A center for Architects

Architects are a chummy lot. They like to get together often to shoot the breeze, have a few drinks and complain about the lack of projects. With tens of thousands of architects in Manila, the venues for camaraderie are as numerous as the chapters of the UAP, PIA, PALA, PIEP, PSID and the PIEP (professional associations of architects, landscape architects, planners and interior designers). I’ve been invited to speak before a good number of them. The problem, however, was always how to get to the venue itself, given the sheer size of the city. There was a time though that this was not a problem.

I started working in architectural offices in the 1970s. As an apprentice, one was advised to get the widest exposure possible. I had worked, at turns, for architects Felipe Mendoza and Cesar Concio and landscape architect Ildefonso Santos. These men were dashing fellows, wont to treat their staff out for merienda or sometimes dinner when there was reason to celebrate (usually on getting a big collection from a client). There was one preferred venue then – the Architectural Center Club.

I had always known the club to be that quaint structure (renovated from an old Protestant Chapel) on Palma St. (beside what is now Rockwell Center). This is, in fact, their second home. The original Architectural Center was a sleek modern building, one of the first to be erected on Ayala Avenue in the 1960s.

The Architectural Center Club was established in November 1962 to serve as a venue for those in the design and construction professions to interact socially and commercially. The center and its exclusive club were housed in a structure designed (I believe) by Gabriel Formoso, or at least a team led by him. The eight-story structure was built by A.M. Oreta with the building’s elegant interiors designed by Ched Topacio and Lor Calma (pictures of the old center show interiors that still look modern today).

The building housed displays of the most modern materials and building technology of the day. Major displays were maintained by the likes of The House of Puyat, Oesco, Berenguer—Topacio and Aguinaldo’s. On the eighth floor was the club itself, complete with conference rooms, a restaurant and bar. This became the watering hole of choice for many architects of the day.

Veteran landscape architect Carlito Pesons recalls that they used to hold singing sessions (there was no karaoke then) regularly. There was even an informal band, he says, organized by the swimming pool contractor Joe Mesina. Joe brought his combo set to the club and the guys – including Jimmy Marques, Jake Abucay, Carlito himself and a few others – formed the 6 O’clock Band. (Remember, this was the Sixties – think mop top hairdos and pencil-cut trousers.)

The most interesting part of the center, however, was the lobby. A tastefully designed canopy was provided for the entrance. (Architects used to be able to design expressively in concrete, something that is missing today.) Through the aluminum-framed glass facade, the visitor would immediately be drawn to a marble wall with the dedication "To all those who strive to give substance and glory to man’s need for shelter." You felt inspired just walking by.

One of my favorite pictures from this era of Philippine architecture is that of the founding members of the Architectural Center Club standing in front of this wall with a dedication written by Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil. The "magnificent seven," as I call them, stood nonchalantly cool in their dark suits, looking like the rat pack of modern Philippine architecture. The seven architects included Carlos D. Arguelles (of Manila Hilton fame), Alfredo J. Luz (designer of the Magsaysay Building), Francisco Fajardo, Manuel Mañosa (pioneering architect/planner and champion of Philippine design), Angel Nakpil (whose NPC building I featured a few weeks ago) and Luis Ma. Araneta (designer of many a post-war demesne – in the new suburban enclaves of Manila).

Sadly, the building was sold and eventually torn down. The club moved to Palma Street where it has been witness to a succeeding generation of architects and contractors. The new club had the advantage of a swimming pool and garden designed by I.P. Santos. The club’s famous bingo parties continued. There were yearly Halloween and costume parties, with prominent architects letting their hair down for nights of revelry. Yes, those architects were a wild bunch. All that creative energy needed expression.

The club celebrates its 40th anniversary next week. That creative energy is now being expended in the design and construction of a new center. A new generation of architects and builders is claiming their place in the club as they are in their respective fields.

What I miss though are the older guys. They were men of substance, known beyond their fields of endeavor and able to slug it out with the best in terms of verbal debate, rounds of golf, social accomplishment and influence. We all knew their names and achievements. I recently asked a batch of second year design students who they knew or looked up to as idols. There were few names mentioned.

Where are the Nakpils, Formosos and Locsins of today? Are they abroad slaving away in the back rooms of international offices? Are they back here trying to gain the confidence of an indifferent clientele, predisposed to foreign consultants? Are they still in one of our hundreds of schools of architecture and design?

With a new Architectural Center and other venues like the PIA and UAP buildings coming up soon, we all hope that this new generation will show and project itself. The architectural life is more than just bagging the next project, buying a new SUV, or getting a spa treatment. It has to have more substance than that. The Filipinos’ need for shelter is greater than it has ever been in our modern history. We should all strive harder to meet this need and glorify Philippine design.

Happy anniversary to ACCI!