] flanked by lush greens is a breather from the jeepney
fumes outside."

Mature Philippine hardwood trees planted in the
late 1930s by FEU founder Dr. Nicanor Reyes himself are not only a
living link to the university’s illustrious past but also valuable
oxygen regenerators much needed in polluted downtown Manila.

Unknown
to outsiders (and possibly to students and alumni), the university art
collection is outstanding. Paintings by National Artist Carlos
Francisco line the university chapel walls. Murals in the Art Deco
style [by Saulog and Manansala] encourage the university youth to
empower themselves to build a Filipino nation.

Other significant
works of campus art are a collection of outdoor bronze sculptures by
Saprid in the quadrangle and wood bas reliefs by the noted Italian
sculptor Monti. Paintings by National Artist Fernando Amorsolo hang in
the Administration Building.

The FEU Auditorium, the pre-Cultural
Center focus of all cultural activities in Manila, has not only been
restored to its original grandeur, it has been expanded and updated
with the latest in theater equipment. The vastly improved auditorium
once again is the venue of Manila’s important cultural events.

Significant
Unesco
cites the project "…in the context of its immediate neighborhood, the
project has had a significant effect on raising historic awareness in
the community. The project maintained a commendable balance between
preserving original building design and use while accommodating the
university’s modern needs."

FEU’s restoration caused an upgrading
on its surrounding neighborhood. Inspired by the new look of the
campus, its neighbors started a revitalization program, first
volunteering to repaint their facades, then improving the sidewalks in
front of their properties.

Next they formed into a neighborhood
building owners association that asked the City of Manila to
participate in the revitalization program by repaving the sidewalks,
improving street lighting, and providing better security. Inspired (or
maybe shamed) by the initiative taken by private property owners, the
city government agreed.

The FEU-managed Nicanor Reyes (formerly
Morayta) Street revitalization project is the first public-private
cooperation in the Philippines for urban regeneration that is based on
conservation, an example that citizens can make the government respond
to their needs rather than simply wait for government handouts.

FEU
is one of the few Philippine universities that squarely face the future
with feet anchored on a long tradition of excellence. In FEU’s case,
the excellence is illustrated in the university’s landmark
architecture, which has renewed Tamaraw pride among the studentry and
alumni.

Feedback is welcome at afvillalon@hotmail.com.

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 09/10/2005                   

As
our political situation gets more and more baffling, my preoccupation
with sun baffles and building louvers is increasing, too. At the least
it has diverted my attention to architectural design rather than to the
more devious designs of those who aim to squeeze us dry of taxes,
patience and sanity.

From last week’s article, I left out a number of outstanding
examples of sun-baffled facades in post-war buildings. Many of these
still stand – some layered with the grime of pollution and
deteriorating from neglect – while others are continually scrubbed and
useful. Here are more baffled buildings to add to the many mentioned
last week:

1. The Gonzaga Building by National Artist for
Architecture Pablo Antonio Sr. is one of the most striking examples of
a building with a baffled facade. Built in 1952, the structure was a
symbol of recovery from the ravages of the Second World War. It rose at
the start of Avenida Rizal, where it still stands today albeit under
the shadow of the ‘70s-era LRT1, which makes the concrete baffles on
one side of the building redundant. The Gonzaga building still houses
shops and offices as efficiently as it did over half a century ago and
is getting a new lease on life with the resurrection of Avenida Rizal.

2. The Carmen Apartments on Roxas Boulevard were built
by the prolific and colorful Carlos Arguelles (who trained under
General George Patton as a young officer). This sexily curved building
boasts wide terraces with deep cantilevers that protect the units from
the midday sun while providing a great venue to enjoy Manila’s fabled
sunset.

3. The US Embassy. The original main building was a
nondescript federal-style civic building, which was augmented in the
early Sixties by an interesting international-style block. The
structure, designed by American A L Aydelott & Associates, is a low
one surrounded by an adobe wall meant by the architect to mirror the
slanted fortified walls of Intramuros. The main mass is shielded from
the sun by a latticework of pre-cast concrete (molds by Starpel steel).
It is a wraparound pierced screen made popular by another American
architect – Edward Durell Stone. The building still stands; its
fortifications hardened to protect it from terrorists.

4. The Amon building on Buendia Avenue (now Sen. Gil
Puyat Avenue) in Makati was a horizontal poem clad in aluminum louvers.
Designed by Alfredo Luz (of Ramon Magsaysay fame), the structure housed
Amon, the foremost name in building materials (whose tagline "Before
you even think of buying the first nail …come to Amon" still rings in
my head).

5. The Manila Hilton. Designed by Carlos Arguelles (in
association with Welton Becket of Jai Alai fame), its large podium was
clad with panels of native wood louvers (now replaced with aluminum
cladding).

6. La Fuerza Building in Cebu. Baffled buildings were
not limited to Manila. The La Fuerza building in Cebu was clad in
Eternit sun baffles and showed that Cebu was as progressive as the
capital.

7. National Bookstore on Avenida Rizal. This was my
favorite destination for art and architecture books in the Seventies
and boasted a well-designed baffled front façade.

8. The Ortigas Building on Ortigas Avenue. Another
elegant building from the Seventies had cantilevered shades with a band
of smoked glass panels to mitigate the sun. The building is an example
of a well-maintained structure that looks as good today as it did when
it was first built.

9. The Meralco Building on Ortigas Avenue. This is the
high-rise masterpiece of Jose Zaragoza and its curved front façade was
framed with vertical louvers that at night made the building look like
a huge lantern–very appropriate for Meralco.

10. The Picache Building fronting Plaza Miranda. This was the first skyscraper of Manila and was designed by Angel Nakpil.

11. The Shell Building 1956 by Gabino de Leon. This
building set the tone for "modern" buildings in the ‘50s. It was
louvered and air-conditioned as well as set in a lush landscape.

12. Baffled Houses. Houses in the 1950s were baffled,
too, with terraces and patios benefiting from sunscreen and horizontal
baffles of concrete or wood.

Like I mentioned last week, we should look again at ways of
minimizing the effects of the hot sun in our structures. This we can do
with good tropical design and the lessons learned from decades past.

Our political mess can be solved too by learning from our past
experiences with the people we elect to power. Our democracy is flawed
and so are the leaders we chose to represent us. We cannot build a
robust country or a sustainable economy without making sure that the
architects of our democracy do not take shortcuts, rig the bidding
process or sacrifice the comfort and safety of the future occupants for
the creation of false facades of progress. When will we learn?

If
you want to learn how to fund your latest research project or
impeachment rally, here’s a workshop you may be interested in: How To
Write A Grant Proposal is a writing workshop by John L. Silva and
sponsored by Hands On Manila (HOM). Many non-profit organizations raise
money through fundraising and grants. The most basic requirement is
writing a grant proposal. Hands On Manila (HOM) is a non-profit
organization which recruits volunteers to help various charitable
organizations. John is offering a one-day intensive workshop on How To
Write A Grant Proposal. He will go through a step-by-step procedure in
reviewing what is entailed in a proposal, how to ensure funding
guidelines are followed, what pertinent documents are needed, and what
research one has to do to make sure a proposal is a fit with that of
the funding agency. John will teach you to identify the very best of
your work, its successes, its challenges, and help you write it to make
a persuasive and winning grant proposal. In addition, he will teach you
how to conduct yourself with the media and the press when articulating
your grant proposal needs. The whole-day seminar will be held Friday,
Sept. 30, at the National Museum. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the
workshop starts at 9:30 a.m. Lunch will be served. The fee is P3,500
for HOM members and P4,000 for non-HOM members. The fee includes
hand-outs, a CD, snacks and lunch, and a tour of the National Museum.
Seats are limited so please call 843-5231/843-7044 or e-mail
homla@info.com.ph to reserve your seat.

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.

By Gemma Cruz Araneta
Real Pinoy (magazine for OFWs)
September edition

Whenever I meet people like Mayor Santiago Barcelona, Jr. of  Escalante City, I deeply regret not having a provincial home town where I can serve the people at such close range. As I was born in cosmopolitan Ermita, Manila, and  grew up within the urban confines of Pasay and San Juan, Rizal I often felt I was missing out on something. To begin with, I had no province to go home to for summer and Christmas vacations, unlike many classmates in high school and college who wrote, for English composition class, such refreshing accounts of their provincial idylls. Of course my parents, my mother especially, were adventurous enough to take us children to then unbeaten tracks; yet, domestic tourism, albeit exciting, was not quite the same. After graduation, many of my schoolmates returned to their provinces of origin and far from leading obscure, banal lives they took up challenges and made a real difference in their home cities and towns.

I was musing over what might have been at Barangay Old Escalante while standing beside Mayor Barcelona on the grand staircase that was also the façade of the ex- municipal building (circa 1935) of curious design. It is now a field branch of the National Museum and Mayor Barcelona wants the Heritage Conservation Society (of which I’m president) to restore the edifice.  The city council was present in full force and cameras were clicking.  From where we stood, the vista was spectacular. The plaza, with a charming gazebo at the center, was an immense stretch of green framed with enormous banaba trees. At the horizon, the capiz windows of the Escalante Elementary School, a venerable Gabaldon, shimmered in the mid-morning light. Recently, the entire site was proclaimed a heritage district, by virtue of a council resolution, an action that aborted the construction of a multi-purpose sports complex monstrosity.

To many, Escalante is bitter memory that grips the heart and sends cold shivers down one’s spine. Escalante still evokes the tragic 1985 Welgang Bayan that ended in a contemptible massacre. There were three provinces in the island of Negros then, aside from Negros Occidental and Oriental which were already in existence, "Negros del Norte" was created by Parliamentary Bill N. 3644 with Cadiz City as its capital. Apparently, that   extreme case of gerrymandering was engineered by political honcho Armin Gustilo and  Escalante Mayor Lumayno.

Escalante was already a second-class municipality then but electric power was still erratic, water supply suffered chronic shortages and criminality was described as rampant and still rising in town council resolutions. The northern part of Negros island was solely agricultural in those days, with sugar cane plantations forming its main economic base.  Often enough, that  meant both plantation owners and tenured workers, in varying degrees of course, were vulnerable to price fluctuations in the world market of their ono-commodity. As if that were not enough, unscrupulous business people engaged in destructive fishing that destroyed corals and mangroves, causing environmental degradation detrimental to the lives of the coastal population. Sooner than later social unrest reached historic intensity. At Escalante,  fisher folk appealed incessantly to the town council to outlaw poison and dynamite fishing and to impose limits on trawlers –  all to no avail. These impoverished fisher folk formed the bulk of the 1985 Welgang Bayan that ended in the infamous Escalanate Massacre.

When the Batasang Pambansa was abolished during the revolutionary phase of the Aquino administration, Armin Gustilo’s "Negros del Norte" disappeared from the Philippine map. Enter Santiago Barcelona, Jr., a young entrepreneur, civil society member and native of Escalante; he was offered the OIC mayoralty but opted instead to serve as councilor in the new government. The "Reconciliation and Unity" period of Escalante’s revival was based on common principles shared by a redoubtable mix of committed citizens from the Right, Center and Left-of-Center. Foremost was the policy of transparency which provided public information and monthly financial reports about municipal government project expenditures. Councilor Santiago Barcelona aimed  directly at the heart of Escalante’s economic life– the market. The public market had been burnt to a cinder, its reconstruction was more than urgent.

Escalante is the 102nd city of the republic. It has an 88 percent literacy rate and has won various awards. The Cebu City Chamber of Commerce commended its use of ITC; in 2003 it was the Best City Police Station of the Year and the Kabalikat from TESDA. Twice, Escalante won the Parangal sa Mararangal given by the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng  Significantly, Escalante remains JUETENG-FREE. Santiago Barcelona, Jr. is on his last term. However, far from resting on his laurels he continues to implement "developmental governance." In Escalante, this is called the "Discipleship in Development" which aims to mobilize people to a higher level of engagement and commitment. The anchor programs that carry out Mayor Barcelona’s mission and vision are as follows:  "Helpers-Plus" (Health and Social Services; Education Culture and Sports Development; Livelihood and Entrepreneurship; Peace and Order; Environment; Revenue Generation and Resource Development; Shelter; "Plus" infrastructure, power and water, electrification, trade promotion and tourism development;  FAITH  (Food Always in the Home)  and JOBS ( Jobs and Opportunities for Business Sustainability). "The cost of discipleship is based on the life principle characterized by service and sacrifice,"  Mayor Barcelona said, "Less of ourselves, more for others, and enough for everyone." What a difference a mayor makes! Abante Escalante, masarangan gayod nato kini!    

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2005/09/01/OPED2005090143263.html

September 1, 2005
By Gemma Cruz-Araneta
Manila Bulletin

WHENEVER I meet people like Gov. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay, my faith
in humanity is restored as I begin to see light at the end of the often
gloomy heritage tunnel. To advocate preservation and proper restoration
of built heritage in the Philippine setting can be likened to the labor
of Sisyphus — an uphill struggle reserved for brave hearts and
bullheads indifferent to personal material gains and with an
unflinching vision of future. Yes, the future. Although heritage
conservation deals with what we inherited from the past, it is an
undertaking that aims to benefit future generations.

What a pleasant surprise indeed that Fernando Gonzalez, former town
mayor of Ligao and now a first-term governor should spearhead a
monumental project dedicated to preserving and enhancing the
architectural heritage of his home province. The architectural thrust
is enlightened because it focuses on the aesthetics of an ancestral
edifice, site and setting, even if no significant historical event took
place there, or regardless of whether a hero ever set foot or laid
his/her head on that place. At the launch of "Albay Architectural
Heritage Project" held on 29 August, at the Aquinas University,
students lead by Dean Rino Fernandez and Prof. Bonita Mision were
beaming with pride and joy. The clergy came in full force with Most
Reverend Archbishop Jose Sorra who said that old men dream dreams but
young ones see visions as an intro to his pithy presentation of the
Holy See doctrines on the cultural heritage of the Church. He said
these recommendations of the Vatican should be integrated with existing
Philippine heritage laws. Fr. Franklin Beltran said that stones speak
when fragile human memory fails but that we have not listened, meaning
to say that we are all guilty of neglecting our heritage. Rev. Lucio
Quiambao exhorted that we preserve God’s buildings here on earth.

The monumental five-year project is divided into five clusters that
include the ruins of Cagsawa and Budioa, the Daraga Church, Albay
Cathedral, Sto. Domingo Church and the burial ground of Potenciano
Gregorio, composer of "Sarung Banggi." The Bacacay and Malilipot
Churches, the Malinao Cementery, the Cimborio, and the Mayon Rest House
are short listed for restoration. Included are the Camalig and
Guinobatan Churches as well as the ruins of the Colegio de San
Buenaventura, the Spanish bridges and mojones along national and
provincial roads. I told the Governor about the HCS project with the
Department of Education of restoring heritage school houses as I did
not see any Gabaldon structures in their list. In his welcome speech
the Governor praised the "Rediscovery" tourism program of the Estrada
administration as it was focused precisely on the recovery of our lost
heritage. He told me that after contemplating the majestic Mayon
Volcano, international and national visitors should be able to admire
Albay’s built heritage. I was heartened that we were imagining the same
things. (gemma 601@yahoo.com)

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 09/03/2005

Everyone
seems in a paper-throwing mood nowadays. Exasperation, frustration and
bewilderment rule the land as politicians figure out how to outsmart
each other and mislead the citizenry. A baffling year this may be, but
there was a time when to be baffled meant a solution to problems rather
than a sentence to unimpeachable insanity.

Baffles were a way to keep the sun out of buildings designed
and built in the "international style" that was the fashion in the
1950s and 1960s. Actually, the style of towers clad with concrete eaves
or aluminum louvers began in the late 1930s with the architecture of
the modernists Corbusier, Gropius, Saarinen and their colleagues. The
sun, wind and rain were to be prevented by architectural devices from
entering mass-produced buildings built mainly of concrete.

There were several solutions. First there was the "egg
crate." As it sounds, this device looked like a façade of deep
horizontal and vertical planes in concrete that kept the sun out. An
example here in Manila is the architecture building in the University
of Santo Tomas by architect Rocha. Concrete louvers were also sometimes
built into these "crates." The only problem was that air circulation
was impeded and this did not work well in tropical countries.

The next device was a wide concrete overhang at each floor to
act as sunshades. This was easier to construct and did not obstruct
airflow. One of the most perfect examples of this treatment was the
Doña Narcisa building on Paseo de Roxas designed by architect Gabby
Formoso. I had worked for four years in that building in the office of
IP Santos (Formoso’s office was next door) and the shades did their job
as well as accent each floor with an elegant horizontal line that
today’s structures eschew for boxy nerdiness.

In the 1950s, as building budgets went up and aluminum was
made available, louvers became fashionable. The French designers called
them "brise soleil" and architects applied them left and right
(or as much as their client’s wallets would let them); besides,
aluminum was a "space-age" material and everyone wanted to be modern.
Here in the Philippines several ’50s and ’60s buildings were louvered.
The most prominent example is the Philamlife Building on United Nations
Avenue by architect Carlos Arguelles. The design is actually a
combination of a concrete cantilevered shade with aluminum louvers
attached. The advantage of the concrete edge was that it allowed
cleaners out to maintain both the windows and the louvers. The other
example was a short-lived aluminum sheath with louvered design that was
slipped over the Rizal Monument by architect Juan Nakpil as part of the
celebration of the hero’s birth centennial in 1961.

Another classic example of aluminum louvers on a tallish
building was the Insular Life building by Cesar Concio. Its tall
vertical louvers gave the 12-story building the illusion of height in
an era where no building exceeded that limit due to building codes and
technology. I say "was" because, although the building still stands, a
Japanese architect has redone the whole façade recently in flat
cladding.

Another example of a louvered building is the World Health
Organization building, also on United Nations Avenue. The Alfredo
Luz-designed structure was, like the Philamlife, a horizontal structure
but unlike its neighbor, the louvers are vertical. Few people notice
this wonderful building nowadays because of the surrounding blight.
Then there is the stately SSS building on East Avenue in Quezon City by
Angel Nakpil and Sons. The building stands as it stood originally,
still performing well and a testimony to how well Filipino architects
designed then.

Not everyone could afford aluminum so local manufacturers
resorted to another material – asbestos – to mold baffles and louvers.
It worked for a while and competitions for baffle design were popular
in the early ’60s. Of course, later they would discover that the
material was dangerous. At the same time an even cheaper material –
concrete – was also used to create the same effect as baffles. These
modular concrete blocks formed surfaces of pre-cast perforated concrete
and were called "pierced-screens." They are still around and used as
privacy screens in subdivision homes (that allow for air to still
circulate.

With the energy crisis hitting home today, it is time to
re-look at more energy-efficient ways of building. One of the
strategies to use in architecture is the louver or sun baffle.
Buildings can reduce dependency on air-conditioning by allowing for
natural ventilation and mitigate heat gain through the strategies
mentioned above. Retro-’50s is now back in vogue and even reinforced
concrete may become fashionable again. Baffling though it may be,
stepping back in time is stepping forward in architecture. Our
political situation, however, seems to be perennially stepping back in
time to the constant pandemonium that seems often too ridiculous even
for the Philippines.

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.

http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=48941

   
Sept 03, 2005

By Bambi Harper
Inquirer News Service

JUST
when I was about to write finis to the cause of Filipino heritage,
seeing as the nation is losing both the Mehan Garden and the Arroceros
Forest Park in one fell swoop with not a single public official
protesting the carnage, along comes a letter from Albay Gov. Fernando
Gonzalez informing me that the province was launching the Albay
Architectural Heritage Project together with the Aquinas University on
Aug. 29.

Delighted to get out of the Manila snake pit, still I
nearly missed the plane due to a dysfunctional alarm clock and the
malfunctioning owner. Leaving the house at 6:15 a.m. for the 7 a.m.
flight, we reached the Naia 2 airport terminal in 15 minutes, making me
seriously wonder while en route whether I would end up splattered all
over the dashboard. I did get there on time, but rattled by the porter
who said the passengers on the flight were boarding, I zoomed into the
plane like Darna — only to find I was the second passenger to board.
(From now on, I’m not going to believe anyone who tells me I have to be
at the airport an hour before departure.

But back to the
conference and the project. Research and documentation comprise the
first phase divided into two areas: historical and architectural
documentation. Dreaming big, the group hopes that this will eventually
lead to restoration projects and the publication and use of historical
writings in the schools. The intended outcome of this first phase will
be a catalogue of historical structures, "complete with historical
data, photographs and architectural plans." The people of Albay feel
that it is a project of national importance, given its nature and scope
since nothing of this kind has been done. Once finished, other
provinces could use it as a reference and model.

Aquinas
University’s College of Architecture and Fine Arts, headed by its dean,
Rino Fernandez, initially documented buildings and ruins in Albay,
including the Tabaco Cimborio (I used to think the name referred to
tobacco, but the word is actually "tabac," meaning bolo or knife), the
churches in Tabaco, Sto. Domingo (this was a town called Libog, but
with everyone mispronouncing it and having a good laugh, the
townspeople decided to change it), Daraga, Camalig, Ligao and the Albay
Cathedral and the ruins of Colegio de San Buenaventura in Guinobatan
and Villa Encantada in Malinao.

The college is digitizing the
ruins of Budiao, Cagsawa and Sinimbahanan; the churches of Guinobatan
and Oas; Spanish bridges in the 3rd district; and the "mojones" in the
1st and 3rd districts. Architectural plans will be drawn up and
material regarding the oral traditions, land titles, legal papers,
journals, books, maps, plans, paintings, sketches and photographs in
libraries and archives will be researched and compiled. Eventually,
traveling exhibits will be mounted in all the municipalities of the
province to enhance heritage awareness.

There is already a Mayon
Volcano Heritage Tour Pamphlet Project being prepared by the Provincial
Tourism and Cultural Office with the help of Aquinas University, which
can be used for packaged tours of heritage sites around Mayon Volcano
to serve both tourists and local tour guides providing information on
the sites and including socio-historical, cultural and artistic data.
Photos and architectural and structural features of the sites will also
be included. This project also aims to raise awareness in order to
preserve these heritage sites.

The people of other provinces and
cities should be so lucky as to have a governor like Gonzalez. At the
conference held at the spanking new Hotel Venezia Convention Hall,
Bishop Jose C. Sorra gave an impassioned and stirring address that the
Cebu cardinal should have heard so that the parish priest of Argao,
guilty of erasing 200 years of history, could be exiled to Burias or
perhaps to the Marianas, which unfortunately doesn’t belong to us
anymore. The presence of Bishop Lucilo Quimpo, representing Bishop
Nestor Cariño, and the presence of many of the parish priests of the
churches in question manifested their support and solidarity behind the
governor’s project. And then there was Director Javier Galvan of the
Instituto Cervantes who presented a substantial check to fund phase one
of the project.

Considering that I was there for only 24 hours, I
managed to end up with a python in my freezer, several tons of pili
nuts in all forms and configurations, thanks to our generous hosts, and
trays of "pinangat" ]a fish dish] to remind me that proteins don’t
taste good without carbos.

The python ended up in my freezer
because I wanted to eat "bayawak" [iguana]. Being innately hospitable
and gracious and wanting to oblige eccentric guests, Professors Jazmin
Llana and Bonita Mission stopped by a restaurant poetically called
Solamente owned by a Mr. Regalado. Alas and alack, there were no
lizards but there was a snake and would I care to eat some? Now what
self-respecting full-blooded Filipina will turn down such an offer?

Aside
from python, we were also served some wonderful crispy snipes and
frogs’ legs. At the end of this marvelous experience, Regalado asked me
if I wanted a python to make into shoes and maybe a belt, which was how
I ended up with a 15-foot python (or was it 25?) in the freezer, to the
shock of the maid. Now, if I could only find someone who cures skins…

* * *

Comments at bambiharper@yahoo.com

http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=3194

Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines
The
conservation of the Far Eastern University (FEU), the largest ensemble
of Art Deco architecture that survives in Manila today, presents an
admirable and pioneering regional exemplar of a holistic campus-wide
approach to university preservation.  In the context of its immediate
neighborhood, the project has had a significant effect on raising
historic awareness in the community.  The project maintained a
commendable balance between preserving original building design and use
while accommodating the organization’s modern needs. Necessary new
additions to the campus were sensitively integrated into the historic
fabric of the compound, and the grounds themselves were treated an
integral component of the holistic conservation plan.

UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation
The
UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation
have been established to recognize the achievement of individuals and
organizations within the private sector, and the public-private
initiatives, in successfully restoring structures of heritage value in
the region.

This project advances UNESCO’s global strategic objective of
“promoting the drafting and implementation of standard setting
instruments in the field of culture”.  Within this global framework, it
builds on the regional pillar of “localization and empowerment of the culture profession to develop and implement standards”.

Objectives
The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards recognize
the achievement of individuals, organizations or companies in the
conservation/restoration of a structure or a series of structures in
the private sector which is/are more than 50 years old. Houses,
commercial, cultural, religious, industrial or institutional buildings,
gardens and bridges, for example, are all eligible for consideration.
Public-private partnership projects such as historic towns, urban
quarters and rural settlements where the essential elements are more
than 50 years old are also eligible.

2005 Heritage Awards Programme
Winners
Announced for the 2005 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture
Heritage Conservation and the 2005 UNESCO Heritage Award Jury
Commendation for Innovation

The Houkeng Timber-Arched Corridor Bridge in Qingyuan
County, Zhejiang Province, China and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in
Mumbai, India have both been honoured with Awards of Excellence in the
UNESCO 2005 Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage
Conservation.

The two Awards of Distinction went to Sideng Market Square and
Theatre (Shaxi Rehabilitation Project) in Yunnan Province, China and
Mehrangarh Fort, Rajasthan, India.  Five Awards of Merit and five
Honourable Mentions were also announced.

The inaugural Heritage Awards Jury Commendation for Innovation
was awarded to the Meridian Gate Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum,
Beijing, China and Yuhu Primary School and Community Center, Lijiang,
Yunnan Province, China.  The Jury Commendation recognizes newly-built
structures which demonstrate outstanding standards for contemporary
architectural design which are well integrated into historic contexts.

Download the Press Release 2005 for more details
English version

"CONGRATULATIONS
TO FEU!!  The announcement was just received that the Far Eastern
University campus has been awarded Honorable Mention in the 2005 UNESCO
ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL HERITAGE AWARDS!!  FEU joins other UNESCO
awardees Gota de Leche (2002) and Nielsen Tower (1998).  So our
conservation work is recognized as being of international quality!" ~ Archt. Augusto F. Villalon

2000-2004 Heritage Awards

Since
2000, UNESCO has received 171 entries from 23 countries, spanning a
wide range of conservation projects from private residences to palace
complexes.  Many of the entries have set technical and social
benchmarks for conservation in the region, while acting as catalysts
for local preservation activity.  Over the years, the projects
illustrate the increasing momentum and level of conservation in Asia
and the Pacific.

Countries represented in the entries include Australia, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam.

2004 - http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=535
2003 - http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=534
2002 - http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=533
2001 - http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=532
2000 - http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=561