Yet again, another iconic structure faces the wrecker's ball, as it were. The Benguet Center, which used to be the headquarter of Benguet Consolidated Mining Corporation, prominently situated at the corner of Julia Vargas Street and ADB Avenue in Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong CIty - designed by no less than the National Artist for Architecture, Leandro Locsin, is presently being demolished. This landmark building, sequestered by the PCGG, was bought by Equitable/PCI Bank, and was later acquired by Banco de Oro. Reportedly, the new Banco de Oro Headquarter is proposed to be constructed on this site.
Clearly, the major consideration here is to maximize the use of this prime piece of real estate in this part of the city - to be able to build even more high-rise towers in order to gain even more revenues. And this is done with utter disregard for the heritage value of the building that is being demolished. Did it ever occur to them that maybe it would be worthwhile to preserve this building and consider its adaptive re-use? Or did they even consider to construct the new towers in the vacant lots nearby to spare it from being demolished? Sadly, the preservation of notable architectural works and heritage structures takes the back seat when the dynamics of economics takes center stage once again. Let's just hope the San Miguel Building, which is a fine example of green and sustainable architecture designed by another National Artist for Architecture, Francisco Manosa, across the street will not suffer the same fate.
The Benguet Center is a fine example of Brutalism, the architectural style that fluorished in the 1960s and 1970s, that was derived from the architecture of Le Corbusier which is characterized by massive, monumental, monolithic forms, usually of poured concrete with raw surfaces devoid of exterior decoration and at times show patterns of the rough wood formwork used in casting the concrete (béton brut, i.e. raw concrete). This building, like most structures designed and constructed in this style, is suggestive of a massive sculpture - with large swathes of horizontal bands of concrete slabs interspersed by vertical concrete blocks in varying heights faced with roughly hewn dark Benguet stones that convey a stark and austere rectilinearity.
The Benguet Center, shown at the bottom left quarter of the photograph, beside St. Francis Square, is dwarfed by the recent high-rise development in the vicinity.
The modernist metal cube sculpture at the entrance, created by National Artist for Visual Arts, Arturo Luz, complements the massive sculptural form of the building.
The hapless building being brutally massacred by a backhoe a la Ampatuan.
Why don't they just blast the building in one go in order to spare it from piecemeal disfiguration? It's akin to prolonging the agony.
Reportedly, this is the exterior perspective of the Banco de Oro Headquarter that is proposed to be constructed on this site. Somebody commented that the towers look like giant drill bits. Might it be possible that the adjacent Podium be part of the new re-development and become, well, a podium for one of the towers?
The proposed towers seem to have an uncanny resemblance to the Turning Torso designed by Santiago Calatrava in Malmo, Sweden and
the Infinity Tower designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Note: All the pictures here were taken from various websites.
Thanks to the unnamed photographers.
27 February 2011
Clearly, the major consideration here is to maximize the use of this prime piece of real estate in this part of the city - to be able to build even more high-rise towers in order to gain even more revenues. And this is done with utter disregard for the heritage value of the building that is being demolished. Did it ever occur to them that maybe it would be worthwhile to preserve this building and consider its adaptive re-use? Or did they even consider to construct the new towers in the vacant lots nearby to spare it from being demolished? Sadly, the preservation of notable architectural works and heritage structures takes the back seat when the dynamics of economics takes center stage once again. Let's just hope the San Miguel Building, which is a fine example of green and sustainable architecture designed by another National Artist for Architecture, Francisco Manosa, across the street will not suffer the same fate.
The Benguet Center is a fine example of Brutalism, the architectural style that fluorished in the 1960s and 1970s, that was derived from the architecture of Le Corbusier which is characterized by massive, monumental, monolithic forms, usually of poured concrete with raw surfaces devoid of exterior decoration and at times show patterns of the rough wood formwork used in casting the concrete (béton brut, i.e. raw concrete). This building, like most structures designed and constructed in this style, is suggestive of a massive sculpture - with large swathes of horizontal bands of concrete slabs interspersed by vertical concrete blocks in varying heights faced with roughly hewn dark Benguet stones that convey a stark and austere rectilinearity.
The Benguet Center, shown at the bottom left quarter of the photograph, beside St. Francis Square, is dwarfed by the recent high-rise development in the vicinity.
The modernist metal cube sculpture at the entrance, created by National Artist for Visual Arts, Arturo Luz, complements the massive sculptural form of the building.
The hapless building being brutally massacred by a backhoe a la Ampatuan.
Why don't they just blast the building in one go in order to spare it from piecemeal disfiguration? It's akin to prolonging the agony.
Reportedly, this is the exterior perspective of the Banco de Oro Headquarter that is proposed to be constructed on this site. Somebody commented that the towers look like giant drill bits. Might it be possible that the adjacent Podium be part of the new re-development and become, well, a podium for one of the towers?
The proposed towers seem to have an uncanny resemblance to the Turning Torso designed by Santiago Calatrava in Malmo, Sweden and
the Infinity Tower designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Note: All the pictures here were taken from various websites.
Thanks to the unnamed photographers.
27 February 2011
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