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Edifice Complex
Edifice Complex
Power, myth and Marcos State Architecture By Gerard Lico Report by Mae Urtal Caralde
Chapters/Topics
1. Architecture and Society 2. Cartographies of Power in Philippine Architecture 3. Culture and Architecture under Martial Law 4. The CCP 5. Power and Myth in Marcos State Architecture 6. Beyond Frivolity and Political Amnesia
Contributions
a study of place inscribes the study of social production not neutral considers archi as medium of expression, ideological trope, system of knowledge, Allegory of social presence, transformative tech and labor propelled by values foregrounds the myth of modern progress shaped by politics
The Panopticon
"Panopticism is the general principle of a new 'political anatomy' whose object and end are not the relations of sovereignty but the relations of discipline. [...] These disciplines~ which the classical age had elaborated in specific, relatively enclosed places - barracks, schools, workshops and whose total implementation had been imagined only at the limited and temporary scale of a plague-stricken town, Bentham dreamt of transforming into a network of mechanisms that would be everywhere and always alert, running through society without interruption in space or in time. The panoptic arrangement provides the formula for this generalization. It programmes, at the level of an elementary and easily transferable mechanism, the basic functioning of a society penetrated through and through with disciplinary mechanisms."(2
Structural footprints
Imelda wrote " Architecture : The Social Art (1979) "Architecture for the Common Man" (1975) CCP complex 28- hectare reclaimed area Leandro Locsin's abstractions of the Bahay kubo Francisco Manosa indigenizing neo-vernacular tahanang Filipino Froilan Hong's modernist Parthenon
From Marco Diani and C. Ingraham " ...architecture builds, over and over, philosophically endorsed ideas of home, city, place ...architecture is a deeply conservative force that keeps what is philosophically, politically and ideologically 'proper' in place ...architecture evaporates or melts into political, social, linguistic, philosophical analysis "
Archi can be both structure and agency Pierre Bourdieu: habitus or systems of durable , transposable dispositions which can be objectively regulated and regular without it in any way being product of obedience to rules
1. Force-- undisguised exertion of power. ex. Prisons 2. Coercion--- uses threat of force to obtain compliance ex. Archi programs everyday practice 3. Intimidation--- achieved when archi compels people to behave in a certain way in given space
4. Domination --- confronts the subject with overwhelming physical scale and bombardment of signifiers which destroys the subjects ability to map his or her surroundings. 5. Manipulations--- coercive mode that keeps the subject in a state of ignorance 6. Seductive--- tempting the human subject through a conscious manipulation of interest, biases and desires.
American Period
Neo-classicism---seemed to portray the benevolence of the US in setting up infra needed for the Filipino for self-governance. 2 Ideological functions: Attest greatness to the newly established American empire To create semblance of democracy in a colonial social order.
PGH
YMCA building
National Museum
Post Office
Powerful and poetic imagery of the native bahay kubo as source of inspiration= romantic nationalist architecture - a political category that create national symbols rather than a style - supported a politically motivated aesthetic and social vision
The CCP intends to serve as the repository of Filipino heritage. Because Filipino culture is fragmented, its influences complex and diverse, such a repository would serve to bring full flower to a culture so often nip in the bud.
Myth of monumentalism---by building monumental scale, we attempt to shape the physical embodiment of social order, denying change and transmuting the fear of the passage of time and death into splendor. Myth of modern progress monuments were actually financed by heavy foreign debts Myth of modernity---claim of progress and national identity is dubious.
Demands of Modern architecture: > honesty of materials and structure > honesty in that the function of the building is reflected in its forms, favoring simplicity >honesty that reflects the true spirit of its time rather than of the past > architecture be true to themselves.
Imeldas architects were not at all modern in the real sense of the modernist movement. Locsins design of the CCP Performing Arts Theater abandoned modernist credo of from follows function Myth of Nationality and Collectivity ---single national style in archi was sought an formulated to symbolize the nation. Nation being the social formation of imagined communities ---archi as embodiment of national pride ----collectivity and equality in the access of space was negated
Synthesis
Architecture and urban design are deeply ingrained within economic and other structures of power Power is more potent if it remains undetected, like how it is in architecture which is usually viewed as neutral homogenous space.