Steward of the land

I ldefonso Paez Santos Jr. — National Artist for Architecture, Design and its Allied Arts — passed away last Jan. 29. Recognized as the father of the art and profession of landscape architecture in the Philippines, he and a handful of landscape architects pioneered the little-known specialty and pushed for its acceptance starting in the ‘60s.

In the last 50 years, Filipino landscape architects, many of who were former students or protégés of IP, have offered correctives to the blight of our urban and rural realities. Private gardens were the first products but the art of molding the landscape evolved to address a larger, more varied scale of needs.

A green oasis fashioned from the old Paco cemetery, the picturesque vignettes at the Nayong Pilipino, themed gardens at the Luneta (including one for the blind — which sadly, is now a Jollibee) park-like settings for those laid to eternal rest, verdant mountain and beach resorts, sports complexes and public sculpture-filled pedestrian malls; these were all welcome innovations that set a new standard for outdoor space in the country.

In his five decades of creative work, IP has authored public and private spaces — landscapes and cityscapes in hundreds of locations — not only in the Philippines but also in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Middle East.

Part of Santos’ creative flair is genetic. He was the son of Ildefonso Santos, renowned Filipino educator and poet. Instead of colorful words that his father used, IP used lawns, shrubs, palms and trees. Instead of lines, IP used meandering walks and balmy esplanades. Instead of stanzas, IP created shaded outlooks, welcoming courtyards and vibrant plazas. IP’s poetic designs are enjoyed across a whole range of dimensions — from tropical haiku in small pocket parks and gardens, to whole landscape narratives for city districts, sprawling resorts and colorful mixed-use developments.

As a young boy in Malabon, IP’s playground was the idyllic landscape of a small bayside town. Here he developed a love for nature, which he expressed through drawing skills inspired by the work of Francisco Coching and Botong Francisco.

In 1949, IP took a pre-medicine course to satisfy his father’s wishes but felt drawn to architecture — since it involved no courses in anatomy or dissection. At the UST he bloomed in the graphic arts and in building design. He found role models in famous architects, inspired by stories of their passion for creating iconic structures and their keen fashion sense.

He pursued further education in the United States. There he discovered the art of landscape architecture, which he saw was essential to creating beautiful and functional places. After graduation, he worked in the new field, improving his craft, and eventually deciding he had enough to take home.

Establishing himself back in Manila in 1962 was difficult. Few had heard or appreciated landscape architecture. People were confused and thought he was just a glorified gardener — not the designer of outdoor spaces with an understanding of architecture, horticulture, site engineering, and planning. He took every opportunity to correct the misconception by writing and giving talks to anyone who would listen.

Clients soon warmed up to his ebullient personality, his design flair and his snappy attire. It helped that his first projects also made an impact, proving his point that a well-designed landscape did create places that pleased both the eye of users and the bottom line of developers.

IP developed a tropical landscape architecture style that created spaces enhanced by the use of endemic plant materials, local stone, wood, and wrought metal, all in what he called a “studied casualness” that made it distinct from cold western design.

IP also added substance and soul to his creations by providing lyrical settings for the sculptural works of National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Abdulmari Asia Imao and Arturo Luz along with thewho’s who of Philippine sculpture like Orlina, Castrillo, Caedo, Saprid, Mendoza, and Fernandez.

He also collaborated with a generation of Filipino architects, with whom he helped reshape the physical form of our contemporary lives: Locsin, Arguelles, Formoso, Ramos, Bautista, Villarosa and Coscolluela. What would their structures be without the proper foreground created by IP Santos?

IP’s contributions extend to education. He played a key role in establishing the first programs for landscape architecture at the UP. It is now offered in two more universities: Bulacan State University and San Carlos University in Cebu.

The best way to learn the art was under the master himself — as I, and many others, did. He was generous in sharing his knowledge and experience. He allowed apprentices and young landscape architects to grow quickly by throwing them into the deep end, forever assuming that we had the potential and the intelligence to carry out tasks and create on their own. His trust and encouragement drove many of us to learn quickly — and to keep on learning by providing opportunities to travel and by generous access to his library of images, periodicals and books on landscape architecture and related design — most of which now have been donated to the UP College of Architecture.

IP Santos has stewarded, not just the land, but also a profession and its first two generations of landscape architects. He was a founding member and first president of the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects.

He was also responsible for enhancing the profession in neighboring Asian countries through the International Federation of Landscape Architects. He also pushed for recognition of landscape architecture by the architectural profession and the government. This eventually led to the Landscape Architecture Law, which regulates the practice of the profession today.   

IP Santos dedicated all of his creative life to mitigating the madness of modern lives — lives that have suffered from increasingly crowded urbanization and the lack of contact with nature. We are indebted to him for the seeds of environmental sanity we now have to sustain.

We all would do well to emulate his passion and continue his good work. There is much to do. We face new challenges: from healing devastated landscapes wrought by natural disasters, to stemming the tide of cultural and professional hegemony brought by a surge of foreign landscape architects as the country opens up to inequitable globalization.

Finally, our collective effort to shape purposeful lives — by purposely shaping our surroundings — would benefit immensely if, as IP Santos has taught us, we learn to live, work and build in harmony with nature.

* * *

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.