PROFILE

DOMINIC GALICIA ARCHITECTS

Dominic Galicia Architects is a design-oriented practice whose work has been recognized for its sensitive attention to both concept and detail.

Completed projects include: the new church of St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, better known as Magallanes Church, in Magallanes Village, Makati; The Mondrian Residences, a high-rise condominium in Alabang; Summit School in Fort Bonifacio; the interior design of the chapel of the Archbishop of Manila’s summer retreat house in Mt. Peace, Baguio; the Archbishop’s Chapel in the Arzobispado de Manila, Intramuros; the renovation of the sanctuary at St. Anthony of Padua Parish Church in Singalong, Manila; and the Baptistery at EDSA Shrine.

The Hilado residence in Alabang Hills, completed in 2003, was included in the book “25 Tropical Houses in the Philippines”, published by Periplus Editions (Singapore) in 2005.

One of the firm's first projects, the Adoration Chapel at St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church, was described by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as one of the most beautiful spaces in Metro-Manila (“Architectural Reverence at the New Magallanes Adoration Chapel,” April 2003). Tragically, in September 2004, the parish church, including the Adoration Chapel, burned down. In November 2004, the firm won the competition to redesign the building. In August 2007, Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales of Manila led the rites of consecration for the newly-completed church.

Current projects include The Picasso, high-end boutique serviced residences in Makati; private week-end houses in Batangas and Cavite; the interior design of the Parish Church of St. Benedict in Ayala Westgrove Heights, Silang, Cavite, and of a three-bedroom apartment in One Serendra, Fort Bonifacio; and the proposed new church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in St. John Vianney Compound, Hinulugan Taktak, Antipolo. The firm has also been a consulting architect to the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros.

Dominic Galicia obtained his professional degree in architecture in 1988 from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, where he was a Notre Dame Scholar. In June 2005, he received a University of Notre Dame Distinguished Asian Pacific Alumni Award. He also studied architecture for a year at Notre Dame's campus in Rome, and pursued graduate studies in architecture at Pratt Institute in New York.

Before forming Dominic Galicia Architects in Manila, he worked in New York for ten years, covering most aspects of architectural design and construction, as well as high-end retail, institutional and residential interior design. He is a licensed architect in both New York State and the Philippines.

Although a modernist by philosophy, he is deeply concerned with the preservation of historic architectural sites. He has served as Vice President of the Heritage Conservation Society, sits on its Advisory Council, and represents it on the Executive Council of the National Committee on Monuments and Sites of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Lamp

The circle glows in the center of the square. It is a concavity, carved out from the plane, although it appears as a globe that floats in front of the plane. It registers in three ways: as a disc, as a cave, and as a globe.

This lamp was designed for Casa Periquet, and can be ordered from there. (info@casaperiquet.com)

Work in Progress: The Picasso Serviced Residences, Makati

Conversion of Blanco Center Apartment Building
into High-End Serviced Residences
L. P. Leviste St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, Metro-Manila

The role of art is to enable us to see ordinary things in new ways. Picasso helped the world to see art, and the world, anew. Cubism, literally, is the deconstruction of an object into various components, and re-assembling these components in a different way.

Cubism

The idea of the façade is simple: take a simple image, divide it into equally-sized components, and reapply them to the balconies of this building. You do not see the image when you stand in front of the building. But in the course of several visits, as you walk up and down the street, you will see the various components of the image, divided over several balconies, come together as a complete picture, not so much with your eyes, but in your mind, rather like Cubism.

Found Object

In the course of several visits to the construction site, the idea of the "found object" came to light. Picasso was not only the founder of Cubism but also one of the pioneers of the use of the "found object" in collage and in sculpture. The "found object" is literally that: an object chanced upon in the streets and trash heaps of Paris during Picasso's daily perambulations: a twisted bicycle wheel here, a busted radiator there, that eventually ended up as a key element in a sculpture.

In the Main Lobby, the demolition process revealed traces of outstanding visual interest: the jagged edge of a demolished floor slab here, the texture of formwork on the underside of a floor slab there, that eventually end up as key elements of the space. Ordinary things seen in new ways become extraordinary.

Construction progress photo taken 2009 August

Work in Progress: Penthouse Duplex in Rockwell

Work In Progress: Church of St. Benedict

Church of St. Benedict (Interior Design)

Ayala Westgrove Heights, Silang, Cavite

Proposed view of Main Altar

Proposed view of Right Side Aisle

Proposed view of Main Door from Main Altar

Listen to the light:

Design Statement for the Church of St. Benedict

The concept of the Church of St. Benedict in Westgrove Heights is centered on the first word of the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict.

"Listen".

The act of listening - of the congregation listening to the priest or to the choir or to the silence, and of Christ listening to our prayers, and of Mary and Benedict listening to our supplications – is the primary instigator of the architectonic form.

The central image is of a circle with a cross in it. The wood cross carries a life-size image of Christ. The cross extends below the circle to rest on its visual base, which is the tabernacle.

The diameter of the circle is six meters. It is the perimeter of a perfect concavity; the radius of the circle is the depth of the concavity. The intersection of the cross - the location of Christ’s ears - is at the center of the circle. The auditory phenomenon that results – that the sound that reflects from any point on a perfectly concave surface will head straight for the geometric center of that surface – will symbolize the omniscient and all-encompassing nature of Christ’s response to our prayers; he listens to all of them.

The concavity of the circle will also result in an optical phenomenon – that the concave appears as convex. The circle will have the three-dimensional impact of a globe. This will remind us of one of the most significant events in Benedict’s life – his vision of the whole world gathered in a single ray of light.

The inner surface of the concavity will be lined with capiz mosaic, resulting in a quiet shimmer. This will be a subtle visual link to the mosaics that have decorated the apses of Christian churches since the earliest times. The use of a local material found only here in the Philippines, but in the context of an apsidal mosaic reminiscent of the earliest Christian churches found in the Mediterranean area, will symbolize both the universality and the specificity of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Concavity will also be an exploration of the nature of sanctity. Extending left and right from the intersection of the cross and the circle, about three meters from the church floor, is a line that connects to the centers of two adjacent concavities. On the left, acting as the visual termination of the left-side aisle, is a two-meter-diameter concavity that will be centered on the head of a life-size statue of Mary. On the right, acting as the terminus of the right-side aisle, is a one-meter-diameter concavity that will be centered on the head of a life-size statue of Benedict.

These concavities will also be lined with shimmering capiz mosaic and will appear as the halos that predominate in Christian iconography. There is a flip side, however, to the glory of haloes, and that is the responsibility that comes with sanctity. Again, using the auditory qualities of a concave surface, the halos act as parabolic reflectors that will direct our supplications to the patient ears of Mary and Benedict.

The over-all plan of the Church is based on the basilica prototype that originated with the roots of Christianity in the Mediterranean. Our examination of Benedictine structures takes us not only to the beginnings of Benedictine architecture at the Monastery of Monte Cassino, but to the roots of early Christian basilica architecture that guided Monte Cassino.

The term “Mediterranean”, therefore, becomes our guide not purely for stylistic reasons, but for deeper historical reasons that will link each member of the congregation to the beginnings of Christianity.

The surfaces of the interior will be treated so as to maximize the qualities of light and sound. We picture a highly articulated space that is all in white. We will be guided by the fact that light and sound often act in similar ways, and so the variations of stepped, rhythmic and concave surfaces that we are currently exploring will be not only visually compelling, but also acoustically rich.

Proposed view of Baptistery, adjacent to Main Door


Proposed view of Confessionals, adjacent to Main Door

Concept for the Indoor Statuary at the Church of St. Benedict

The statuary will be the apotheosis of the literal, as part of the oscillation between the literal and the abstract that animates the journey towards grace. A visitor travels through layers of architectural experience that alternate from literal, to abstract, to literal, and so on.

The street outside is literal, prosaic, and brings you to the garden, which can be considered abstract (as paradise can be considered abstract), which in turn brings you to the church facade, which is literal. The visitor walks through the door, and enters an abstract world, or at least that is what we aim for with the natural light traveling over the white plaster surfaces of the nave walls.

The nave is all abstract, but not yet the apotheosis of the abstract. The concavities are.

Between the nave and the concavities is the apotheosis of the literal: life-sized carved figures of Jesus, Mary and Benedict. They are to be painted in the traditional manner, without being maudlin, the only objects in the entire interior that will be painted. Sculpted with surpassing dexterity, their quality elevates them to the level of the abstract.

Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete

Mock-up of glass-fiber reinforced concrete column cladding at factory (2009 July 1)

Work on the glass-fiber reinforced concrete arches at the House of Precast factory (2009 July 1)

Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete, or GFRC, responds to the project's need for a low-maintenance material that addresses the abstract goals of the interior space, where natural light meets archetype and ritual. The material alludes to the Eucharistic, and the arches and ribs suggest the hierarchy of angels, listening to the light.

Work in Progress: House with Tall Windows I

Work in Progress: House with Tall Windows II

Apartment in One Serendra

House by the South China Sea

Guest House in Walled Garden

Magallanes Church

St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church

Humabon St., Magallanes Village, Makati City, Philippines
Structural Engineer: Carlos M. Villaraza

Architectural Design Statement
April 16, 2005

The Parish Church of St. Alphonsus was built in 1968 and consumed by fire in September 2004. We are rebuilding the church, preserving the concrete structure that survived the fire while adding a soaring roof that increases the height from six meters to 28 meters. With a new mezzanine, seating will also increase from 300 to 900. The new structure will be a symbol of a community transforming tragedy into grace.

In 1968, Architect Leandro Locsin designed an 800-square-meter parish church that was intimate and low, with an interior that was dark. The plan was a perfect square, 28 meters each side, with a four-meter-high ceiling that was flat. The central aisle ran along the diagonal of the square. Marching along the perimeter were 28 concrete buttresses four meters tall, which were wide at the base and narrow at the top. They seemed to support a massive roof slab, which was actually a tall parapet wall that shielded the corrugated metal roof.

Thirty-five years later, it was one of the busiest churches in Metro-Manila. A 22-story college building had risen to dwarf it. Beside it, a country road had become a two-level highway. Makati had become the country's financial capital.

When fire destroyed the building, only the 28 buttresses remained. After much deliberation, the parish decided that it would be more economical and symbolically pithy to salvage the buttresses, rather than demolish them and start from scratch.

The new structure will consist of 13 roof vaults resting on new composite columns. The central roof vault, eight meters wide, will travel the longest distance, which is the diagonal of the square plan, to a height of 28 meters. Independent roof vaults, 4 1/2 meters wide, will ascend to it on either side, beginning at 11 meters from ground level, then 14 meters, 16 meters, 18 meters, 21 meters, and 25 meters, like the 12 apostles who accompanied Jesus Christ. The vaults will be thin-shell concrete membranes clad in unglazed clay tiles, which will help reduce heat gain. The vaults are separated by clear glass windows, which, in the upper reaches of the building, are also operable.

The 28 buttresses, originally designed for aesthetic effect, were hollow. They will now be filled with concrete to fulfill a new structural purpose of providing lateral support to the new composite columns that carry the roof vaults.

The goal, ostensibly, is a sustainable building that by its architecture minimizes its waste of materials and dependence on fossil fuels.

The project will also serve to sustain things other than tangible material resources: Memory and Faith. The most important thing that we are doing here is to reuse the existing structure as the springboard for our soaring roofs. The existing structure will serve as an agent of Memory, a reminder of the many events that the community celebrated in it, as well as a reminder that the community survived a tragedy together. It is as a phoenix rising that the structure will serve as an agent of Faith. The symbolism is multivalent and instructive, demonstrating tenets of the Catholic faith: the original structure speaks of mortality, suffering, death; the soaring new space speaks of paradise, grace, and resurrection.

The Altar Wall

The Altar Wall acts as the backdrop of the Sanctuary. It is about 6.8 meters tall and curved in plan, but if one were to stretch it out, it would be almost four and a half meters wide. The upper part of the wall is stained glass, and the lower part is wood-clad concrete.

The concept of the Altar Wall is inspired by the Burning Bush, and in that moment when God tells Moses “I am that I am.”

The colors of the stained glass – there are six (white, yellow, yellow orange, orange, red orange, and red) – are distributed in 50 cm by 50 cm squares of stained glass, creating the vibrant blaze of the Burning Bush. White is used only in the three strokes that comprise the Hebrew letter called the Aleph, which is the first letter of the unutterable name of God.

The sun rises directly behind the stained glass.

(For photographs of the construction process, see stalphonsusrebuilds.blogspot.com)


UPDATE: Article on Magallanes Church as seen in April 2009 issue of BluPrint Magazine. Please right-click an image to enlarge and read the text.

Dasmarinas Village Residence

House in Batangas

House of an Art Collector

Hilado House

Featured in 25 Tropical Houses in the Philippines by Elizabeth V. Reyes, published in 2006 by Periplus Editions, Singapore.

Salutary House

Summit School

A Progressive Pre-School in Fort Bonifacio

The Mondrian Residences, Alabang

Conversion of Blanco Arms Apartment Building
into High-End Condominium
East Asia Drive, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Metro-Manila

Archbishop's Chapel, Mt. Peace, Baguio

Sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua Parish Church, Singalong, Manila

St. Anthony of Padua Parish Church, 2126 Singalong St. corner San Andres St., Malate, Manila
Structural Engineer: Ronald Santiago, MACRO

The Renovation of the Sanctuary provides fresh focus on the Eucharist and on the life of St. Anthony of Padua. We drew inspiration from the strengths of the architecture created by Architect Carlos Santos-Viola.

The Tabernacle Tower is the new focus of the building. It draws your eye as soon as you walk through the front door. In the vastness of the interior, the focus does not equivocate. It is Christ on the cross.

As you approach, the other elements of the sanctuary become more legible. The altar table is a long, white, horizontal slab that sits improbably on three slender plant-like curves. On the left, the lectern is shaped like a large book resting on a single blade of grass. On the right, the baptismal font is a white, egg-like cradle perching on three slender leaves.

These elements are physical expressions of the iconography of St. Anthony of Padua: lily, bread, book, and Infant Jesus. The white plant-like curves represent the lily. The long white horizontal slab of the altar represents the symbol of bread. The lectern represents an open book. The baptismal font is not itself the symbol, but the backdrop of the symbol: each infant that is baptized at the font represents the Infant Jesus.

The lily symbolizes St. Anthony's purity and chastity. The open book represents his scholarship and knowledge of the Bible. The Infant Jesus is a symbol of tender love. Bread symbolizes the sustenance of life. (Two portraits of St. Anthony - by El Greco and Francisco de Zurbaran - served as our guides in the renovation.)

The juxtaposition of heavy objects upon lightweight objects - the open book resting on the lily, for example - alludes to miracles. In Roman Catholic tradition, St. Anthony of Padua is known as an instrument of God in the performance of miracles.

St. Anthony, by El Greco


Before renovation

EDSA Shrine Baptistry

Mary Queen of Peace Shrine (EDSA Shrine), EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City

Archbishop's Chapel, Arzobispado, Intramuros, Manila

Chancery, Arzobispado de Manila, 121 Arzobispo Street, Intramuros, Manila

Architectural Design Statement
January 7, 2003

We started with history, that very palpable reality - the gust of ages - that connects the energy of the present church with the stillness of the church's past. The Chapel resides in the path of that gust that sweeps between the Courtyard of the Arzobispado and the ruin of the Jesuit Church of San Ignacio.

The ruin of San Ignacio reminds us that the recent history of Intramuros is about sorrow and loss. For many of us, a visit to Intramuros, no matter for what purpose, leaves us with a sharp sadness. First, there is the memory of those who died there in World War Two, and the manner in which they died. Second, the war and its aftermath eradicated the majesty of one of the centers of Christianity, and left us with niggardly traces, ruins that we today tend to ignore.

Many of us find the loss difficult to bear and therefore choose either to ignore it, or to treat it recklessly. The Chapel of the Arzobispado can not turn its back on that loss, and should not even be numb to it.

Carillon, Magallanes Church

St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church
Humabon Place, Magallanes Village, Makati City
Structural Engineer: Ronald Santiago, MACRO

Angels Chanted as Jesus Passed

Four steel arches of increasing height, the tallest at 17 meters, carry 18 bronze bells from the Netherlands. The Carillon stands next to the entrance of the church, and acts as the entrance gateway to the Garden of the Way of the Cross, designed by National Artist for Landscape Architecture Ildefonso P. Santos. The bells become a Greek chorus pealing their lamentations at the beginning of Christ’s passion.

Baptistry, Magallanes Church

St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish Church, Humabon Place, Magallanes Village, Makati City
Completed 2000
Baptismal Font design executed by Roberto Robles
Baptismal Font partially damaged, Baptistry destroyed in September 2004 fire

The Baptismal Font is carved from one solid block of white Thassos marble, the same marble used by the sculptors of ancient Greece. There are three basins at three different levels; holy water cascades from one basin to the next in a continuous recirculating flow. The lowest level permits small children to dip their fingers in the holy water. The top level is for the baptismal rite.

The three basins represent the Trinitarian nature of God; holy water recirculates to signify the oneness of this trinity. The most complete, or perfect, circle is the topmost basin, representing God the Father, followed by basins of decreasing degrees of completion, representing the Son and the Holy Spirit. The texture of the marble transforms from very rough, near the base, to a polished smoothness at the top level, to signify the spiritual purity of the human being, and how purest it is at the moment of baptism.

The Baptistry is in a corner of the church that used to be exterior space. The triangular floor, covered in random-cut araal stone, follows the plan of the canopy overhead. Although clear tempered glass panels enclose the space, outdoor plants that border the space act as the visual boundary.