Philippine Architecture, its past and its history.

http://theworldsureisamazing.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/philippine-architecture-its-past-and-its-history/


Is there really Philippine architecture? Are the Filipinos able to say that they have created their own style that best represent what Philippine architecture is all about?


All these question circle your mind, as a Filipino. As for me, I think that there is a Filipino architecture, but it’s not there yet, it is still shallow to be seen as a form to represent Filipino architecture.


People have been debating, arguing whether or not Filipinos posses their own architecture. When they say Philippine architecture, the images that come to mind is the bahay Kubo. I as well, when it comes to Philippine architecture, a bahay kubo comes into mind, as well as trycikel, jeeps, isaw, dugo and balot, all these are of importance and where manifested by us Filipinos. As we know architecture can be a reflection of culture and how people live their lives. Culture is a reflection of what Filipinos are, and what we are reflects on the things we do, such as architecture.


Our Culture reflects who we are, and how we stand to be seen by others, it represents us. Our architecture has been denounced to be non-existent and lost. Some say the Filipinos have created a style only because other cultures and foreign people have invaded and influenced our lands. These foreign culture has infected that early evolution of our culture, if they have not invaded us, my guess is that the Filipino people would have created they own style befitting their own way of life without the strong influence of outside culture. People have said that the mixture of American, Spanish and Japanese is now the representation of Philippine architecture, and even now we still continue to adapt more styles even thou we have not found our own yet.


The Filipinos have progressed their architecture for that of their indigenous ancestors to what can be seen now. The Filipinos of before are animist believers, I believe our architecture would have been different if our beliefs stayed animist and have not been affected by others as such. As I said, architecture is a reflection of who its people are, and how the people represents itself, if the people where change so will the outcome.


But of course, all these years the Filipinos have put their own twist, modified, reinterpreted, and recreated their own version of the styles that were given to them. The Filipinos are still scratching the surface of their own potential, I believe the Filipinos were forced to adapt to their circumstances that’s why they didn’t have the time to create a style that shouts Filipino, I think we evolved to fast for that our own identity was swept away by the ones that influenced us. But now as free men, no forced choices to make, no reason to follow the styles of others, we now begin to find what it is we can call our own.


History is very important to our culture, because it is the one that shaped who we are, its what gave us the identity that we have carried until this day. Seeing very old, important and respected, historical building, it always teleports me to the past, I imagine these wall being touched by the hand of the people that used this structure, I imagine as a busy place packed with people just minding their own business. Every scratch every marking creates its place in history, every historical structure always tells a story, revealing a page in our history that shows our culture and our traditions.


These historical land marks and structures are something that has stood the test of time. It is now something that represent us and our culture of the past, it is now a part of our history and as time goes on the past will become more important. It is now something that we can be proud of, something we can say that lasted as long as we can remember, that we were able to present ourselves in the past with these structures. These structures now becomes a mark in history, not just ours but for all to remember, it is one of the thing that has shaped its people and will continue to tell stories of the past for those that want to know it.


The last two meetings in my history class what both fun and exciting, learning in a form of a quiz bee. Philippine history never really crossed my mind, I thought that it was enough to know how our Philippine hero was. But Philippine history is more than a simple past thought to you to know what they are. But Philippine history is something that tell you what we were in the past, how our culture was, how we think and how we lived our life. I wasn’t really interested of our past; I once believe that clinging to the past will not let your move own to what is available now. When I was a kid know history was a drag, didn’t really thought that it would help me in the future, and I thought it was something that I only thought to us because it was required.


But now I find myself interested, as this lessons progress I found out more in what the past has offered. And it has offered more than I could imagine, the past have created opportunities for the people of today, the past is a mark that says we have shaped our own history by our own means.


The first week of our lesson was really exciting, doing a quiz bee without really reviewing whats it all about. It was really fun I had fun with our group because of our answers was way of, it was fun but it was really hard as well. It was kind of sad that as an aspiring architect and as a Filipino that I know so little of the past, and the past of my culture. I learned most of many first in the Philippines, and it was quite surprising in some, but rather expected with the others.


The second week of our lesson, a question was landed to us by our professor. It was about what kind of architecture am I going to be, what identity would I represent myself as an architect be. Also discovered that our very own Araneta Coliseum was the very first kind in the world! Very very exciting and shocking that the Philippines has held it title, even if it was only for 3years but the fact that it was the very first of its kind will never be erased in history. Every step will have its consequences, because what you do now, would shape the future.