In Taguig, she found new buildings not only bland in design, but worse, violating restrictions intended

for public safety and convenience. “The construction did not consider public space,” she said.

No urban planning

At the press conference, the issue of lack of urban planning in the Philippines was raised. “Architecture
is not integrated into the landscape of cities,” said architect Cathy Saldaña, one of the festival’s main
speakers. “Because it is hardly linked to transport, there is poor connectivity. There is also little space to
expand, especially in Metro Manila.”

While other countries have lay bays or docks for buses that are separate from the traffic flow, Plaza said
public utility vehicles in the country stop anywhere and disrupt the flow.

“These small inconveniences go a long way. There is a method to solving the problem,” she said.

Ti noted that insufficient housing is another cause of transportation woes. “There are four million
people who go to Metro Manila every day,” he said. “Yet there’s not enough space for housing them, so
that they don’t have to suffer the long commute.”

No vision

Filipino-Nepalese architect and festival facilitator Sudarshan Khadka Jr. said Filipinos don’t understand
the importance of architecture and how it creates value.

Many architects actually lack vision to see architecture beyond shelter. “The best architects have the
strongest and clearest vision of their project,” Khadka said. “Personally, architecture is essentially how
elements of construction form more meaning.

“When people find more meaning in the space, this marks the beginning of dignity in our environment,”
said Khadka. “The way we connect with the space is the way we find beauty. That’s how architecture
should aspire to be.”

He lamented that the dominance of commercial spaces means land is valued more for its gross leasable
areas.

Ti observed that Metro Manila has an overbuilt skyline, but advanced designs are rare. “Most
developments in the country are spearheaded by the private sector as commercial endeavors which
make them safer,” he said. “Any progress requires experimentation and risk-taking. We also lack
buildings for the public such as libraries and museums.”

Khadka agreed: “The best buildings are done when there is a link between the public and the private
sectors. Unfortunately, we don’t have that tradition.”

Another challenge is that the architect’s role is undermined. More clients tend to hire contractors and
engineers, who can sign on behalf of architects, thinking that it would be more cost-efficient.
“Engineers are very logical but don’t deal with the human element,” said Ti. “The beauty of architecture
is that it relates to the human being.”

Khadka said that developers spend more on foreign consultants instead of giving Filipino architecture
and design firms the chance to develop and showcase their capabilities.

Dated technology

Saldaña said the supply of materials, technology and construction industry distributors in the Philippines
pales in comparison with the rest of Southeast Asia.

“Our traditional concrete-hollow block-laying is still the norm,” she said. “This takes more time and
money especially if the workmanship is sloppy. We also fall behind because of limited materials—tiles,
coatings, new modular building components—and technologies.

“The number of construction industry distributors here from abroad is so limited compared to our other
(Southeast Asian) counterparts.”

Plaza noted that CAD or computer-aided design used for drafting is slowly being eased out in favor of
BIM (Building Information Modeling), digital imaging of the project which includes function systems such
as electrical wiring and aesthetics.

“BIM is a collaboration between the architects, contractors and engineers in real time,” she said. This
technology enables the team to foresee problems even before construction.

Neglected sustainability

Then again, Filipino architects who incorporate sustainability in their projects are few.

“Thermal comfort has been taken for granted,” said Plaza. “When you step into a building, you realize
it’s hot because of poor ventilation. There are many new technologies that can make a building last
through the years while reducing the carbon footprint.” Plaza said Anthology will highlight sustainable
designs “which involve reduction of dependence on the power grid in favor of solar power.”

Saldaña said she will talk about sustainability with focus on the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable
Development Goals, targeted to be achieved by 2030.

“As an architect known for retail and mixed-use complexes and hospitality design planning in islands and
emerging cities, I will discuss the need to focus on sustainable designs and interventions that are
practical, inclusive, and meant to preserve our local environment,” she said
URBAN PLANNING

Daniel Burnham

the man behind Manila’s original masterplan commissioned by the Commonwealth

government in 1906, whose objective was to transform the city from an old colonial
outpost to a modern urban area adapted to changed times and modern needs.

In his masterplan, Burnham envisioned Manila as a city of efficient road systems,

of quaint waterways used for transportation, and of waterfronts, promenades,
parkways, and neoclassical buildings. Manila, in Burnham’s mind, was to become
like many of the world’s well-planned cities where every resident is a short walking
distance from a park, places of work, and leisure and recreational centers.

“This is just the sort of urban planning model that the Philippines should have used,
but didn’t,” said noted Filipino architect and urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr.

Mass transit stations were built close to exclusive gated communities and huge military camps, the
residents of which don’t even take public transport. Roads and parking spaces unable to keep up with
the ever-increasing number of vehicles. Infrastructure incapable of handling—let alone mitigating the
effects—natural calamities. And an army of low-income residents pushed into the corners of the
metropolis, toiling and forever priced out of the housing market.

Urban planning wise, our obsolete practices have not progressed from the 16th-century practice of
intramuros and extramuros. You live inside the walls [intramuros] if you’re rich and powerful, and
outside the walls [extramuros] if you’re peasant, Indio, or Sangley, which today are equivalent to Metro
Manila’s modern-day city employees.

“In the Philippines, unfortunately, the practice of urban planning is dominated by politics, and urban
planners are marginalized even as a profession [whereas] elsewhere they are appreciated and
recognized and their recommendations followed.”

-eto sabi to ni Palafox. Yung arkitek

So ipasok mo na rito ang corruption and shiz ng politicians sa pinas

Perhaps due to our affinity to Hollywood, the Philippines has for decades been following the wrong
model for urbanism, said Palafox. Our leaders envision Metro Manila as a driven city—an urban area of
seemingly endless roads where elevated highways are built atop another, of concrete megaliths that are
crowded during the day and empty at night, and of people who toil inside these concrete blocks but live
in another part of the city, preferably in one of those identical suburban houses with a two-car garage.
Something like our version of the American dream.

This is just the sort of urban planning we should move away from, said Palafox. Indeed, why follow a
model that’s been proven time and again to be flawed? “We’re trying too hard to become like Los
Angeles or Detroit, and we don’t even manufacture cars.”

Wrong model din daw na sinusunod.

In the Philippines, it appears things are not so simple. A soon-to-be architect there – who wishes not to
be named for – has given an insight into a local struggle for power between architects, civil engineers
and the political system, with architects falling victim to out-dated legislation passed just after the
Second World War. He states:

“In our country, civil engineers can sign architectural drawings (for residential mostly), a complete
bulls***. Are you aware of this?

This "trend" started after the Second World War, when there was a lack of architects in our country. To
compensate for the need, civil engineers were allowed to sign architectural documents. Sadly, it still
continues long after the war, until today.

This is our problem: Civil Engineers, who by profession design bridges and roads, also practice
architecture. They are commonly hired and commissioned to do medium-end residential and
commercial buildings because of their ‘cheap’ professional fees. In fact, they already passed a law
allowing them to sign and seal architectural documents.”

Arki-CE wars