Aries Angelo D.

Carreon
2011-08769
Arch 162 Prof. MA Araneta
Feb. 20, 2015

Exhibit Reaction Paper

Designing a capital city for a country under siege was proven difficult in the 1940s, the time of the
World War II. Manila was, in the first place, a suitable location for a capital. It has a seaport providing
connections to other countries in the world, for trade and transportation; which also depicts that the location
of the site is very profitable for a capital city. In the World War, the coastlines of the capital became its
weakness. Manila was open to attacks from the sea, aside from land and air. Though its current is suitable
for business and profit gaining, it was proven to be an unlikely place in a war.
The city had to be on an elevated site. There were also security concerns the federal capital had
to be safe. Attack from the air was not a serious concern, but attack from the sea was a real threat. Finally,
the site had to be worthy to be the capital of a great nation. It had to be uncontaminated by industry or
previous major urban development. Ample water was essential, to supply the needs of residents and to
create ornamental waters for recreation and aesthetic effect. Ideally, it would have some surrounding
mountains to provide a grand setting. (A Nation Needs a Capital)
The shifting of the capital from Manila to Quezon City was a good decision, it had just the right
distance from the coastlines, making it safe from coastline siege. It is on a higher elevation than Manila,
and it was a former agricultural land. A water reservoir exists up on the north of Quezon City, and the
mountains and hills of Rizal became its background. All these characteristics of an Ideal Capital were
achieved the same with how Canberra, the capital city of Australia, was founded. The relation of it to
Sydney as a harbor is also the same with the relation of Quezon City to Manila.
The location of the countrys premiere school was also designed to be in Quezon City. It reflected
the brilliance of Filipino Architects in the field. Every element in the campus had the same inspiring
character fostering the minds of its students in liberty. Each building is like an existing independent system
but the campus as a whole is a greater system with one unifying character which is the goal to help in this
countrys long-sought development.
Quezon City was in fact a better location for the capital city, but it was kind of a waste that it didnt
become what it was designed to be. Defined spaces in the region were somehow irreversible. Many
agricultural lands were transformed into mass residential areas, and after years of slow development but
with high opportunities in the city, there came a sprawl of informal settlements. The prospect of having
Quezon City as the capital of the Philippines is unworthy if these problems were to take place anyway. The
country should have a model city, and it is the capital.

References
A

Nation
Needs
a
Capital.
(n.d.).
Retrieved
from
http://www.idealcity.org.au/a_nation_needs-4-choosing_location.html

Ideal

City: