The passing of Lindy Locsin has removed from our cultural firmament a good man, a very decent man the likes of whom we may have difficulty in finding today. I beg to disagree, however, with the encomiums paid to him as an architect and as an artist; as such, I think he is overrated.
First, the Cultural Center complex. Maybe that was what Imelda Marcos wanted but an architect with artistic integrity can always say no. The Cultural Center is a facist building as is the Folk Arts Theatre and the Convention Center. The Cultural Center is not democratic. populist, in keeping with the avowed nature of this country --"warm, open hearted." Built in the tradition of the 18th and 19th century opera houses in Europe, it has boxes for the elite and royalty. The ramp that leads to it is a gross example of its elitism; what about those pedestrians who have no cars? It is also not fuel efficient in keeping with the climate. As for the technical shortcomings, let the theatre people themselves elaborate on them.
The airport terminal, also a Locsin design, is copied from the airports of the sixties. Had the architect consulted with a Filipino cultural anthropologist, he would have designed a terminal with a huge reception area to accomodate the thousand Filipinos sending off and welcoming their kababayans. As it is, it defines clearly the difference in social status. People who do not have cars are forced behind grilled enclousres where they must wait with great difficulty for incoming relatives.
I do not know how Lindy was involved in the design of Makati. It is obvious that this elite district is badly designed too. First, the buildings have no air spaces between them. There is no housing, no restaurants for the lower classes who service Makati's denizens. Worst of all, the business center is dead at night, much like the business districts of Wall Street and Manhattan.
The modern city is a live the whole day, like the cities of Japan. Makati was patterned after the urban movement in the US after World War II. By the time the Americans recognized their mistakes, it was too late for the Filipinos who have aped them to change -- the structure have already risen here, permanent and in concrete.
The architects who have "made it" who can afford to do so, should engage in the design and propagation of low cost housing to dignify their reputations and their ego trips. There is no great architect today who has worked with creative imagination to bring forth what should be "modern Filipino architecture. One reason for this is the elitist nature of many of our cultural workers -- it is a cliche but it is still very true, most are alienated from their own culture, from
their own people. Planning at the top is when this truism is fully understood and reversed that, perhaps, we may witness the possibility of a Filipino cultural renaissance.
The author received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in Literature in 1980. He teaches Philippine Culture at the La Salle University Graduate School. Article reprinted from the The Philippine Star.
Issue No. 1
