Filipino style [antikvár]

4vMM H A P T ateríais from a varied environment come together to iorm tke Filipino visual style: tímter of { g m g Jifferent strengths and colors from tlie forest; stone from ancient lava flows and coastal reefs; m g m leaves and canes from tall grasses; and flat transluceijt skells from warm, shallow waters. In addition, ^ Filipino style fuses together, in a unique manner, traditions from many continents: Southeast Asia, China (Asia), the Americas (Mexico, the USA) and Europe (particularly Spain). This blending of different textures and traditions recalls the quintessential Filipino soup: s'migang. This clear soup comhines ve getati es, such as swamp cahhage or mustard leaves; onion slices; sometimes, taro cuhes; and always chunks of either fish, pork, or heef. Its defining flavor, a slight sourness, comes from mashed green tamarinds, tomatoes, or guavas. The fine aroma gives a hint of fish sauce. At one level, the soup evokes ponds, farms, gardens, orchards. On another level it evokes continents. Soups made slightly sour with green tamarinds are found throughout Southeast Asia. So is fish sauce. On the other hand guavas and chihs came to the Philippines from Mexico, while our fondness for cooking with tomatoes suggests not only Spanish-American hut also Mediterranean influences. Until modern technologies created the temporary illusion that the environment could he ignored, architects paid attention to the precise configuation of wind, light, water and topography. A look at the geography of the Philippines is thus important to determine its inil uence on architecture. Most countries are located on one of the immense continental land masses. The Philippines is an archipelago made up of many islands (over 7,000) and where the sea is a familiar presence in daily life. Three seas surround the Philippine Islands: the South China Sea, the Celebes Sea, and the vast Pacific Ocean. The islands vary in size and composition. Some islands are coral atolls peeping from hlue waters. Other islands are large land masses that were spewed hy volcanoes and are now watered hy rivers running to the sea. Mountains take up much of the island space, leaving little room for plains, except in Central Luzon and western Mindanao. River valleys are narrow and short. Some mountains are active volcanoes, for the Philippines sits on tectonic plates that press against each other as part OÍA e Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire. Earthquakes, of differing strengths, are thus frequent. The Philippines, heing in the tropics, are warm throughout most of the year. There are tliree seasons. From March to May the weather is dry and temperatures can soar to an intense, humid 31 "C. In June, moist winds sail in from a different direction: from the southwest, from the Indian Ocean, hearing rain. By November, the rains peter out; dry cold winds from Siberia visit until February and can lower the temperature to 20 ° C. However, the temperature in the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon, where the summer capital,Baguio, is located, is uniformly temperate throughout the year, at a cool I9°C. Rain is abundant in most parts of the islands. Indeed, on the eastern seaboard, rainfall pours throughout the year. Typhoons are unwanted visitors—originating from the east, in the Pacific, between July and November, they race diagonally at more than 118 kilometers per hour, from southeast to northeast, causing destruction in eastern Visayas and Luzon. Wood, grasses and seashells are favorite Philippine building materials. Where the dry season is short, dense rainforests grow and yield red and white Philippine mahogany. Other forests produce the molave which, when aged, can break a saw; and the narra which is fragrant and ranges in color from reddish-yellow to dark red. The pine stands of the Cordillera provide another fine wood. On the lower slopes of mountains and on flatlands, the vegetation changes from trees to palms and grasses. Some palms, such as the coconut, provide material for houseposts and thatch; others, such as the anahaw, the fan-shaped buri, and the swamp-dwelling nipa, are excellent for thatch. Rattan, a creeping palm, is used for bent furniture and for lashings. Among the grasses, the pliant bamboo can be used to An exuberant mural portrays the Go J Jess of the Harvest heing offered tribute hy the folk-fig ures of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao-representing the Philippines' three main island groups. The ceiling painting of this house in Malolos, Bulacan, was designed hy the homeowner-to complement the four caryatids mounted on the house's façade. construct almost all houseparts, including the roof. Thin-stemmed elephant grass makes good thatch. Th( le warm seas