Despite the vast and commanding presence nowadays of SM malls around the metropolis, the country and beyond as well, these malls are not exactly what one would call as compelling as far as form, aesthetics, and overall design is concerned. Save for some notable exceptions, SM malls are generally derided as “dull box structures” of concrete and, in recent years, glass, and steel which do not strive to become standout landmarks. I suppose the mentality employed here is, “Hey! It’s and SM mall! What more fancy design does it need? We can build a plain-looking building and put an SM tag on it and people will still go.” You get…
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Makati’s concrete eyesore: the JAKA Tower
Sometimes, no matter how beautiful or well-planned an area is, there will be eyesores that will stick out like sore thumbs thus ruining the landscape. To be fair, these structures were not meant to be built as such, but their continued existence is something that bugs a lot of people not just because of aesthetics but for safety reasons too. One example is the unfinished JAKA Tower along Ayala Avenue which originally had some grand ambitions to be the tallest building in the country. It was supposed to house the offices of the JAKA group, a company connected to the family of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. Construction began in 1996…
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Ermita Icon: The Philamlife Building
As the Philippines was recovering from the devastation of the Second World War, a surge of economic progress was beginning to take place beginning in the 1950’s. By the dawn of the following decade, new infrastructures, housing developments, and commercial establishments were beginning to take shape and arise in the horizon. One of these structures is the focus of this entry: the building of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company at Ermita district in Manila. The Philamlife (or Philam Life, depending on your source but both forms are acceptable) Building was built in 1961 along Ermita’s major thoroughfare that we know now as United Nations Avenue (then known…
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Music in the form of bamboo: the Las Piñas Church and its Bamboo Organ
Mention the name of that southern metropolitan city which is Las Piñas and automatically, the first thing that comes to mind is its renowned and beloved treasure that is the Bamboo Organ found in the old Las Piñas Church, known formally as St. Joseph Church. And to tell the story of the Bamboo Organ, one cannot disassociate it with the history of this Baroque-inspired, stone-built Catholic church. In 1795 to be precise, when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila deemed it necessary to have a church built in a growing fishing village south of the city we now know as Las Piñas. The task of building that church fell in…
