American Colonial Architecture

• American Colonial Architecture incorporates local architectural styles with foreign influences.
• Colonial infrastructure was constructed to support public health, sanitation, and other ventures.
• Featured construction improvements and the emergence of Filipino architects.
• It saw the local adaptation of the international Art Deco style.

Foreign Styles and Influences

• Colonial Revival Mission, Neoclassicism, and City Beautiful Movement influenced architectural designs.

Official Architectural Styles

• Colonial Revival Mission style involves the use of clay roof tiles, adobe, concrete, stucco, and gabled roofs.
• It features round arch entrances, arcades, corridors, and mirador towers.
• Neoclassicism involves the revival of Greek and Roman orders as decorative motifs.
• Ralph Harrington Doane supervised the Capitol of Pangasinan as a consulting architect.
• William Parsons was involved with the Philippine General Hospital in Manila.

Urban Planning

• Organized comprehensive urban planning ideas were based on the principles of the City Beautiful Movement.
• Formulaic elements include a civic core, wide radial avenues, landscaped promenades, and a visually arresting panorama.
• Daniel Burnham proposed plans for the development of Manila and Baguio.

Improvements in Sanitation

• Cubeta, The Sanitary Barrio, and Tsalet contributed to advancements in sanitation.

Cubeta

• It is also known as the "pail system”.
• Introduced the concept of toilets among the dwellers of the bahay kubo.
• Public toilet sheds were installed in congested nipa districts with a latrine system developed for remote areas.

The Sanitary Barrio

• Neighborhood concepts featured nipa houses built on highly regulated blocks of subdivided lots.
• Built-in surface drainage, public latrines, bath houses, laundry, and public water hydrants were free of charge.

Tsalet

• "The healthy housing alternative.”
• Included topical features of vernacular buildings combined with hygienic structural principles and modern materials.
• Premium was given to light, ventilation, and drainage.
• It was constructed of wood or ferroconcrete.
• Steps leading to a veranda, floor-to-ceiling partitions, bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchens, and toilets and baths featured.

Improvements in Construction

• American Architecture and building technology was imported.
• Steel-framed skeleton construction, reinforced concrete (ferroconcrete), and concrete hollow blocks were used.
• The Kahn Truss System saw trussed bars placed within concrete molds for floor slabs and beams.
• Prefabricated components and precast concrete ornaments were produced.
• Standardized plans and modularized systems were adopted for building types.

Gabaldon Schoolhouses

• They are mass-produced model schoolhouses designed by William Parsons.
• Key features include elevated floors, huge windows with capiz shutters, and classrooms opening to a hallway adjacent to an open outside area.
• The Davao Municipal Hall and Calape Municipal Building (Bohol) are examples of architecture from this period.

Emergence of Filipino Architects

• The Pensionado Program launched to allow Filipino students to pursue university education in the United States.

First Generation Architects

• Carlos Baretto was the first Filipino architect with an academic degree from abroad as well as the first pensionado.
• Baretto became one of the pioneering staff of the Division of Architecture.
• Antonio Toledo, the architect behind Manila City Hall, was regarded as the master of the Neoclassic style and among the first architect-educators.
• Other work by Antonio Toledo includes the Department of Tourism Building and the Leyte Capitol Building.
• Tomas Mapua, the first registered architect in the Philippines, established the Mapua Institute of Technology in 1925, the first architectural school in the Philippines.
• One of Mapua's works is De La Salle University, Main Building.
• Arcadio Arellano, who designed the Gota de Leche Building in Manila, was the first Filipino to be employed by the Americans as one of their architectural advisors.
• Arellano pioneered in the establishment of an architectural and surveying office in the country with other works including the Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Revolution in Manila.
• Tomas Arguelles designed Heacock's Building and advocated the enforcement of the Building Code of Manila.
• Juan Arellano, who designed the Metropolitan Museum in Manila in the Art Deco style, promoted the shift to proto-modern and nativist phases of Philippine architecture.
• Other works of Juan Arellano included National Museum (formerly the Legislative Building), the Post Office Building, both located in Manila, and also Benitez Hall (Education) and Malcolm Hall (Law), located at UP Diliman.

Second Generation Architects

• Andres Luna de San Pedro was one of the second generation architects.
• Andres Luna de San Pedro's other works include the Regina Building and the Crystal Arcade, both in Manila.
• Luna de San Pedro introduced new architectural forms in the Philippines by incorporating modern and exotic design motifs through the grammar of art deco.
• Pablo Antonio, a National Artist for Architecture, his main work is the FEU Main Building in the Art Deco style.
• Antonio's buildings were characterized by clean lines, plain surfaces, and bold rectangular masses and became president of the Philippine Institute of Architects.
• Other works by Antonio include the Ideal Theater and Galaxy Theater.
• Fernando Ocampo, who designed the Manila Cathedral in the Neo-Romanesque style, used straightforward simplicity, synthesizing traditional designs with art-deco ornaments.
• Ocampo co-founded the UST School of Fine Arts and Architecture in 1930 with one of his works being the UST Central Seminary Building.
• Juan Nakpil, who designed Gonzalez Hall, UP Diliman, was a National Artist for Architecture.
• Nakpil worked largely in the Art Deco style, combining stylized flora and angular forms.
• Other works of Nakpil include Quezon Hall, UP Diliman and the reconstruction and addition of dome and belfry of the Quiapo Church in Manila.

Art Deco

• Eclectic and Classical Deco is a transitional version of art deco: a hybridized style where earlier historical revival styles coexist with elements of art deco, such as the Cebu Capitol Building.
• Zigzag Moderne, where it emanated from the contours formed by "zigzag" or stepped ziggurat and is distinct because of its lavish attention to detail and embellishment, seen in the Metropolitan Theatre.
• Streamlined Moderne is a later phase and variation of the art deco style, sustained by the principle of streamlining achieved with an aerodynamic form with the least wind resistance, exemplified by the FEU Main Building.