Close
  

MAS Context Fall Talks 2022

The Complex and Multifaceted Work of Leandro Valencia Locsin

September 27, 2022 at 12PM

Online talk by Jean-Claude Girard with a response by Geoff Goldberg.

Contributors

<

The largely unknown oeuvre of the Philippine architect Leandro V. Locsin (1928-1994) embodies the search for identity in the built environment. Having completed his studies, Locsin opened his practice in 1953 in the capital Manila which, after the aerial attacks by the Allied forces for the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, had been almost completely destroyed. The reconstruction, as well as technical innovations and favorable political and economic conditions, made it possible for him to design a wide range and large number of projects, including hotels, commercial buildings, churches, cultural venues, and public buildings. His work combines inspiration from modernism with local traditions and comprises a total of 245 projects, of which more than half were completed.

During his talk, architect Jean-Claude Girard, author of the book Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser), discussed the complex and multifaceted work of Leandro Valencia Locsin rooted in the local conditions of the Philippines. Chicago-based architect Geoff Goldberg served as a respondent to the talk.

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin book

You can purchase the book from its publisher or your local bookstore:

→ Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser, 2021).

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin 01

St. Andrew the Apostle Parish Church, Makati, 1967. © Akio Kawasumi.

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin 03

Population Center, Makati, 1972. © Akio Kawasumi.

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin 02

Ayala Museum, Makati, 1974. © Akio Kawasumi.

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin 04

CCP Folk Arts Theater, Pasay, 1974. © Akio Kawasumi.

Mas event 2022 leandro valencia locsin 05

CCP Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibitions, Pasay, 1976. © Akio Kawasumi.

Comments

Contributor Bios

Contributor

Bio

Contact

Jean-Claude Girard

Jean-Claude Girard is a Geneva-based architect. He is the founder of the architecture office Jean-Claude Girard Architecte and a lecturer at the School of Landscape, Engineering, and Architecture (HEPIA) in Geneva. He studied architecture at EPFL and his final project, which dealt with the theme of interreligious sacred space, won the 1998 SIA Prize (first prize for architecture). From 2013 to 2018 he developed a doctoral thesis on the Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPF) in Lausanne under the supervision of Professor Bruno Marchand. In 2021, he published a comprehensive monograph on the works of Leandro V. Locsin titled Leandro Valencia Locsin, Filipino Architect (Birkhäuser).

Geoff Goldberg

Geoff Goldberg has practiced for more than 30 years in Chicago as an architect and urban designer. Along with his own practice, he has taught architectural design and theory at University of Illinois at Chicago for several years. Current focus is on notions of form, particularly the construction and composition of complex shapes, with investigations into the archives of several artists and architects as part of research on the history of form. Work has been done at a variety of scales, from details to managing large urban infrastructure projects in both the public and private sectors. Awards have been received for design, urban planning, and writings on engineering.