Bobby Mañosa, national artist for architecture, 88

MANILA, Philippines — National Artist for Architecture Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa died yesterday after a lingering illness, just eight days after his 88th birthday.

He was named National Artist last year, among the latest batch to be conferred the award and the first under the Duterte administration.

Mañosa was considered one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, described as the Father of Philippine neovernacular architecture by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Among his notable works were Sulo Hotel, Coconut Palace, EDSA Shrine, Davao Pearl Farm and Amanpulo resorts.

According to Wikipedia, his breakthrough came with the San Miguel Corp. headquarters in Ortigas Center, designed when he was still part of the Mañosa Brothers architecture firm. The building was reportedly inspired by the Banaue rice terraces.

“Mañosa devoted his life’s work to creating a Filipino identity in architecture, advocating design philosophies that harken ‘back to the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato,’ and other traditional vernacular forms,” Wikipedia said.

He became known for combining such traditional forms and indigenous materials with modern building technology to create structures he felt were best suited to the country’s tropical climate.

The CCP said “intuitively he pioneered a sustainable architecture, way before this environmental design movement broke ground in the Philippines.”

The architect, the son of an actress and a sanitary engineer, was a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas and grew up in the neighborhood of Azcarraga Street, later renamed CM Recto.

Mañosa originally wanted to become a jazz pianist but shifted to architecture on the instance of his father. After graduation he spent a year in Japan, which had also stirred the imagination of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The wake starts today at the Heritage Park. Necrological services are scheduled Sunday at the CCP before burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at noon. He is survived by his wife Denise and children Bambi, Dino and Gelo.