Architecture in Cebu

There's no arguing that the year 2006 definitely made its mark on the Cebuanos. What with all the countless events both pleasant and tragic that happened in the past year, jump starting this New Year with a predicted monstrous traffic jam during the ASEAN Summit that surely gave us a whack.

Kidding aside, anticipating and preparing for the summit for nine months has given Cebu a fast-tracked enhancement on its overall development, including construction and architecture. In this regard, the building of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) is an evident manifestation of such objective. It somehow infuses the Philippine government's efforts in delivering a concise example of how much the country has significantly evolved in the past decade.

Aside from the CICC, even the top hotels of the island have pitched in their own contribution in preparation for the summit by renovating their interiors, adding more amenities, even to the extent of adding more rooms to accommodate the numerous people who would be here for the occasion, at the same time adding to the growing number of skyscrapers in the city. To name a few: Marco Polo, Club Ultima, Parklane International Hotel are among a few of those erected this year.

Cebu has certainly progressed a great deal in the past year. A lot of buildings and establishments were put up, take call centers, for example. Checking out the new Asiatown, IT Park these days may be a surprise, especially for out of towners. This area of the metropolis has become a "call center" hive occupying majority of the complex, along with the latest coffee shops and restaurants, also turning out to be the latest hang out for most people come night fall, laid back as most Cebuanos are. Of course, there are the clubs and lounges, such as the recently renovated Treff Bar, the overwhelmingly designed "Z" Bar, and Loft, among others, where the young gravitate at night.

Year after year, designers, Cebuano architects in particular, are slowly more influenced by cultures from all over the world, Western in particular, incorporating a lot of modernism and other influences to their own designs. This is noticeably along with the developing trends in both art and architecture today. But whatever the trend may be, the boundary for architectural styles and techniques is endless, be it leaning towards the classical styles of the Renaissance or the not so conventional approach of avant-garde modernism, yet maintaining that common goal of achieving an aesthetically pleasing, functional structure at a given cost.