Thesis Photos

Just a few shots off my thesis boards...

Infectious Kababawan

Really irrelevant and shallow thought for the day: Magaling kaya si Ornussa Cadness mag AutoCAD? Hmmmm… wala lang…

 

Ok, to snap myself out of my really shallow state of mind…

 

Our subdivision’s homeowner’s association is a real mess right now… why? Well its because Globe wants to put up a cell site right next to the subdivision’s water tank, they intend to pay the Association 30k for this, the president in his due diligence did the legwork, checking the DENR, the DOH, etc. about the safety of the installation, and it comes out that people’s fears about radiation are really unfounded.

 

But here’s the thing… the Association president was elected without a quorum in the proceedings, and a lot of people are bummed about it because they are all jockeying for position, so anyway, they go rabblerousing and spread nasty and really dumb rumors about the cell site project.

 

So anyway, this morning I woke up and walked to the sari-sari store to buy pandesal and get our morning paper. While I was waiting in line, our newspaper dealer, Inday, comes over and asks me…

 

Inday :  “Andoy, pabor ka ba dun sa cell site?”

Leandro : “Uh, oo naman, kailangan nung association yung pera eh”

Inday : “Naku, wag, pag kinabit ng Globe yang cell-site na yan dadami ang kidlat dito sa atin! Sige kayo Andoy, masusunog yung mga computer at gamit niyo…”

Leandro : <dripping with veiled sarcasm> GANUN?!

Inday: “Naku Oo no, tsaka baka hindi na natin magamit yung tubig sa tangke kasi parang xray daw yang cell site eh.”

Leandro : <now flowing with sarcasm and wonder> TALAGA?!

 

I don’t want to be intellectually arrogant, and it really is sad how shallow and ignorant people can get. As my dad would say… “Masyado kasi maraming genius dito sa Pilipinas eh…”

 

Yes, shallowness can be really infectious

 

And Yes… they call me andoy…

Clutch basket!

My car's clutch lining gives way, and stalls in the middle of the road... but then God really works in wonderful ways... I'm right next to a PNP Swat station and a Caltex. I go over to the Swat hq, and I ask if they have the contact number for a towing service... the really helpful team head goes out and calls his team to come over to the car and push me off to the side and into their garage. And so a bunch of really scary uniformed personnel drop their routine (cleaning their submachine guns) and push the car... and in the process save me 2k pesos.

Then i cross the road to the gas station, and lo and behold, the chief mechanic used to be the casa floor supervisor  for Toyota Alabang... he swiftly, expertly fixes and replaces the clutch assembly... and charges me really low for the work.

So there you go... wonderful proof that I'm really blessed and that God smiles at me... in the face of trouble

Basketball Team Society

When I was growing up, especially during the growth spurt years, family friends, my dad’s clients, my mom’s officemates, my titos and titas, well… almost everyone would ask me if I played basketball or if I was a varsity team member. Much to their disappointment, I would say no, and go onto a really nerdy elaboration… explaining why, and telling them that I actually played the clarinet and that I was into computers…

 

Everyone would mutter the same thing in amazement, and say… “Sayang! Ang tangkad mo panaman!” Thinking back, I wonder how things could have been if I were a bit more athletically-inclined… yes, I do have the height, and... I had flashes of game… no… I mean… like really more like split nano-seconds of game… oh… ok… maybe just the height.

 

Being part of the honors class during my high school’s intramural games was really quite a thrill… and at times… quite an embarrassment… because we were only a handful of guys who could play basketball… and that’s not high-school caliber basketball at that, its really just a few studious geeks trying their best at not looking ridiculous while the other team pounded them senseless … this usually meant that given the 7 or 8 people who could play ball, we would have to be playing straight quarters, with little or no time-off and no substitutions, (this plus the fact that there were other sports being played in between or at the same time, so subs would be coming from volleyball, I’d be leaving a half for chess, etc.) especially for me, because I had to pull my weight as the only center for the team. In fact, there was a year, wherein we had to resort to asking the other team if it was ok to have our girl classmates play (the irony is that, our girl classmates were actually better basketball players than most of us… Let’s go, Pabsy and Carla I!)

 

Looking back, I enjoyed the anxious, nervous anticipation of the annual games, because you never know, it might be the year that we might actually qualify for a playoff, but then we had to psyche ourselves with the fact that, yes we are going to get creamed… so we might as well make it swift and painless.

 

The games we played were what you would classify “garbage games” but not in the sense that they were trash, but… you know how it is when sportscasters call out a rookie being given playing time by their coach, usually during the end minutes of the game, with the outcome assured… a win or a loss?... with the coach doing it really just to see how the rookie actually plays and works in a game situation? Well, it was something like that, we played those games, with as much “lets not make fools of ourselves” candor along with the “lets show them that we aren’t as lampa as we look!” attitude…

 

And I loved every moment of those games, even when we were losing… I remember a good friend: Joseph, whom no one would really consider a “take it strong to the hoop” fellow, considering his tall wiry and… almost fragile frame… my heart leapt in a “kita niyo na moment” when I saw how everyone reacted to his quick first step/sidestep drive to the hoop. Everyone was like… huh?! What the?! He sidestepped, slashed and dribbled and drove to the hoop just as efficiently he would write C… (yes he is a programmer/software developer) And I was grinning and laughing because during our lunch time breaks, he would tell me that he really is a slasher… I mean who would have thought?!

 

I remember my “moment”, when I got the ball outside the three-point arc, of course being the center, I’m just supposed to pass it off to an open man and rotate to the shaded lane… but then, no one seemed to want to get the ball… so I just shot a three, or did my best impression of shooting a three… and it went in… so there you go… You have a programmer driving to the hoop, and a center taking three-pointers…  No street cred whatsoever!

 

Of course, we had our go-to guys… the ones who had street cred… Roman, a real thick, aggressive guy… who was someone you wouldn’t want to be next to as he tries to score… with his flailing elbows and all. He was the catalyst for I think a year or two, but then he got himself out of the section… so we were left to fend for ourselves…

 

Then there’s Pipo, who was in the class for a year, (the same year I got kicked out… <that’s another blog entry>) and he was a real athlete… a volleyball player, he could leap, score, drive, pass… whatever… and considering that I was out of the section then, I was kind of envious because maybe it was that year that the class finally got to the finals…

 

I guess the main key about basketball is that, since everyone gets to touch the ball, everyone gets the chance to be the “star.” That is why Pinoys are the biggest fans, despite the overwhelming evidence that our race/mix isn’t exactly tailor-made for the game. (Which is why… we end up with Fil-ams, Fil-foreigners and Really tall probinsyanos <with all due respect… no offence meant> playing in our leagues)

 

In a country of 80+ million and counting, in the midst of the fecundity of our masses, we look for ways to stand out, to become sikat, to become stars… (ergo… all the contests, pageants, talent searches, etc.) and basketball, is one of the myriad of ways of finding “our moment/s”… because in the basketball court, everyone, could potentially be a star, for a blink of an eye, be it the tsambalerong spotter point guard, the pabandang center, or the ala-hoy na bangko.

 

And its evident, if you go to any serious basketball court, you’ll see people trying really hard… at either showing what game they got, or trying to not look like they don’t have any, and it takes serious work and a lot of contradictions… we all want to do well and score the winning shot, but we don’t want to be called a “bakaw” or a ball-hog by everyone else in the team. Basketball is about mastering the fundamentals so that you can be a generalist, because you have to play both sides of the ball… Especially in Pinoy-style larong kalye, wherein since everyone grows up to a similar height… the variance in positions is very little… with the point guard at 5’5” and the center at 5’8”. So almost everyone evolves playing almost the same way.

 

Recognizing my height advantage at an early age, and wanting to put some specialization into what I was doing… (since I’m a fancy-pants nerd), I watched and observed how the centers play… and I tried to emulate them, but here’s the kicker, I didn’t grow to their size… so at 6’2” (which is really just a good height for a guard) I’m either a really short and reasonably mobile center, or a oafishly slow point-guard.

 

That’s the reason why I gave up on my basketball dreams, because aside from my above-average height, I had asthma, plus the fact that I wasn’t exactly going to beat anyone in wind sprints, I really just didn’t fit. I was an in-betweener.

 

And then I learned about American football, which is on the other hand, a game of specializations, guys do just one specific thing… but they do it very well; offensively: either they throw (the quarterback), they catch (the wide-receivers and ends), they run and carry the ball (the tail/full backs), if you didn’t do any of those pretty well, you’d get pigeonholed into either the defense (wherein you just have to tackle and hit the ball carrier (or if you could, intercept the pass) or you get thrown into the trenches… (with all the sumo wrestlers) and play the offensive or defensive lines.

 

The beauty of American football is the sheer specialization involved. Literally, the team has to be one well-oiled, cohesive machine. If the lineman doesn’t protect the quarterback well, the pretty-boy team leader won’t be able to throw the ball, to top things off, if the receiver doesn’t catch a well thrown ball, then its all for naught! If the linemen can’t open holes in the defense for the running back to run through, then they will end up with nothing but 3^rd and long. (all the knowledge on something I really don’t get to apply much here in the Philippines, except for some frustrated/aborted attempts at touch/flag football)

 

Conversely, if the defensive pass-rush doesn’t pressure the QB, its going to make life difficult for the Defensive backs in protecting against the pass. Never mind if you didn’t understand a single thing I mentioned, because the point is that, everyone depends on everyone else in the team.

 

In basketball, its not new if Kobe takes the rebound, takes the ball down court, beats 3 or 4 defenders and slams the ball for a score, trotting back up court with a “That’s all me” look in his face. In football, despite all the showboating by star players, its simply unheard-off... you simply cant pull it off alone.

 

But then again, I may be overanalyzing something simple. But are basketball and football really that simple? Or are they microcosms of how our societies work? Is Philippine society really a bunch of “individuals” working under the guise of a team/group to plot his/her own glorious moment/score? Just like in Basketball?

 

Or maybe I’m just talking like this because I don’t have game/bano lang talaga ako? Tara limahan nalang! Laro lang naman eh...

The Root, the Heart, and the Mind

              A quick survey of our daily broadsheets gives you a cross-section of our Real Estate industry. From the Mediterranean villas, Swiss chalets and Neo-Victorian manors to the sleek modernist condominiums, this shows a very wide selection of styles catering to our various tastes and sensibilities. But what is it behind all of these? What is the driving force for the development of such a broad range of tastes all catering for the Filipino?

 

            The answer is anchored really on what the Filipino considers his or her underlying values. What is the Filipino all about? Dr. Tomas Andres discusses these in his book “Understanding Filipino Values,” which surprisingly has a lot of implications and applications on the direction of our prevailing local architecture. (Particularly in the housing sector)  

 

            Basically, the Pinoy is made of three main things:

-          The Root;

-          The Heart;

-          and The Mind.

 

The Filipino’s Root is the Asian within us, the Malay, Indian, Arab and Chinese influences which have given us our shrewd, pragmatic and conservative nature and the hardy and fiery emotions, all of which are anchored on strong family and tribal values.

 

Architecturally, these manifest themselves as the Bahay Kubo, the fiery colors of Maranao tribal houses, the steep, tiled dragon roofs of Chinese ancestral homes, and other varied vernacular forms. These, despite their humble nature, are actually very well-adapted to our environment, our indigenous materials and our primordial core and behavior as Asians.

 

The Filipino’s Heart is the European within us, the Spanish-Christian and Greco-Roman influences have introduced us to western culture and taste, teaching us our love for the good and refined things in life, which we have learned through the grandeur, splendor and “dating/porma” of Europe, these have brought us our definition of beauty, our fixation for the jaw-dropping, mestiza and our stately “don” demeanor which sometimes borders on the imperious.

 

Architecturally, these manifest themselves as the grand mansions, the majestic cathedrals, and the beautiful to the not-so-tastefully designed full and mid-sized Mediterranean villas which have dotted almost all villages and subdivisions not just within Metro Manila and its suburbs but in the provinces as well. These, by all accounts are already imported forms, which have been tweaked and adapted to local materials and conditions. Of course, many will argue that our old Spanish buildings were actually adaptations of Mexican-Spanish types, but that goes without saying, these are still innately European, and have contributed greatly to our Architectural tastes as a people.

 

            The Filipino’s Mind is the American within us, the straight-shooting, educated, twang-tinged, English-speaking, ambitious, democracy and freedom-loving side of our psyche are all products of our American-influenced educational and democratic systems. It’s not a mystery why almost everyone would go through hell or high water just to get a green card to the ‘tate… almost all Pinoys want to live the American Dream. Proof of this is Jollibee, a Filipino company, which has made its fortune by selling an American product, the hamburger, to an otherwise rice-fed nation, by tuning it to our taste, but adapting the sharp American marketing and management savvy.  

 

Which brings us to the manifestations of this dream, our vision of peaceful/serene suburbia with the Salt-box house with dormers and the wrap-around porch, complete with the white picket fence, the Labrador retriever, the lawn, and the all-terrain, gas-guzzling SUV parked in the garage; or the hip and happening, “Sex and the City meets Friends”- downtown lifestyle, with the 3-storey walk-up flat, the skyline, the city views, the park, the tree-lined sidewalks, the bars and nightlife… all the hallmarks of a cosmopolitan, city lifestyle. 

 

            And all of that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. As you can see, we are an overwhelming mix of the east and the west. I remember during the turn of this millennium, the American and Western press all talked about the wave of globalization that will sweep the world. Apparently they did not hear about the news… that they were the ones who started it way before all the talk of globalization. In fact, we as a country, as a people were one of the first beneficiaries or victims (depending on how you see it). The only difference is that, during the 1500s, trade, information and culture all moved at the speed of a galleon, while nowadays, all of these move at the blink of an eye. But as Newton said it so well, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction; the push of colonizers during their periods of active expansion is now met by the equal and opposite reaction of the former colonies… in the form of growing immigration, outsourcing and off-shore production.  

 

            We really can’t blame ourselves much for what has happened in the past, geographically, our country/collection of islands sits at the cross-roads of the east and west. That’s also a key reason why we never seem to have a very strong sense of identity, particularly in the field of architecture.

 

            So, What is Filipino Architecture? Is it the Bahay-kubo? The Bahay-na-bato? The Adapted Mediterranean Villa? The Concrete Salt-box? Or The Modernist Floating Mass? I leave it up to the experts to debate and discuss. But all I know for sure is that we as a society are evolving and mutating towards our own Identity and like a fresh-graduate, just starting to strike out on his own, our designers and architects will have to make sense of all of these influences and be able to meld and harness them into a strong cohesive whole. Truly, it is this raucous mix that makes us Filipino… all of the above… not this or that… but this and that… and that… and that… oh… and that too.

Drucker 3, Bluprint, Renzo Piano and sails...

Last night I met with some classmates from high school... it was good to see and hear from them again. It was very refreshing to get involved, maybe last night, my brain was a bit slow to absorb everything happening, but this morning, a whole storm of thoughts, ideas and questions popped up about the discussions last night. I need to pray over these things, and to check my Drucker 3 (values, environment and resources) to understand these issues. I don't want to jump ship suddenly, without learning about my own ship more... and also, I don't want to commit something that would look like I'm rebelling against my family's background.

In the mean time, I got a reply from Bluprint mag, telling me that they would check out some material I've written... hopefully they do publish the critiques/articles I wrote up. (I'm really excited about this development )

I'm also fixing up my applications for several post-board exam possibilities... the most exciting of which is the Ermanno Piano Scholarship in Italy/France under the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Its really challenging, because I'm against other graduates from around the world, I don't know if this school-of-hardknocks-indio from the Philippines stands a chance against the theoretical-design-geniuses of the west.

I hope God reenergizes the breeze pushing my sails and points me to the right direction.

SFO, NYC 2004 ... art/building shots

Are you one of the atlases who carry the world?

These are just some of the photos I took while I was doing my thesis research abroad... visiting university campuses, cities, cbds, etc.