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THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH A.K.A. THE BAMBOO ORGAN CHURCH

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THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH A.K.A. THE BAMBOO ORGAN CHURCH

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Between 1971 and 1975, Mañosa and partner Ludwig Alvarez restored the Saint Joseph Parish Church, home of the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ, and the surrounding buildings to their 19th-century state under the administration of Rev. Fr. Mark Lesage, CICM, to bring back the 19th-century look of the church and to re-position the main altar to face the people, as required by the new Ecumenical Church

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After the Marcoses were exiled in 1986, Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Archdiocese of Manila began planning a shrine to commemorate the People Power Revolution that ousted them. Cardinal Sin's call for people to unite in the streets was critical in ensuring that the rebellion ended without bloodshed, and the Philippines' overwhelming Catholic majority hailed its accomplishment as a "miracle." As a result, the Cardinal approached Mañosa about creating a shrine to commemorate the event.

Mañosa had originally planned a whole other design for the shrine, one that was above ground and based on the bahay kubo. This design, however, was rejected when "an influential member of the committee" insisted on a Spanish design for the church. Mañosa declined the proposal, sticking to his "I create Filipino, nothing else" principle.

Cardinal Sin persuaded Mañosa to reconsider, so Mañosa returned and created a revised "People's Plaza" design for the real project. In 1989, the EDSA Shrine was finished.

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BREAKTHROUGH: THE SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION BUILDING

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BREAKTHROUGH: THE SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION BUILDING

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Mañosa's breakthrough as an architect occurred while he was still working at Mañosa Brothers, when the firm was hired to build San Miguel Corporation's new headquarters in Mandaluyong. The brothers created a building inspired by the Banaue rice terraces, complete with “green” design elements that were ahead of their time.

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Mañosa's insistence on only taking on projects with a Filipino identity finally led to his departure from Mañosa Brothers and the establishment of his own firm. Because he had made a name for himself by building the San Miguel Corporation headquarters, Imelda Marcos invited him to create the "Tahanang Pilipino," also known as the Coconut Palace, as part of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex.

The project became contentious since the extravagant design was paid for with government funding, and it was quickly referenced as an example of Marcos' Edifice Complex excesses. The palace was finished in time for Pope John Paul II's visit in 1981 for Lorenzo Ruiz's beatification. Mrs. Marcos offered him to stay at the freshly built palace, but the Pope declined because it was too opulent for the Philippines' level of poverty. However, it subsequently became a guest house for the Marcoses' celebrity visitors until they were deposed and exiled by the civilian-backed People Power Revolution in 1986.

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Francisco Mañosa believed that the Philippine climate necessitated tropical architecture with elements that accommodated both the wet and dry seasons. High ceilings, broad windows, low eaves, and overhangs provide shade as well as protection from the sun and rain. Filipino constructions must be able to breathe, with open movement between inner and external areas. Finally, it is about using indigenous materials like bamboo, rattan, coconut shells and trunks, dried anahaw leaves, capiz shells, and volcanic rock.

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Francisco Mañosa & Partners was founded in 1976 by Francisco Mañosa. Here, he was given more leeway to realize his idea of Philippine architecture, which was inspired by the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato. When asked what distinguishes Filipino architecture, he once replied, "Filipino ideals, Philippine climate, and the use of indigenous materials." According to Eric Caruncho's monograph, Designing Filipino, The Filipino values that affected Francisco Mañosa's architecture were love for family, extended family, and its place in the larger social network, not to mention the Filipino's baroque taste and fondness for adornment.

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In 1954, he created the architectural business Mañosa Brothers with two of his brothers, Jose and Manuel, both B.S. Architecture graduates from the same school. The Sulô Restaurant at the Makati Commercial Center (1962), the Hidden Valley Springs Resort, the Makiling Conference Center, the restoration of the Guadalupe Ruins, Colegio San Agustin in Makati, the Murray & Herminia Lopez Otstott Residence in Forbes Park, Makati, and the San Miguel Corporation Corporate Headquarters in Ortigas Center, Pasig City were among the group's notable works (1979).

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When Mañosa returned from Japan, he joined the family architectural firm, Mañosa Brothers, along with his brothers Manuel Jr. and José. However, he began to insist on taking on projects that were uniquely Filipino in design, rather than the Modernist or International style buildings that were popular at the time.

Mañosa created a modern architectural style that drew inspiration from the traditional Filipino square house, the bahay kubo. He employed local resources and experimented with new technology to make it functional in a modern setting.

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Because his father insisted that he spend "at least one year someplace in the world," Mañosa chose to spend a year in Japan, which had also inspired architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

He was struck by how Japanese architecture exhibited a constant design that drew from Japanese culture, regardless of how intricate the structure was or whether it was traditional or modern. His wife Denise, whom he married around this period, recalls that this encounter encouraged Mañosa to seek a design approach that was consistent and expressive of Filipino culture.

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Mañosa devoted his life's effort to establishing a Filipino identity in architecture, promoting design ideas that harken "back to the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato," as well as other traditional vernacular forms. Mañosa became noted for mixing traditional forms and indigenous materials with modern building technology to produce structures that he felt were best suited to the tropical environment of the Philippines.

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Maosa was well-known for his support of "Philippine neovernacular architecture." His design aesthetic utilized Philippine design motifs as well as indigenous materials like coconut and hardwoods.

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Francisco T. Mañosa also known as “Bobby” was the seventh of eight children born on February 12, 1931 in Manila to Manuel Mañosa, Sr., a Harvard-educated Sanitary Engineer who was key in constructing Manila's waterworks system, and Maria Tronqued, a film and stage actress. He grew up on Calle Azcarraga (now C.M. Recto Ave.), where his family lived until moving to suburban San Juan. Mañosa enrolled in the U.S.T. College of Architecture after completing his high school studies at San Beda College, and graduated with a B.S. Architecture degree in 1953.