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Building Imperfection

Concept, Theory and Discourse in the Design of the SDA Building

EDSON CABALFIN
Edson Cabalfin is Assistant Professor in the School of Archi-
tecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati,
teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses for ar-
chitecture and interior design. He is a Design architect for
an international architectural consultancy firm responsible
for projects in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. As an Ar-
chitectural historian, he specializes in 20th century architec-
tures of the Asia and the Pacific, with particular focus on the
Philippines.

From Intent to Translation: The Design Process broadest sense. It is non-traditional in the planning
Architecture begins with an idea. Some ideas are simple sense, as the building almost becomes a compact ver-
while others are complex. Ideas also come from diverse tical campus. Functional activities are stacked in a
sources. Architecture might derive ideas from every- small and narrow site. Connectivity to other floors is
day experiences or from esoteric origins. Whatever the achieved through elevators and stairs. Due to the limi-
case, one needs to act on that idea for architecture to tations of the site, the external corridors had to become
come to reality. Often, only people with vision and cour- the internal “streets.” It is also non-traditional in the
age act on that idea. The College of St. Benilde - School architectural sense as the design needed to be forward-
of Design and Arts (CSB-SDA) building is a perfect ex- looking. Abandoning the predominant neo-classical
ample of how conviction, temerity and bravery are nec- style among the existing DLSU buildings, Calma sought
essary in the actualization of an idea. It would take a to differentiate the new building as an elucidation of
designer with a strong passion for creativity and a pa- the CSB’s vision and commitment to “dynamic and in-
tron with an unwavering commitment to innovation to novative learning.” Innovation, in Calma’s understand-
fully realize the dream of a school of design that leads ing, demanded an approach in design that challenges,
the way in design education and at same time becomes questions and dismantles preconceived notions of ar-
a hallmark of progressive design in the Philippines. chitecture.

For Ed Calma, designer of the SDA building, the pro- What are these traditional notions of architecture that
gram of the building informs the design of the school. Calma wanted to challenge then? For one, Calma has

building critique
Though the brief given by the college was not as clear always been attempting to rethink the idea of archi-
at the start in terms of the amount and type of space, tecture as a box punctured with openings. In lieu of
the intention of the building to be a landmark was al- this, he proposes that architecture be broken down into
ready apparent from the beginning. Calma first ad- planes, surfaces, edges and volumes. By doing so, a wall
dressed the primary function of the building as a school for example is no longer limited to an idea of a rectangu-
that houses the different departments of SDA by ac- lar shape with a window punched through it. Walls, and
commodating all the programs under one roof. Second- subsequently floors and ceilings, are fully moldable and
ly, the program also required spaces and opportunities manipulatable. Walls are not just defined by surfaces,
for interactions and collaborations between the various but can be formed by the juxtaposition of edges and
departments. Calma responded to this requirement by planes. Ceilings are not just merely horizontal surfaces
supplying an array of spaces that function as nodes or that end where the wall begins. The floor can become
spaces of encounters. Spaces and building elements the wall and in turn also become the ceiling. Windows
had to be multi-functional. Walls serve as physical are not necessarily centered on the wall plane. Rather,
boundaries as well as display areas. Corridors are not openings can also be constructed out of the liminal
only passageways but are also points of intersection of spaces left over from intersecting planes and volumes.
students coming from different classes. The theater, for In such a manner, architecture is not a symmetrical and
example, becomes the melding point of collaboration formal composition, but an asymmetric explosion and
between different disciplines. But more importantly, layering of surfaces, voids and planes. In the Pablito
as a design school, the building should also serve as Calma house for example, edges define the zones, while
a teaching instrument for the students. The building the union of planes demarcate the walls and ceilings.
should inspire creativity. Calma’s designs are unpredictable to a certain degree.

In Calma’s mind, for the building to inspire creativity, For the SDA building, Calma’s design for Restaurant 12
the school structure should not be “traditional” in the (R12) admittedly was the starting point. The interior

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was dominated by a series of morphing, twisting and The SDA building is a celebration and elaboration of
folding ribbon loops that move progressively from the folding. Beginning on the street level, finger-like protru-
front to the back of the restaurant. The mezzanine area sions peel away from the road, producing a separation
was created by the succession of continuous bands that between the ingress and egress points into the site. The
link floor, wall and ceiling planes together into a coher- peeling continues further inside the lot, towards the en-
ent whole. The ribbons are fragmented while the overall tryway into the building. Again, strips of concrete are
forms are tortuous. Edges are crisp, while plane connec- raised from the road, creating natural bollards with inte-
tions are articulated. The ribbons that peel from street grated lighting. Much like strips of carpet unraveling, the
to lobby and façade at the SDA building are highly remi- concrete fingers from the outside entryway progresses
niscent of the sequential bands in R12. There is a direct into the lobby and folds up into the ceiling plane. In one
relationship between the restaurant and the school if continuous gesture, people are motioned from the side-
formal manipulation is considered. walk into the lobby through these crawling strips.

But R12 and the SDA building diverge in terms of scale. But the pervasiveness of folding does not end there.
The interior of the restaurant is largely restricted to the The waving finger-like strips that move from the street,
walls surrounding the leasable space. The experience to the entryway, the lobby and to the ceiling now con-
of the person with the interior of the restaurant differs tinue to crawl up the building. At one point, the rib-
greatly from the experience with the school from the bons appear in the interior of the chapel on the upper
street level. The SDA building, on the contrary, is set mezzanine floor. The ribbons create an intimate space,
within a larger urban fabric, with the property lines as almost cavern-like in emotion, similar to the intimacy
the limiting factor. The vertical volume, however, be- created in the R12 restaurant. From the lobby, the rib-
comes the blank palette with which Calma could carve bons protrude out of the glass wall onto the entryway
out the spaces. With 14 floors and a roof deck, at a height but this time elevated far above the pedestrian level.
of about 69 meters, or around 226 feet, the building ar- In this context, the strips meld and fold over the mas-
rogantly stands among its low-rise neighbors. While the sive theater volume, enveloping the space within a skin
restaurant space is intimate, the school structure is de- of aluminum cladding. Jutting out of the building, the
cidedly overwhelming and daunting in size. weight of the theater is held back by the skin that em-
braces it. The aluminum skin again begins to peel away
Folding: Fragments, Shards and Slivers from the top of the theater as ribbons of metal cover
Interpreting the building program through form also in- the top of the building. As the ribbons vary in move-
cluded the articulation of functional requirements via ment and folding, slits of glass between the strips cre-
surfaces, volumes and shapes. For the SDA building, ate opportunities for the sun’s light to pierce through
the primary technique of expressing this conglomera- the opaque skin.
tion of activities is through the idea of “folding.” Fold-
ing in the literal sense means the bending of surfaces Inside the building, folding is particularly articulated on
to create layers and creases. In the last decade, archi- the walls and ceilings of the classrooms and corridors.
tectural theoreticians have taken interest in the writ- Warping around the classroom spaces are origami-like
ings of Gilles Deleuze and his explorations of the idea of planes, with irregular splinters of solid and transpar-
folding in architecture. Deleuze for example considers ent surfaces. As the walls are skewed and slanted,
the folding in baroque architecture as the disengage- odd spaces appear between the shards. Some of these
ment of the façade and the exterior from the interior. shards become viewing windows into the classrooms or
Recent architectural projects that explore the concept clerestory windows on top of the walls. At times, the
of folding are demonstrated by Diller and Scoffidio’s in- walls disengage from the ceiling as solid parts meld
teriors for the Brasserie Restaurants in New York where into transparent glass panels. In other cases the walls
the floor plane becomes the wall plane that eventually become the ceiling. The ceiling planes, like the walls,
morph into the ceiling surface; and Frank Gehry’s con- are also skewed and twisted. The stark white ceilings
voluted forms and layered surfaces, such as those seen at first glance seem severe. But upon closer inspection,
in the Disney Symphony Hall and Guggenheim Bilbao, the changing folds and fragments of the ceiling planes
which bend surfaces into distorted planes. Other mani- create variations in patterns through the interchange
festations of folding appear in the works of Morphosis of light and shadow. In an almost chiaroscuro effect, the
and Eric Owen Moss where the creases generate frag- deviations of shade among the fragmented planes cre-
mented surfaces and volumes. From jagged surfaces to ate depth and interest in a predominantly white envi-
disfigured solids, folding affords new means of commu- ronment.
nicating architectural form and experiences.
The feeling while walking along the corridors and class-
Concurrently, folding destabilizes common notions of rooms is both energetic and uneasy. The interiors are
walls, ceilings and floors as always being in an orthogo- energetic because the volumes created within are unex-
nal relationship or having 90-degree corners. Folding pected and unpredictable. As each floor features a dif-
also undermines the separation of the wall, ceiling and ferent configuration from the next one, the experience
floor surfaces as distinct entities, and instead blurs on each level is not necessarily the same. It is also un-
the distinction between them. Moreover, bending and easy due to the somewhat erratic nature of the planes.
creasing surfaces render planes not only in terms of The jagged edges and acute angles present a challenge
continuous flat surfaces but also into fragments, shards whenever furniture is introduced into the rooms. The
and slivers, often containing acute and obtuse angles. spaces are equally exciting and stimulating, while being
In doing so, distortion, skewing, twisting and warping tense and anxious at the same time.
become the primary modes of generating architectural
form and spaces.

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The Urban Lantern: Transparency and Permeability Seemingly hovering over the houses and low-level
From afar, the building glows brilliantly amidst the dark buildings in the neighborhood, the external skin is a
night sky. It stands in stark contrast to its environment. dramatic play between opaque and transparent layers.
The SDA building is akin to a Japanese lantern primarily In some areas, the skin is close to the skeletal frame of
because of its crisp horizontal lines and almost trans- the building, while in other parts, the skin peels away
parent skin. But the building can be construed as more to reveal openings and incisions on the exterior. The
of an “urban lantern” illuminating the Manila skyline. strips of opaque aluminum skin on the floating theater,
In a way, it serves as a beacon to the surrounding area, for example, incrementally unwrap itself from the top
a landmark that serves as point of reference in orient- of the main volume, which in turn creates intersti-
ing oneself in the city. Figuratively, providing “light” to tial spaces that become pocket windows. Still on the
the neighborhood might mean that the building can southern façade, the transparent glass louvers open up
also potentially serve as a catalyst for urban renewal like scales, allowing natural ventilation and illumination
in the area. The introduction of a landmark building in to enter the building.
the area, much like the effect of building Frank Gehry’s
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, can contribute Yet one cannot help but think about the inherent
immensely to the urban regeneration of the area. As an contradictions in its permeability: the juxtaposition
iconic architecture, the building can in fact contribute of opaque and transparent surfaces creates a visual
to the influx of tourism in the university and commu- “hide and seek” game where some parts of the building
nity, as it becomes a tourist destination in itself. One are consciously exposed, while other segments are in-
cannot deny the inextricable relationship of architec- tentionally concealed. Not everything is made known
ture and tourism. to the public. While it is also true that the permeable
skin allows you to access it visually, it really prevents
In another sense, the urban lantern reveals the inner you from completely engaging in the building. Since
workings of the building. Much like Renzo Piano and it is only people who can afford to pay the school’s ma-
Norman Foster’s Pompidou Center in Paris, France, the triculation fee and therefore can use the space and the
internal activities of the building are not hidden. In school’s services directly, the accidental passerby on the
fact, the interior activity of the building is celebrated street level can only imagine what it feels like to be in
by placing the public corridors outside. While it is the such a space. Not everybody is allowed to engage with
utility systems (such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC) it directly. Though its skin is permeable in principle, it
that are revealed at the Pompidou Center, it is the dy- still serves as a visual and social filter simultaneously.
namic flow of people that is divulged at the SDA build-
ing through its permeable skin. If the façade lacks any Labeling: Modernist or Deconstructivist?
ornamentation, it is the movement of people that acts It is quite difficult to place the SDA building within a
as patterns on an otherwise austere exterior. stylistic category. On the one hand, the building seems
This permeability also allows the viewer from the street to follow modernist attitudes in its conception and ar-
to access the building. Subsequently, the person in the ticulation. If we are to use Philip Johnson and Henry
building is permitted to engage with the outside. Here, Russel Hitchcock’s canonical definition of “modern ar-
the demarcation between the inside and the outside is chitecture” during the 1932 Museum of Modern Art ex-
blurred. Furthermore, the transparent skin establishes hibition on “The International Style,” the SDA building
a connection between the school and the rest of the city seems to fit comfortably within the category. Unde-
through the vista that is afforded on the upper floors. niably, the building features unornamented surfaces,
It is not an introverted building, made possible by the emphasizes volume rather than mass, gives primacy
external corridors and the various vantage points gen- on regularity rather than symmetry and focuses on the
erated from the slits and peeling layers. tectonic qualities of the structure through its material

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articulation, which all point to the modernist ideal. The But is it possible that the building can be both a mod-
stark whiteness of its surfaces devoid of any ornamen- ernist expression and a deconstructivist experiment at
tation, in itself a hallmark of the modernist response to the same time? This hybridity can only be understood
the Victorian ostentatious spectacle of decorations, is if we abandon the idea of the building as having a par-
quite apparent in the overall formal approach in the SDA ticular architectural style. The approach in designing
building. Calma’s color palette for the entire building, the building, as Ed Calma explains, is generated from
except for few areas, is quite limited to a white and gray the program of the school. While the original intent of
schema. The regularity of the form is not dependent the late Brother Andrew Gonzales was to maintain the
on the creation of a symmetrically balanced structure, overall neo-classic temperament among the university
but rather derives the rhythmic movement through the buildings (a style that was begun by Tomas Mapua in his
consistency of folding and fragmentation. design of then main De La Salle College in the 1930s) Ed
Calma approached the building not as an extension of
On the other hand, the building can be reasonably clas- an architectural style but a celebration of the building
sified under a more deconstructivist attitude. Decon- program. The functional activities, the relationship of
struction in architecture, an approach following the the departments and the primary role of the building
ideas of French philosopher Jacques Derrida, has been as a didactic instrument all informed the form genera-
promoted by such architectural luminaries as Peter Ei- tion of the school. It then becomes not as an exercise in
senman, Bernard Tschumi, Zaha Hadid, Morphosis and historical revivalism but more importantly a practice of
Eric Owen Moss, which in the last decade have not only innovation for the university.
received much attention but also has been considerably
concretized through actual built commissions. Decon- The SDA building at one point was dubbed as the “im-
struction contests the idea of meaning as being homog- perfect building” by Ed Calma. One can definitely asso-
enous and instead attempts to uncover the underlying ciate the design process as not necessarily perfect. In
inconsistencies and contradictions of meanings within fact, the design process was accidental to a certain ex-
a text. tent. Calma intimated the origin of the folded and frag-
mented surfaces of R12 as the result of a book crashing
Formalistically, deconstructivist architecture challeng- the scale model of the interiors. The actual production
es the highly orthogonal system of modernist archi- was also not perfect because of the challenges faced by
tectures by emphasizing fragmented and acute angles the construction team. Structural and constructional
of forms. The Platonic forms of the cube and sphere details were a not fully realized by contractors due to
are distorted and warped to generate new experiences its technical difficulty. We can begin to understand
of space and place. The SDA building, in this context, the imperfection of the structure not because it hasn’t
follows the deconstructivist mode. The folding of sur- reached a form of perfection or ideal state, but rather
faces creates non-orthogonal contours that challenge the building should be understood as in flux. Continu-
traditional notions of walls, ceilings, doors and windows. ally changing and adapting to future users, the building
Whereas, we know of walls as vertical and ceilings as is not yet finished. Different people will interpret the
horizontal, the continual shifting and splintering of wall building in varying ways. Different users will appropri-
and ceiling planes into shards subvert these notions. ate the spaces differently. Different experiences and
The floor plate also shifts and morphs on each level, cre- memories will be created as time advances. In a way
ating unique room configurations on each floor. the SDA building can never be finished and therefore
can never reach a level of perfection.

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To the idea of the SDA building as a “building that
teaches” we should ask the question “to whom does it
teach?” Ostensibly the building is a school for the SDA
students, but in the long run the building will become
a testament to the idea of architecture as a didactic
instrument to Philippine society in general. The impact
of the design to the De La Salle University and the im-
mediate neighborhood might be directly palpable now,
but the implications to the design community, the ar-
chitecture profession, and the educational system are
yet to be seen. The new SDA building contributes to
Philippine architectural discourse by challenging widely
accepted notions and opening unexplored avenues of
expression. As the building investigated new concepts
and ideas in architecture, it will become a new standard
in expressing vision and intent. Through its conceptual
rigor and coherence, the school building will undoubt-
edly become a critical watershed in the history of Philip-
pine architecture.

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