Architecture of the Philippines

In this period, the plan for the modern City of Manila was designed, with many neoclassical architecture and art deco buildings by famous American and Filipino architects.

There have been proposals to establish a policy where each municipality and city will have an ordinance mandating all constructions and reconstructions within such territory to be inclined with the municipality or city's architecture and landscaping styles to preserve and conserve the country's dying heritage sites, which have been demolished one at a time in a fast pace due to urbanization, culturally-irresponsible development, and lack of towns-cape architectural vision.

The proposal aims to foster a renaissance in Philippine landscaping and townscaping, especially in rural areas which can easily be transformed into new architectural heritage towns within a 50-year time frame.

These varying styles exist within different Austronesian ethnic groups but what they have in common is the used of organic materials, Thatch roofings and are often raised above by posts or stilts to avoid floods.

[4][5][6] These rice terraces illustrate the ability of human culture to adapt to new social and climate pressures as well as to implement and develop new ideas and technologies.

The structures' original builders used stone and mud walls to carefully carve and construct terraces that could hold flooded pond fields for the cultivation of rice.

[7] Maintenance of the rice terraces reflects a primarily cooperative approach of the whole community which is based on detailed knowledge of the rich diversity of biological resources existing in the Ifugao agro-ecosystem, a finely tuned annual system respecting lunar cycles, zoning and planning, extensive soil conservation, and mastery of a complex pest control regime based on the processing of a variety of herbs, accompanied by religious rituals and tribal culture.

There is a particular architectural piece called batalan that is often situated in the rear part of the house, and is utilized for domestic work like washing, bathing, water storage, etc.

The doors of the houses were usually oriented to the direction where the sun rises and never faced towards the west, an architectural tradition which can be explained by the values and belief systems that early inhabitants of the land have.

The bahay na bato, the colonial Filipino house, followed the nipa hut's arrangements such as open ventilation and elevated apartments.

During the 19th century, wealthy Filipinos built some fine houses, usually with solid stone foundations or brick lower walls, and overhanging, wooden upper story with balustrades and capiz-shell sliding window sashes, and a tiled roof.

It explicitly recognized the Bahay na Bato as the dominant architectural typology of Intramuros during the Spanish colonial era until the destruction of the Walled City in 1945 during the Second World War.

Intramuros in Manila is the only locality in the Philippines where, for cultural reasons, the use, height, scale, and aesthetics of all new constructions and development are pre-determined and strictly regulated under the force of a national law.

The bell tower served as an observation post in 1896 for the Katipuneros during the Philippine revolution against the Spaniards, and again by the Filipino guerillas during the Japanese occupation in World War II.

[1] It was established to replace Kota Seludong, the seat of the power of the Kingdom of Maynila that was protected by a rammed earth fortress equipped with stockades, battlements and cannons.

Some structures which have been constructed before World War II or during the occupation of Americans in the Philippines was the Insular Ice Plant designed by architect Edgar K. Bourne who also worked with Daniel Burnham.

At the Far Eastern University (FEU) in Quiapo, Manila, five Art Deco structures on the campus were designed by National Artist Pablo Antonio.

[27] During the rise of cinema in the Philippines as a form of recreation, several theaters were constructed in the 1930s to 1950s in the Art Deco style designed by prominent architects now recognized as National Artists.

The sculptures upon the façade of the theater are by Italian sculptor Francesco Riccardo Monti, who lived in Manila from 1930 until his death in 1958, and worked closely with Juan M. Arellano.

Highly stylized relief carving of Philippine plants executed by the artist Isabelo Tampingco decorate the lobby walls and interior surfaces of the building.

The reinforced concrete fortress shaped like a battleship was built by the United States in 1909 as one of the harbor defenses at the wider South Channel entrance to the bay during the American colonial period.

It was captured and occupied by the Japanese during World War II, and was recaptured by the U.S. after igniting petroleum and gasoline in the fort, leaving it permanently out of commission.

The theater is a primary example of the architect's signature style known as the floating volume, a trait can be seen in structures indigenous to the Philippines such as the nipa hut.

The old church that housed the virgin was destroyed in February 1945 when the combined American and Filipino forces bombed Antipolo as part of the liberation campaign of Manila.

After numerous studies conducted, the local government units of Cordova and Cebu City entered into a public-private partnership with Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp.

Christian lowland architecture, encompassing a vast majority of the archipelago from northern Luzon to coastal Mindanao, have several ubiquitous characteristics: towns (colonial pueblos) follow a grid plan centered around a public square (plaza) accompanying a city hall (tribunal), church (simbahan, less common iglesia), convent, school, and other public facilities alongside concentrated clusters of large houses of the wealthy landowning elite (bahay na bato).

Forts (fuerza or kuta) were commonly built especially among coastal towns to defend from seasonal raids of marauding fleets from Sulu and Maguindanao (generalized as moros) prevalent in most of the colonial period, and sometimes combined with the church which served as refuge.

Many towns and cities, especially along bodies of water like rivers, lakes, and channels were built on preceding precolonial settlements - Manila and Tondo are famous examples.

Formerly, precolonial Ivatan society was clan-based and was divided by small, tightly knit settlements of cogon houses, and were protected by terraced citadels of stone and earth called ijang, typically on hilltops and ridges for defense during clan wars.

Silay, Iloilo City, and San Fernando de Pampanga have ordinances giving certain tax exemptions to owners of heritage houses.