Thousands of years of wealth
The oldest traces of habitation in the Philippines date back to the Neolithic period. Rock shelters and caves were fashioned to serve as both dwellings and burial sites, with burial niches carved out of the rock to house mummies. But the country's most famous millennia-old treasures are, of course, the rice terraces of the Philippine Cordillera. Patiently, the Ifugao have built walls of stone and mud to sculpt the landscape, creating elegantly curved terraces capable of holding vast flooded fields. In the heart of these sumptuous landscapes, the Ifugao have built numerous bale villages, one of the variants of the traditional Philippine dwelling: the bahay kubo. While each people has its own variant, there are some common features. Organic materials, light and resistant, are favored: posts, floors and walls are made of wood or bamboo, and the roof is thatched with local plants (nipa in particular, hence the nickname "Nipa Hut" given to these dwellings by the Americans). The bahay kubo is built on stilts to protect against pests and flooding. Modular, this type of housing is designed for quick and easy construction. Wall panels are often prefabricated and then attached to wooden posts using mortise and tenon joints, or ropes and straps, without the need for nails. These wall panels often feature large windows protected by wooden blinds or awnings. The roof is always steeply pitched, with long, protective overhangs. The cube-shaped structure is divided into 3 areas: the space between the posts, used for storage; the living area itself, in the form of a large hall that can be divided by bamboo or textile screen panels; and the roof, which can be separated from the rest of the structure by a ceiling. Kitchen and bathroom can be added on platforms built on a different level. This type of dwelling is directly inspired by the rice granaries or alang, with their elegantly ornamented gables. Other forms of bahay kubo include the torogan of the Maranao people. These are true royal palaces, whose importance can be guessed from the impressive number of columns supporting the structures (up to 56 for some) and the beauty of the carved motifs used to decorate the beams and posts. The Kawayan Torogan in Marantao has been declared a National Cultural Treasure, as it is the last inhabitable torogan. Many people have also taken advantage of the topography to create defensive habitats. The oldest forms are the kota, astonishing stone, wood and bamboo structures surrounded by trenches. Many Philippine cities were built on kotas, like Cotabato City, "the stone fort". The Ivatan people are famous for their Ijang, terraced defensive settlements built on ridges, whose fortresses, often triangular in shape, are carved out of the rock. In religious terms, the country's first mosques were no different from traditional huts. But these soon evolved, respecting the codes of Islamic architecture (simple volumes, central courtyard, sheltered galleries, domes, minarets, play on arches...), while also displaying Hindu influences (finely sculpted mantling, bright colors), and Asian influences (multi-storey roofs with curved edges reminiscent of pagodas). Among the oldest, don't miss the 13th-century Sheik Karimol Makhdum mosque in Simunul.
Spanish colonization
The Spanish presence is first and foremost a religious one, inseparable from a unique style that adorns structures designed to withstand the onslaught of the Earth. It's also known as Earthquake Baroque! This architecture is characterized by stocky buildings, wider than they are tall; thick side walls supported by imposing buttresses for greater resistance to shaking; and sturdy bell towers with walls tapering upwards and often separated from the rest of the structure to prevent damage in the event of a fall. These buildings are made of stone (tuff or coralline limestone) or bricks consolidated with lime or mortar, giving the whole structure the appearance of a fortress of faith (some even have their own fortresses!). In terms of style, these Baroque splendors, full of gilding, trompe-l'œil paintings, ironwork and marquetry, also bear the mark of an astonishing mix of styles, which can be explained by the fact that the Spanish colonists were not trained in construction. Filipino villagers and Chinese workers lent them a hand. The result was an astonishing dialogue between biblical iconography, local motifs (palm leaves, pineapples, saints dressed in traditional Filipino garb, shell decorations, etc.) and Chinese motifs (decorative brickwork, dragon motifs, etc.)) Among the dozens of parishes and churches considered to be National Cultural Treasures, 4 have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Saint Augustine Church in Manila, Santa Maria in Ilocos Sur, and the churches of Paoay and Miagao). The Spanish also developed a defensive architecture, of which Intramuros, Manila's historic center, is undoubtedly the finest example. Construction of the fortified city began in the 16th century. The aim was to combine Fort Santiago (a superb trapezoidal crenellated volcanic stone structure flanked by multiple platforms, bastions and batteries) with a complex system of ramparts and fortifications, itself protected by imposing double-douves. Sheltered by these ramparts, a typically Spanish urban layout developed, centered on the Plaza Major, where all the powers were concentrated. But it's undoubtedly the historic town of Vigan that bears the strongest imprint of this Spanish urbanism, with its checkerboard layout, its organization around the Salcedo and Burgos squares, and its superb cobbled streets. The town is most famous for its magnificent examples of colonial housing par excellence: the bahay na bato, literally "stone house". Each house has its own identity, but they all share common features: a raised, projecting wooden upper storey featuring sliding windows made of capiz (shells scraped to transparency and used to make miniature window panes); wooden posts supporting the upper storey, but integrated into brick and stone foundations that often house storage spaces allowing the creation of protective crawl spaces; sloping, gabled or 4-sided roofs made of thatch, tiles or zinc. In terms of style, these colonial houses reflected the tastes of each era, particularly in the 19th century when neo styles were in vogue. These treasures number in the hundreds, and many have become Heritage Houses or Ancestral Houses, the subject of preservation and renovation campaigns.
American period
The arrival of the Americans coincided with the establishment of a civilian government. Everywhere, government buildings were erected in a neoclassical/Beaux-Arts style, giving them the appearance of Greek temples. With its political and military base secured, the American government brought in the renowned architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham to rethink Manila and design Baguio (the new summer capital). The aim was to improve sanitary conditions, rethink urban planning via large tree-lined boulevards, create aesthetic coherence by favoring the Mission Revival style (simple geometric volumes, whiteness, clean lines...) tinged with the first stirrings of modernism (modularity, absence of ornamentation), and punctuate the space with visual reminders of governmental power. In technical terms, Burnham also developed systems for reinforcing concrete structures, favored the use of rot-proof, termite-resistant wood, introduced the hollow block system and launched the mass production of standard buildings. At the same time, the first generation of Filipino architects immediately sought to create a synergy between modernity and tradition, playing with the codes of Art Deco. Such was the case of Juan M. Arellano, who designed Manila's Bulacan Provincial Capitol, with its geometric lines and elegant ornamentation, and above all the Manila Metropolitan Theater, whose harmonious lines are reminiscent of an organ. Another leading architect of the period was Juan Napkill, who designed the famous facade of the Capitol Theater, with its geometric shapes and volumes and concrete lettering. Napkill's style borrows the simple volumes of modernism, while embellishing them with ornamentation and motifs echoing the country's history. This style is particularly evident in the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, a faithful reproduction of a bahay na bato coupled with modern geometric volumes. Napkill is one of the great Filipino architects to have worked for the all-powerful INC, Iglesia N Cristo, a religious organization famous for its churches with resolutely neo-Gothic exteriors (trapeze and rosette motifs, slender towers and spires...) and exuberant interiors with canopies and choirs full of gilding and sophisticated ornamentation, skilful arcatures, paintings... Another leading figure of the period: Pablo Antonio, considered one of the founding fathers of Philippine modern architecture. Strong geometric shapes and volumes, the use of concrete and steel, the importance of through-ventilation and natural light modulated by sunscreens and sloping panoramic windows, clean lines, the importance of green spaces...: Pablo Antonio developed a form of tropical modernism that can be seen in the Galaxy Theater or the Polo Club in Manila. The American influence, however, is still felt, notably in the popularization of the bungalow. A low-rise structure with a sloping galvanized iron roof and concrete walls, the bungalow is inexpensive and easy to maintain. Its formal monotony is often offset by bright colors. Fort Drum, a fortified island nicknamed "the concrete battleship" with its pontoons, turrets and armoured casemates, or the Navy Memorial Chapel, an astonishing chapel built from a half-moon (a prefabricated semi-circular structure made of corrugated sheet metal and layers of stainless steel mounted on metal arches forming the framework) are among the remnants of an American-Japanese war that destroyed countless heritage treasures..
Since Independence
With the United States and Japan refusing to finance the restoration of the many treasures they had bombed, the country struggled to find the funds to rebuild. However, from the 1950s onwards, new leading figures in Philippine architecture continued to develop a modernism that ignored neither the country's identity nor its climatic constraints. The most famous of these architects, all now designated National Artist For Architecture, are : José Maria Zaragoza, known for a style whose forms are derived from Spanish colonial architecture, combined with the simple, sober designs of the international style, as demonstrated by the Casino Espanol in Manila and the Santo Domingo church in Quezon; Francisco Manosa, pioneer of a neo-vernacular style that gives pride of place to local materials and the heritage of the bahay kubo; and finally, Leandro Locsin. Nicknamed "the poet of space", Locsin is famous for his expressive use of concrete and floating volumes inspired by structures on stilts. His first major achievement was the famous Church of the Holy Sacrifice, a circular chapel topped by a reinforced concrete shell with a 30 m span. Under the Marcos dictatorship, the country experienced an astonishing construction boom, called for by the controversial Imelda Marcos, whose monumental and opulent public works campaigns in fact concealed a complex system of embezzlement... it took a lot of money to maintain the pomp of the American-Rococo-Andalusian-style Malacanang Palace. The most famous achievement of the period is undoubtedly the Cultural Center of the Philippine Complex, including the National Theater Building, nicknamed "the floating volume". This monumentalism should not obscure the fact that these architects were also pioneers in ecological architecture, proposing the first "green" buildings, such as the San Miguel Corporation Headquarters Building, whose curves were inspired by rice terraces and designed by Francisco Manosa. From the 1980s onwards, the country entered a phase of unprecedented urban growth, resulting in a constant interplay of destruction and construction in defiance of ecological and human common sense. This is particularly evident in Manila, where shantytowns are multiplying, where traffic, pollution and heat islands often make daily life unbearable, and where soulless high-rise buildings and gigantic infrastructures are springing up everywhere, some of which, like the Binondo Intramuros Bridge, directly threaten listed treasures. Faced with these trends, many architects are now opting for other paths. These include the New Clark City Atheltics Stadium in Tarlac, reminiscent of Mount Pinatubo with its facades and posts made of Lahar (volcanic debris); the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, inspired by the Narra, the country's mother tree; and Terminal 2 of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, with its superstructure made of natural materials. More and more LEED towers (the highest ecological certification) are being built, like the Zuellig Building, while Manila is seeing a proliferation of micro-cities (Bonifacio Global City, Makati City, etc.), high-density mixed-use zones designed to offer a better quality of life through more sustainable architecture and more green spaces. But the real revolution comes from the Sangay agency, which specializes in the development of bamboo architecture. With its 12 m high ceiling, the MLR Polo Pavilion is impressive, so much so that many Filipinos want to build their own bamboo homes... or the revenge of a poor material now ennobled!
