Ar. Francisco “ Bobby” Mañosa “The most outspoken champion of Indigenous Filipino Architecture”

Francisco “Bobby” mañosa was born in 1931, in a family of

architects.

He graduated bs architecture in 1953 in University Of Santo Tomas and he passed the board examination for architects in 1954.

He also finished a landscaping course at Tokyo University in Japan

They managed the architectural firm Mañosa Brothers And Associates for over two decades, until he established his own firm, francisco mañosa & partners, with two other architects in 1976.

At an early age, he simply wanted to play piano, his personal vocation. But he yielded to his fathers wishes and pursued a career in architecture.

Bobby had three children with Denise, his wife and travel companion; who are all working now at mañosa & Company Inc., the family´s Architectural firm.

Francisco “dino” jr. – who heads the company´s property development arm and founded mañosa properties inc., the real estate arm of MCI.

Angelo Miguel “Gelo” Mañosa – CEO of the architectural firm,

Mañosa & Co. Inc., and created a name for himself as a proponent of green design. 

Isabel “Bambi” Mañosa - heads Mañosa Interiors, a department of MCI.

Thirty years later, a branding decision to change the firms partnership status turned it into a corporation, Mañosa & Co., Inc.

DEFINING and expressing Filipino culture has been his aspiration throughout his career. In his personal career as an architect spanning more than 50 years, he has made it his crusade to uphold Philippine architecture in his designs. He discovered that Filipino architecture is “richer than the architecture of many, many other countries.” 

His endless fascination with the humble bahay kubo and the bahay na bato and his championing of indigenous materials from the beginning have evolved into the hallmarks of the Mañosa style: sensitivity to climate, a sense of spaciousness and openness, structures harmonizing with the landscape, and a sense of playfulness expressed in such things as a salakot-shaped roof or a beam sculpted like the prow of a Moro vinta.

It is phenomenal that Architect Bobby Mañosa has modernized the humble nipa hut by infusing “today´s design materials and technology” and yet retaining its distinctive design elements.”  To preserve the unique characters of our indigenous arts and crafts, he integrates into his high-tech structures such native materials as bamboo, coconut lumber, thatch, rattan, capiz shell, sawali, banig, ethnic textiles, combined with marble, metal, hardwood, concrete, glass.

He turns down clients who wont take his proposal to use designs inspired by Philippine culture.

According to Mañosa, In spite of the lack of an architect, the nipa hut is designed with a “deep understanding of our living conditions.” He had always believed the “Bahay Kubo” design is the best for our countrys climate.

High-pitched roof allows hot air

to dissipate through

lightweight materials.

Stilts that raise the floor has protected

Filipino families from flood during rainy

season.

Tilted wide windows provide sufficient

ventilation, especially during hot summer days.

On July 16, 2013, the controversy finally ended after the Supreme Court of the Philippines voted 12-1-2 that voided the four proclamations created by former President Gloria Arroyo.

Mañosa was conferred as National Artist on 2009 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. If not for the controversy during the 2009 National Artist proclamation, He would have been the fifth to be National Artist in the Architecture Category along with Juan Nakpil, Pablo Antonio, Leandro Locsin and Ildefonso Santos.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Papal Awardee of the Noble Knighthood of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in September 1982

Recognized by the Professional Regulations Commission as the Most Outstanding Professional of the Year in September 1994

 The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) bestowed upon him the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in the field of Architecture in June 2004

Recipient of the 7th LIKHA Gold Medal Award given by the United Architects of the Philippines in April 2003

One of The Five Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) by the Philippine Jaycee Senate and Insular Life in December 2004

WORKS

The Coconut Palace

“Ang Tahanang Pilipino”The Coconut Palace, also known as Tahanang Pilipino (Filipino Home), is a mansion of the Philippine government on the campus of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in Manila.

The Tahanang Pilipino was intended to express Filipino hospitality, since it has been the guesthouse of personalities including Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, Brooke Shields and George Hamilton. It was also meant to demonstrate that the humble coconut was versatile enough to be transformed into materials suitable for  a luxurious mansion.  

The palace cost 37 million Philippine pesos to build. It is owned by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). 

The Coconut Palace is made of several types of Philippine hardwood, coconut shells, and a specially engineered coconut lumber known as Imelda Madera. 

 In 2011, it became the official residence and principal workplace of the Vice President, Jejomar Binay upon signing of lease contract with a monthly rental fee of P400,000.

Each of the suites on the second floor is named after a specific region of the Philippines and displays some of the handicrafts these regions produce.

The roof is shaped like a traditional Filipino salakot or hat. Some of its highlights are the 101 coconut-shell chandelier, and the dining table made of 40,000 tiny pieces of inlaid coconut shells.

Highlighted as one of the Cultural Center of the Philippines most striking structures for its architecture and interiors, the palace celebrates the coconut as the ultimate “Tree of Life”. From the coconut's roots to its trunk, bark, fruit, flower and shell, the palace's design, form and ornamentation echo these elements

Its design is a perfect marriage between traditional styles, materials and culture with modern living and technology. It upgraded the many uses of indigenous materials in different forms such as shellcraft, stonecraft, bamboocraft, coco craft, rattancraft and woodcraft;

Mañosa Residence

Completed : 1981Location : Ayala Alabang Village

Las Piñas Church

(St. Joseph Parish Church)

Between 1971 and 1975, the church underwent its second restoration by Manosa and Partners, with Architect Ludwig Alvarez.

San Miguel BuildingPasig City (1982)

National Eucharistic Congress Altar

Manila, 1987

Mary Immaculate Parish “Nature

Church”Moonwalk Village, Las Piñas City (1988)

Moonwalk ChurchLas Pinas City

Balai TaalTagaytay, 1991

Mactan Shangri-La Hotel and ResortCebu City, 1993

Pearl FarmSamal Island, Davao

(1994)

Amanpulo ResortPamalican Island, Palawan (1994)

Lanao del Norte Provincial Capitol

Lanao del Norte, 1998

Ateneo Professional SchoolMakati, 2000

Aquino CenterHacienda Luisita, Tarlac (2001)

Eskaya ResortPanglao Island, Bohol (2007)

Luym Residence

Cebu

END.