The week was not without celebrations. The two Philippine organizations of architects the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) and the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA) had full schedules. The highlight was the launching of a collective undertaking by the two. In partnership with the CCP and the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects, these organizations are setting out to landmark structures and sites of the four National Artists for Architecture and its Allied Arts.
The first work to be landmarked was the Cultural Center of the Philippines by Leandro V. Locsin. The works of the three others architects Pablo Antonio Sr., Juan Nakpil and landscape architect Ildefonso P. Santos will follow in series. It is hoped that this exercise will help conserve our legacy of modern architecture in parallel with ongoing efforts to keep older buildings from the American and Spanish colonial periods from demolition. If these are not saved, the whole heritage of Philippine architecture, historical and modern, will disappear.
It is Philippine arts invisibility that was tackled in a talk delivered by culture maven Dr. Nina Baker at the Ayala Museum recently. The title of the talk was "Breaking into the Global Arena: What does it take?"
Dr. Baker put Philippine art in focus, looking at issues of national identity, the hegemonic burden of colonialism and todays globalization of art and culture mainly through new art and multi-media forms (and by inference, architecture).
Her conclusion: we Filipinos (and our art) have been invisible to the world probably because of our cultures innate plasticity our ability to quickly assimilate, absorb, adapt to and adopt foreign forms (fashion, speech, art, architecture, etc). So are we cultural chameleons rendering ourselves mestizo clones from those we chose to valorize? Is our hybrid culture a culture of continuous hybridism with no end in sight except centuries more of copycatting?
Problematizing Philippine art begs a deeper look than I am capable of at the moment, or that this space can accommodate (besides, it requires a different language spoken by academics and scholars, which is foreign to most Filipinos whose concept of art is that of artistic daily survival amid the creative ineptitude of government.)
I can only tackle Philippine architecture, which is the main subject of this weeks piece.
Filipino architects are generally invisible. Almost no Philippine designer is a household name. This is because of the commodification of the whole process of making houses. These are known as "housing products" (the term used by developers), designed anonymously and built by model number or mass produced like burgers and fries.
Up-sizing these "products" for the upscale market entails the slapping on of a brand. Usually the name of some foreign architect, planner, landscape architect or interior designer is plastered all over media to make the development more sellable. Blame this on real estate executives, marketing heads or advertising creatives without cultural souls or social consciousness slaves to a colonial mentality that forever relegates anything or anyone Filipino as inferior.
Where are the 30,000 or so Filipino architects and affiliated design professionals? They are invisible, save to their immediate relatives or project managers of real estate development firms who are tasked to produce the best product with the least budget (cheap but good) and if there was a budget, to pay a foreign consultant premium fees, which more often that not cut into the local consultants fees.
The only thing that was visible during Architecture Week last week was a rather plain whole page ad paid by the architects organizations informing the public about the dangers of hiring unlicensed architects and the existence of RA 9266, the Architecture Act of 2004, which controls the practice of the profession (similar laws cover the allied arts of environmental planning, landscape architecture and interior design).
The achievements of these designers, however, pale in comparison to the accolades showered on boxing champions or Philippine Idols. Yes, we can sing like divas and gangsta rappers but we do it in our leaking shanties or waterless showers. We can jab our way out of any tough spot, too, but we have to anyway in our everyday negotiation of our merciless city streets.
Compassionate architecture by Filipino architects is what is best for the Philippine setting. The problem is that the physical, social and economic settings for Pinoy designers are so disheartening that many are continually lured to other lands to create modern built environments for Middle Easterners, Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporeans and yes even Americans. In those lands too they are invisible relegated to back room production for the most part, swallowing professional pride and true artistic expression for the luxury of eating four square meals and sending home the dollars that are propping up the Philippines perennially-hobbled local economy.
Churchill said, "We shape our architecture and our architecture shapes us." Our national identity is shaped not only by the abstract constructs of constitutions and laws, but also by the way we design and build our surroundings. Our constitution is based on a western model, is flawed, and should be changed, so too with our architecture. We would balk at the idea of hiring foreign lawmakers to come and change the constitution for us (so we messily and bloodily try to do it ourselves) but foreign intervention is actively sought out for our future buildings, complexes, landscapes and districts. So what gives?
The Filipino public should give Philippine architecture a long hard look. Filipino clients have to give Filipino architects and related professionals the chance to do what they do best design wonderful buildings, malls, resorts and housing to world-class standards. But to do this, world-class fees must also be part of the deal. If you pay peanuts, you get houses for monkeys.
Worse still, in some situations, they are expected to kowtow to foreign architects who charge 10 times the locals fees for half the work. Finally, the saddest thing of all is the fact that many Filipino architectural firms are actually losing their people to the very same foreigners who lord it over the locals. Is there no end to this tragedy?
It is then probably good to have Architecture Week in December. Such a tragic profession needs the cheer of the holiday season to brighten its prospects yearly. So all Filipino architects need really is a simple gift from the public. They just want to be given a chance.
And oh yes, for any chance to really be able to appreciate Filipino architecture, those #*!!* billboards should be taken down. Who put them up again anyway?