About this talk
Sub-topic 1: “Spanish Origins of Philippine Open Spaces” by Michael F. Manalo looks into some of the typologies of open spaces that had emerged in the Philippines as a consequence of both Iberian urban planning trends and Latin American aportations to these. This quick survey comes in the light of a review of the current guidelines that cover the conservation of colonial-era open spaces in the Philippines, with the aim of creating a broader understanding of open spaces beyond the central square, or “plaza”.
Sub-topic 2: “Philippine Plazas in the 20th Century: From Civic Space to Chicken Joy” by Paulo Alcazaren
“Philippine Plazas in the 20th Century: From Civic Space to Chicken Joy” by Paulo Alcazaren delves into how Philippine Plazas evolved in the American colonial and Commonwealth period building on the original Spanish colonial era urban morphological base; but this time as a space to reflect aspirations of American-style democracy with the iconography of monuments to select heroes and allegorical statuary in settings framed by City Beautiful sensibilities. The talk takes a quick and literal overview of these plazas from this historical perspective as well as presents their current state’ that is often spatially and culturally compromised by commercialism or politics.
Speaker & Moderator
Speaker1: Mr. Michael F. Manalo
Architect specializing in the conservation of built heritage. He received his training from the Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía in Mexico City, and was chair of the culture committee of the UNESCO National Commission for the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. Currently he heads the National Committee for Monuments and Sites of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and is a lecturer at the Cultural Heritage Studies Masteral program of the University of Santo Tomás in Manila.
Speaker 2: Mr. Paulo Alcazaren
Practicing city planner and landscape architect. His academic background is in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of the Philippines, as well as a master’s degree in urban design from the National University of Singapore. He writes a popular column on architecture and design in the Philippine Star and was editor of BluPrint magazine for ten years. He has authored or contributed to over a dozen publications on urban or architectural and landscape history. He is a founding member of the Heritage Conservation Society and a current member of ICOMOS Philippines.
Moderator: Mr. Mark Evidente
Lawyer and environmental planner in the Philippines. He is President/CEO of TwoEco, Inc. a sustainability consulting firm which has successfully completed various tourism development plans, conservation plans, and policy studies in the Philippines. He holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from Yale University, law and political science degrees from the University of the Philippines, and recently completed his term as President of the Heritage Conservation Society (Philippines).
