Valshka Viavine Vicente

Summarizing Information

Ildefonso Paez Santos Jr. (September 5, 1929 – January 29, 2014) loved copying
pictures of plants and animals as a child. This sparked the fire of his love for landscape
architecture. During his honeymoon in Hawaii with Amparo Eugenio, his desire for
landscape architecture deepened after being inspired by the beautiful landscapes of
Hawaii. His works were remarkable, and it is only fitting as a graduate from the
University of Santo Tomas. He had his bachelor’s degree in Architecture in the
University of Southern California and a masters at the same alma mater.
Before Santos, Filipinos described Landscape Architecture as ornamental gardening
and grotto-making. Santos changed this description through his lessons and seminars,
and described landscape architects as ‘glorified gardeners’.
An example of his passion and brilliance is the famed Paco Park that was once Manila’s
cemetery. Santos then transformed it into a beautiful park surrounded by greens and
pleasing aesthetic.

The Philippines recognized his genius, and by

age 77, Santos received multiple awards.
Malacaňang gave him a plaque in 1969 as
thanks for his contribution to the Nayong
Pilipino project and the “Patnubay ng
Kalinangan” award to name a few.
Fransisco “Bobby” Maňosa (born February 12, 1931) never failed to incorporate his
patriotism in his architectural designs. “I design Filipino, nothing else,” is a quote from
Bobby that speaks for his architecture style. He claims that there is no point to duplicate
the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato, but we can learn from it. He claims that
architecture should be true to its country, its people and the best material to finish a
building with is through the indigenous materials of the country.
The Coconut Palace is one of the most well known works of Bobby and it serves
residence to the current Vice President of the Philippines. Bobby emphasized on the
coconut tree’s title of the ‘Tree of Life’ by building a palace made nothing but coconuts.

The palace was

commissioned by former
First Lady Imelda Marcos
in 1981. The chandelier of
the palace is made with
101 coconut shells and
40,000 tiny coconut shells
forms a dining table. There
are seven suites in the
palace, each highlighting a
distinct cultural group- the
Illocos Room, Tagalog
Room, The Visayan Room,
the T’Boli Room, the
Maranao Room and finally the Zamboanga Room.
REFERENCE LIST

Bobby Maňosa: The Autumn of The Architect.(2015, March 29). Retrieved from
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/189306/bobby-manosa-the-autumn-of-the-architect/
Designing Filipino: The Indigenous Architecture of Francisco “Bobby” Maňosa. (2017,
August 6). Retrieved from http://www.illustradolife.com/designing-filipino-indigenous-
architecture-francisco-bobby-manosa/
Father of Landscape Architeture. (2009, March 18). Retrieved from
http://varsitarian.net/circle/20090318/father_of_landscape_architecture
Idefonso Paez Santos Jr. Retrieved from https://upclosed.com/people/ildefonso-p-
santos-jr/