Cutting-edge Filipino landscape
The country’s landscape architects recently celebrated their 38th anniversary and 4th National Convention at the Island Cove Resort Complex in Cavite. Organized by the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects (PALA), the theme was, “The Landscape Edge.”
First off, let me clear the general misconception that landscape architects are just garden designers, limited to aesthetic selection of plants. We do design gardens, but essentially landscape architecture is design and site planning in larger and more complicated contexts. Landscape architects design outdoor spaces and settings of all scales, from small private gardens, to large parks and regional landscapes of several hundreds and even thousands of hectares.
Design is the operative word here, and the architecture part of landscape architecture means that practitioners have to take a full university course with great emphasis on technical subjects including site planning and engineering, earth sciences, along with humanities. The practice of landscape architecture is regulated in the Philippines and one has to take a government exam to get a license. It is a specialized field and there are close 400 practitioners in the country.
PALA president Vic Dul-loog spearheaded the hardworking convention team that sought, “convene Filipino landscape architects and partners in the allied professions in two days of discussions on important issues of management of communities and resources, in the light of environmental challenges brought about by climate change.”
The first keynote speaker was Dr. Perry Ong, a noted academic. He is a UP scientist and professor of Wildlife Biology. Dr. Perry reminded the audience of the physical context of the Philippine archipelago and the important role of landscape architects in ensuring sustainable development that is responsive to the realities of climate change.
He focused on the three ‘G’s — Geology, Geography and Geomorpholgy — as the basic fields of knowledge that landscape architects must go back to, as a foundation for their practice. Dr. Ong reminded us all of the tenets of “Design with Nature,” as espoused by noted American academic and landscape architect Ian McHarg, whose seminal work in the ‘60s and ‘70s forms the basis for modern day environmental design and planning.
The other keynote speakers on the first day were Dr. Ma. Victoria Ortega-Espaldon, also a UP scientist and professor at the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) at UP Los Baños, and architect Enrico B. Tabafunda, UP Diliman campus architect and professor at the College of Architecture, UP Diliman.
They spoke respectively on the need for a landscape-based approach to strengthening the capacity for adaptation to climate change, and the potential for collaboration amongst design professionals for large projects like university campuses.
The two days were spent on presentations of papers and workshops involving academics and students from four universities that offer undergraduate and graduate courses in landscape architecture — the University of the Philippines, Bulacan State University, the University of San Carlos in Cebu and the University of San Agustine in Iloilo.
The complexity and reach of landscape architecture can be gauged from a selection of the titles of the papers presented the first day: “An Analysis of the Ecological Structure of Pampanga and the Enhancement of the Biodiversity Potential of Road Corridors in San Fernando City, Philippines,” by Francis E. Ong, “The Cavite-Manila Coastal Road and its Effects on its Surrounding Environment,” by professor Zenaida C. Galingan, “A Selection of Native Coastal Trees for Urban Landscapes,” by Patrick Andrew E. Gozon.
The afternoon sessions had a selection of even more diverse topics including: “Applying Urban Resilience Theory to Flooding in Flood-prone Urban Settlements along the Pampanga River,” by Theresa C. Rivera, and “The PALARO System, a Playground Area Landscape Architecture Rating System,” by Von Gerald Azagra.
I spoke on the second morning on ‘The Conservation of Urban Heritage Spaces,” culling greatly on the material I presented in the recently concluded exhibit on “Plazas of Manila,” sponsored by the Samsung Foundation. Following my talk was a presentation by atty. Lucille Karen Malilong, who expounded on the role of Filipino landscape architects in “the protection, conservation, and rehabilitation of the natural environment to enhance ecological balance and quality of life.” Malilong is head of the National Committee on Monuments and Sites at the NCCA and is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a sponsor of the PALA event.
There were six more presentations the rest of the day, highlighted by a talk by the current director of the National Parks Development Committee, landscape Architect Elizabeth H. Espino. She gave the audience an overview on the revitalization of the Rzial Park. One of the many interesting things she did for the park was to take out the 400 or so ‘Do not step on the grass’ signs that were planted all over. The removal of the signs now makes Rizal Park totally user-friendly.
The success of the PALA national convention is a good sign that the profession of landscape architecture is gaining ground in the country. In today’s reality of climate change, unbridled urban development, and disasters, the profession now takes the lead in design and planning adaptation as well as risk management.
Landscape architects have an important role to play in how we shape the context for architecture, how we configure our cities, and how we prepare to meet the challenges, together with other allied professions, of stewarding the built heritage of our culture and the natural bounty of our islands.
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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.
