Bespoke Standardization and Placemaking Undefined: Pangasinan Barangay Center by Buensalido+Architects

In the stolid landscape of Philippine civic architecture, risk-averse guidelines and unimaginative government designers too often churn out unremarkable, sometimes downright unattractive structures. However, Congressman Toff De Venecia, representative of the fourth district of Pangasinan and known advocate for the Philippine creative industries, has taken a bold swing at the monotonous face of his district’s government buildings.

As the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) began constructing barangay centers in his district, De Venecia swiftly enlisted Buensalido+Architects to revitalize and infuse the nondescript structures with life and local identity, pronto.

The congressman had previously worked with Buensalido + Architects on the successful Biker’s Den, a hub for the flourishing biking community in San Fabian, Pangasinan. He was familiar with the firm’s work culture and values and knew they would approach the potentially prickly problem of revising DPWH work with sensitivity.

Faced with restrictive governmental mandates and pocket-tight budgets and required to hew closely to DPWH’s plans and layouts, B+A crafted an ingenious response: the Pangasinan Barangay Center—a hybrid design approach marrying the standard core with a vibrant, culturally resonant exterior. B+A’s blueprint melds standard with bespoke. The core of each barangay center maintains uniformity, while a culturally resonant second skin is draped over it—a testament to Pangasinan’s rich fishing heritage.

De Venecia, who had already cut the ribbon at a few newly constructed DPWH-designed barangay centers last year, was ecstatic after Jason Buensalido and his team presented their solution a few months later. “Oh my gosh, guys! I’m so excited! This has got me excited!” Buensalido recounts the congressman’s reaction. “So now he wants the new designs implemented right away.”

There’s more at stake in the success of De Venecia’s project than merely replacing drab DPWH designs with distinctive barangay centers.

The Pangasinan representative, who authored the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act, has introduced a bill pressing for mandatory architectural input in local government units. The project’s success could serve as a compelling argument for his bill. And if enacted, the law could well start a ground-breaking shift in the Philippine architectural landscape.

The Pangasinan Barangay Center project, under De Venecia’s ambitious patronage and B+A’s innovative guidance, is not just about constructing community hubs. It’s a war cry for architects in the public sphere, a call to arms for the creative industry to reshape the face of government-led design.

A win at the World Architecture Festival 2023 stage would give the Pangasinan Barangay Center project an international nod of approval, validating Buensalido + Architects’ philosophy and De Venecia’s advocacy, and encouraging other local government units to think beyond the conventional when it comes to public infrastructure.

Pangasinan Barangay Center

Project description provided by Buensalido + Architects

A Specific Sense of Place.

The barangay serves as the smallest and oldest unit of government in the Philippines, dating back to the first settlers who migrated in groups through balangay boats. To this day, the barangay system puts emphasis on small clusters of autonomy, allowing close-knit communities to develop their own culture and set of rules that ironically contributes to a division and lack of consistency in the larger scale of politics. This disparity leaves its traces in the design of barangay centers that are often designed barebones to maintain some sort of status quo and convey a sense of order rather than creativity.

The local government of Pangasinan, one of the most culturally diverse provinces, recognized the challenge and tasked us to ‘standardize’ these structures to meet the needs and aspirations of its people. This initiative spans the fourth district, consisting of five municipalities that can be further broken down into 140 barangays in total. This poses a predicament that is much more nuanced—how do we standardize these centers for an entire province, while localizing it per barangay?

Standardized yet Bespoke.

Owing to the project’s parameters and unique requirements, flexibility is prioritized in the design. We began by adjusting the pre-approved plans to ensure optimal spacing, accessibility, and even ventilation. Openings have been modularized for scalability and versatile climate response. Rounded bricks will now form the main body of the structure for several reasons. It is sustainable, production can be localized, and its curved undulation suggests waves in the ocean, a familiar scene to the coastal community and one that also complements the most significant element of this project—a participatory second skin façade.

For the Pangasinense.

Because concepts are best derived from context and context here is ambiguous, we look to the bigger picture of Pangasinan to inspire the skin design. The province is known for its thriving fishing industry born from its 170-kilometer-long coastline and the 28 major rivers it harbors. Hence, the undulating panels of the façade are designed to allude to a school of fish swimming in unison.

Roughly half of the facade is porous, consisting of either blank frames or planters, while the remainder are solid canvases that exhibit local art.

With the Pangasinense.

The design of the solid canvases is crowd-sourced in a multitude of ways. One, the barangay may choose from hundreds of unique pattern iterations generated through algorithmic code. Second, the solid panels shall be painted with designs from local artists selected through the launch of local art competitions.

After analyzing the tonality of many indigenous weaving patterns, a 30-20-10 split was deemed optimal for the winning entries. This participatory approach doesn’t just surrender a portion of the design to people who know most about the locality, but it also heightens the care people have for these buildings as they are made part of the process.

Interview with Jason Buensalido and team

Joining B+A design ambassador Jason Buensalido at the interview were Nikki Buensalido, VP for civic affairs, culture, and human resources; Ems Eliseo, VP for operations and associate architect; Cholo Ramirez, lead project architect and associate architect for culture; and Aramis Corullo, junior architect and lead design coordinator for the project.

What was the brief?

The brief was to produce a standard design for three structure types: the two-story barangay center, three-story barangay center, and a barangay hall and multipurpose court. Some barangays would need just one structure, others would need a group of buildings in a cluster.

Pangasinan Barangay Center projects actually have a standard design by the DPWH, which they began rolling out last year. But Congressman Toff de Venecia, being the champion of the creative industry, he wanted to take a different route, kind of a proof-of-concept that all of our government facilities shouldn’t be designed only by the DPWH but be designed instead by an architect-slash-designer, and fueled by creativity, something he’s been championing the past few years.

We have a past project with him, the Bikers’ Den, which sparked the upliftment of the area where it was built. It developed and supported a community specific to the area. And then mom-and-pop businesses started popping up around it. It was evidence of architecture as a catalyst of positive change. So, he tapped us again to do the same in this project.

You had to compromise with DPWH plans. Could you expound on the limitations?

The challenge was to improve the plan, the character, functionality, and sustainability of the DPWH plans but with the least revision as possible, because the budget had already been set and the government contractors had to be able to implement the new design without our oversight.

The catch is, there was no site specified. The standardized plans would have to be applicable to every site in Pangasinan’s fourth district (to start with, at least). So, we said, okay, fine. Let’s respect the DPWH floorplans. Let’s respect the layouts.  Now how do we optimize the design to lower the costs, so that we can have the budget to localize and hopefully customize the design to each municipality? Any revision requiring additional costs would require a new set of approvals and delay the project.

So, how did you do it?

First, we broke down the architecture of the structure into three parts—body, bones, and skin—to make it easier to analyze and strategize.

The DPWH two-storey building has a small porch, a transitory space before you enter. We enlarged the porch, creating a new space for the constituents without introducing more costs. We did the same on the second floor, introducing a balcony that affords building users an extension of the interiors with ambience of the outdoors.

We integrated storage; we changed and standardized all the windows, using jalousies to bring in as much light and air as possible. We streamlined the roofing mass into a simple rectangular shape. Standardization is essential to lower costs, right? Like in housing, building a thousand houses of a few set designs costs much less than building a thousand houses of a thousand different designs. The skin is where customizability, and therefore, localization, comes in. All parts of the building—body, bones, and skin—have modular components. We systemized project delivery. Because the brief was for them not to need us. So, we developed a manual that details the step-by-step process of construction and customization.

How is the skin bespoke?

The façade is composed of a structural grid supporting panels, some of which double as planters. These planters are strategically located in areas easily accessible for watering and trimming the plants.

The façade strikes a balance between solid and porous, with a 60-40 ratio. It features a color scheme split into 30% mid-tone, 20% light-tone, and 10% dark-tone (the remaining 40% being porous). These proportions were determined through a study of the color distributions in 25 indigenous Philippine weaves, revealing the 30-20-10 split as the most prevalent color distribution.

As for the shape of the panels, we drew inspiration from Pangasinan’s staple industries. The resulting diamond-shaped grid resembles patterns seen in local activities like salt mining, agriculture, brickwork, weaving, and fishing. In fact, the grid, when viewed from afar, resembles a fish net pattern, and when seen in 3D, looks like a school of fish—a playful nod to what the province is famous for.

A serendipitous choice! And the patterns on the panels?

The panels function as brise soleil. They are also a canvas for the barangay to communicate ideas and ideals. We wanted the patterns adorning the skin to tell a story born out of Pangasinan, specifically, the municipalities of the fourth district. So we extracted the colors of each of the seals of the districts of Dagupan, Manauag, Mangaldan, San Fabian, and San Jacinto.

To ensure a coherent design across the façade, we suggest sticking to just three pattern options. These patterns will be chosen through an art competition, currently being set up by Congressman Toff’s office. The ideal scenario is to have the winning design created by a local Pangasinan artist. The barangay could choose either one artist to design all three panels or three different artists, each designing one panel.

We strongly advise that the designs incorporate elements of Pangasinan’s folk art, reflecting the local culture. Also, it’s essential that the winning artwork is simple enough to replicate. This way, the barangay members can actively participate in painting the panels themselves, fostering community involvement.

What are you taking with you to Singapore, and what do you hope to bring home from WAF 2023?

Aramis Corullo Oh, I’m bringing reviewers with me because I’ll be taking my licensure in January! And to take home? Well, the only thing better than one award is two! (Laughter)

Cholo Ramirez I’ll carry with me the pride and dedication of everyone who contributed to the project. More than just winning, I’m excited for the wealth of experience WAF has to offer. It’s a unique learning opportunity, listening to how people in other countries and contexts approach their challenges and learn from them.

Ems Eliseo I bring home the same thing every year, actually—the enriching experience of WAF. I am very sure we’ll return bursting with fresh ideas to share with the team. What I want to bring to WAF is the core essence of this project. It may be small in scale but huge in its impact on the community, being the first touchpoint citizens have with their government. I want to spotlight the power of such small yet impactful initiatives.

Jason Buensalido Exactly, exactly. I am carrying with me our steadfast belief in the Architecture of Optimism. We’ve been fortunate to see our philosophy bring positive change in our projects time and again. When we insert an assertive piece of architecture that reflects the cultural identity of the locale, it sparks positive change; it triggers a cascade of events that elevate the atmosphere of the place.

For this project, my hope is that each community fully embraces their new barangay center and gives their active involvement in its creation. Their collective sense of pride and ownership—which, fundamentally, all government structures should inspire—would encourage more interactions with it into their daily lives, and hopefully, make them better citizens and neighbors. This, to me, signifies success beyond architectural acclaim.

What to bring home? I won’t say no to bacon!

Nikki Buensalido  I take care of everybody in the office. So, I’ll bring the whole team home! Aside from being on B+A’s Design Board, my priorities are the company’s human resources, civic affairs, and culture. Being shortlisted in the WAF’s Civic and Community category is a validation of our firm’s values and culture and of Cong Toff’s. So, at the WAF, I hope to honor Toff for his tireless advocacy. It’s heartening that his project was shortlisted, something he’s been championing throughout his time in Congress. •

Project Team:

Jason Buensalido
Nikki Boncan-Buensalido
Ems Eliseo
Cholo Ramirez
Aramis Corullo
Migs Razon
Lhouis Lanting
Aaron Espiritu

buensalidoarchitects.com