HANDOUT 5

• At the closing of the 19th century, the United States suddenly became a colonial power. Victorious in the Spanish-American war, the U.S. annexed the Philippines among its colonial possessions.
• The American military forces rebuilt the war-torn archipelago and sought to reshape the city of Manila after an imperial image of a well-ordered, healthful and beautiful tropical city.
• With the advent of civil rule, the American regime deployed its resources to build public architecture and sanitary facilities that signified the American democratic and civilizing mission.
• Pail Conservancy System


  1. Use of toilet introduced in 1902 among dwellers of the bahay kubo in Manila

  2. Provision of wooden buckets collected daily by municipal excrement wagons

  3. In the absence of a metropolitan sewer
• Public toilets were built in congested nipa hut districts.
• The authorities banned the use of esteros for bathing and washing and established a new type of communal architecture that combined the functions of toilet, bath and laundry supplied continuously with clean water.
• The first public bath and laundry, a one-storey structure made of concrete, was built in 1930.
• Sanitary Barrios


  1. Introduced by Americans in 1908

  2. Permitted nipa houses to be built on blocks of subdivided lots

  3. With built-in system of surface drainage, public latrine, public bathhouses and laundry, and public water hydrants to be availed by the residents free of charge
• Imprints of these Sanitary Barrios can still be seen in Sampaloc, San Lazaro and Vito Cruz.
• With the success of the Sanitary Barrios, the American authorities focused their efforts to modernize the Filipino house.
• Tsalet


  • A single storey structure constructed either entirely of wood or a combination ferro-concrete and wood
  • Living areas maintained at an elevation a meter above ground, lower than the bahay kubo to discourage the placement of domestic animals in the underfloor area
  • Extended porch or verandah in front, accessed by either an L-shape or a T-shape stair
  • Interior space defined by wall partitions which divided it into rooms
• In 1912, the Bureau of Health drew up the schemes for sanitary urban house: single-detached, semi-detached, rowhouse apartments and one-storey concrete chalet.
• Ideal Sanitary House


  • Refinement of the tsalet
  • Introduced the fire resistive roofing material composed of diamond shape shingles moulded from concrete mixture and rice husk and reinforced by woven bamboo
  • Modular components, cement floor and wall slabs implanted with sawali or woven bamboo
• Meanwhile, as the sanitary transformation was in high gear, insular architect Edgar K. Burn, chief of the Bureau of Architecture designed set pieces that mimicked the styles of Spanish Colonial buildings, the Spanish Mission Revival, which served as a transitional style.
• Buildings designed by Edgar K. Burn in Spanish Mission Revival style

  • Government laboratory
  • Municipal building of Manila
  • Insular Ice Plant and Cold Storage
  • Government printing office
  • Customs house
• Burn also designed the cottages and other buildings in the hill station of Baguio.
• One of the priorities of the colonial administrators was the development of a masterplan for Manila and the hill station in Baguio. Their aim was to install a sense of cosmopolitan arrangement to Manila's chaotic patchwork of communities and create an upland health resort in Baguio.
• The designer of choice was Frederick Holmstead, Jr., America's famous landscape architect. At the last minute, he backed out due to scheduling problems and an equally famous architect, Daniel H. Burnham, was chosen.
• Daniel H. Burnham


  • Reputation as the Father of the City Beautiful movement
  • Carefully designed vistas, grand civic centre, axial and radial boulevards, Classicist formality, and green open spaces and parkways were hallmarks of the City Beautiful
• Burnham came to the Philippines with Pierce Anderson in 1904 and surveyed Manila and Baguio. Burnham admired the architecture of the bahay na bato and the colonial churches and suggested that they be models for Manila's future development.
• After 6 weeks, Burnham returned to America and completed the sweeping masterplans for the two cities.
• The masterplans aim to reconfigure Manila and Baguio as a testimony to American imperial presence and technological modernity.
• Masterplan for Manila


  1. Development of the waterfront and the location of parks, playfields and parkways

  2. Establishment of a street system which would connect every part of the city

  3. Zoning of building sites for various functions

  4. Development of waterways or esteros for transportation

  5. Provision for summer resorts within an accessible distance from the city
• The centrepiece of the Burnham plan was this civic core with a grand concourse from the bay to an arc further inland. Here Burnham envisioned a national capitol complex where colonnaded buildings were formally arranged around a rectangular plaza.
• Baguio Masterplan


  1. Dominated by an elliptical space approximately 1 mile in length and ¾ of a mile in width

  2. Along the perimeter of the ellipse, Burnham sited a commercial district, and a government centre and a broad residential zone

  3. Central portion of the area reserved for a public park

  4. Overlaid on this elliptical core was a street system that conformed to the contours of the hilly terrain
• Parsons was responsible for the design of all the public buildings and parks for the entire colony.
• Neoclassical forms


  • Slowly rose in the landscape under the guidance of the masterplan
  • Beaux Arts became the official style of the colony for the next three decades

  
• Neoclassical capitol buildings, the embodiment of the American Republican ideals, rose in every provincial urban sector.
• Parsons' architectural designs


  • Consciously orchestrated the fusion of locally derived architectural forms and Neoclassical idiom to dramatize the encounter and coexistence of two cultures
  • Pragmatically recognized the supremacy of large windows shaded from the harsh tropical sun and excessive glare either by metal canopies or by arches and colonnades
  • Planned for open spatial arrangements that permitted maximum cross ventilation
  • Used translucent capiz shells instead of glass for window panels
• Model Schoolhouses


  • Designed by Parsons for the Bureau of Public Instruction
  • 15 prototypes for a variety of site conditions
  • Adopted ferro-concrete with a vernacular style
  • Materials, forms, windows, doors and even blackboards were standardized to bring down cost and maximize construction efficiency
  • One-storey high, elevated several feet above ground by square reinforced concrete beams
  • Capiz windows were reinvented as pivoted window rotating about a horizontal axis
• Parsons situated the capitol and municipal complexes in a park-like setting. His Neoclassic designs for the capitols became the archetype for all succeeding capitols built before and after the war.

  
• Plans of municipal buildings of later years were also standardized and the municipal buildings of Davao, Boac in Marinduque and Lopez in Quezon were built using the same standard plan.
• Sanitary Markets and Tiendas

  1. Plans standardized beginning in 1912

  2. Parsons recommended concrete floors and steel truss roofs in all of his 4 market prototypes and 2 standard tiendas

  3. Provided for maximum light and air and placed them whenever possible near an estero or riverbank to encourage waterborne commerce
• Parsons' contribution to local architecture was the improvement of the quality of construction materials and techniques such as reinforced concrete, concrete hollow blocks and the Kahn truss system.
• Plans of sanitary markets and tiendas

  • Standardized beginning in 1912
  • Concrete floors and steel truss roofs in all of Parsons' 4 market prototypes and 2 standard tiendas
  • Maximum light and air
  • Located near an estero or riverbank to encourage waterborne commerce
• Parsons' contribution to local architecture

  Improvement of the quality of construction materials and techniques such as reinforced concrete, concrete hollow blocks and the Kahn truss system
• American architects like George Fenhagen and Ralph Doane


  • Contributed in the propagation of Neoclassicism both in government and private practice
• George Fenhagen's works


  • Designed the un-built capitol building in Manila
  • Designed the Masonic Temple in the Renaissance style
• Ralph Doane's works


  • Drafted the plans for the Pangasinan Provincial Capitol, the Malacanang Executive Building and the preliminary plans for the Legislative Building
• Social clubs


  • Large verandas or loggias
  • Swimming pool or courtyards
  • Tennis courts
  • Fine dining, grill rooms, bars and members lounges