Pangasinan Barangay Centers

Comparable to a village, the barangay is the smallest and oldest political unit of government in the Philippines, dating back to the first settlers who migrated in groups through ‘balangay’ boats. Today, there are more than 42,000 barangays in our 7,600 islands, each with its own elected officials and functions— a decentralized system that works because of our country’s geography.

The local government of Pangasinan, one of the most culturally diverse provinces, recognized the challenge and tasked us to ‘standardize’ all 140 of their barangay centers, whose main function is to deliver the core needs of the immediate community, bridging back the people to the government. This poses a predicament that is much more nuanced:

How do we standardize our institutions without erasing their local identity?

Client \  4th District of Pangasinan

Location \ Dagupan, Manaoag, Mangaldan, San Fabian, San Jacinto

Building Area \ Various

Program  \ Civic

Status \ Completed + Ongoing

Genius Loci

The Fourth District of Pangasinan, which consists of 5 municipalities, is home to 140 barangays that operate 3 types of centers: a 2-storey, 3-storey, and a multipurpose court, whose main functions are to be the core facilities where government services are delivered to the immediate community, bridging the national government closer to the people.

To this day, this 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 convey a sense of order rather than creativity—purely transactional and often devoid of identity, culture, and even basic human comfort, alienating the people they ought to serve.

Pangasinan’s congressman recognized these failures and challenged us to:

standardize the design while still maintaining the character of each and every location.

Framework

As we reflected on these challenges, we came to realize that these

buildings are just like the people they serve: buildings also have bones, a body, and a skin. Bones provide support, like a building’s structural frame. The body is our exterior shell, like the walls. While the skin, along with our clothing, provides our outermost identity and protects us from the elements, like a building’s outer screen.

This framing of the problem helped us determine that while the bones and the body could be optimized for standardization, the skin could be reimagined for localization.

Standardization

The catch with standardization project is that we were asked not to make major changes to the plans as these were already pre-approved by multiple authorities. We were also asked to continue using low-tech, conventional construction techniques, to secure cost and buildability. For those reasons, we decided to retain the post and lintel construction for the bones and slightly adjust the layout to ensure optimal spacing, accessibility, and even ventilation.

For the body, CMUs are still the standard in the country despite its inefficiencies. So we simply shifted the material to brick as it is just as low-tech but more sustainable, with thermal insulation that fits our climate better. Establishing standardization through the bones and the body, we shift our focus on the skin next as we localize the building’s character to respond and reflect its eventual context.

Localization

As a first step to localize the skin, we added features towards better thermal comfort, since the previous design lacked responsiveness to the tropical climate. We widened the canopies to create wrap-around balconies as social spaces, which resulted in a usable welcome porch underneath. We also converted the openings to jalousies to let in as much air as possible. The windows and doors were all made into modules to improve costs and speed of fabrication. The skin is then introduced around the balconies as a brise-soleil, which further protects the interiors from the harsh sun regardless of the orientation of the site where it would be built. This lack of a specific site presents another concern: how will the standard skin reflect the character of each barangay? And for that we turn to the bigger picture of Pangasinan.

Pangasinan is known for various industries where we tried to draw inspiration from for the skin. They have a rich agriculture industry where we studied (1) crop arrangements, a traditional weaving industry where we studied (2) the patterns, and even their (3) techniques.

Combining the logic from all those, we were able to derive this diamond net-like grid, a nod to their massive fishing industry, born from having the longest coastline in the country. We developed this into a 3D network of modular panels that resembles a school of fish, an observation quickly made by the locals.

As you may notice, the facade is 60% solid to block heat and 40% porous to allow for natural daylight to come inside.

Participatory Process

As a final nod to Pangasinan positioning itself as the Creative Capital of the Philippines, we asked the district to crowdsource patterns through local art competitions where the top patterns will be applied to the solid facade modules, further reinforcing the creativity and micro-cultures of each barangay while nurturing their booming art industry.

Prior to launching a competition, it is most important to determine the parameters for the patterns: the style, the number, size, colors, and even possible concepts to achieve a cohesive result. Drawing from general Filipino industries, we look to indigenous weaving to determine how the different designs will be distributed across the facade.

After analyzing the tonality of many weaving patterns, a 30-20-10 split between light, medium, and dark patterns will be applied to the facade, which means participants will have to submit 3 designs to guarantee homogeneity and cohesiveness of design. These 3 patterns shall feature the 3 symbolic colors of their municipality to establish both distinction and familiarity.

Parametric Approach

To further reinforce distinction, the skin is envisioned to be arranged differently per barangay. With the aid of a parametric approach and in consideration for varying daylighting demands, we developed hundreds of unique arrangements for each barangay and for each structure—akin to how our faces, colors, and the clothes we wear make us all unique.

The participatory approach demonstrated by the skin design doesn’t just surrender a portion of the design to the 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. As a design laboratory, Barchan treats process in the highest regard, because it is through process that we truly get to explore and experiment all possibilities—but it is also crucial to the  mission to make sure that the end product is a success. For that reason, we authored a design manual that covers everything a barangay needs to deliver the project—from the concept, Gantt charts, detailed kit of standardized parts, among other things. This living document that can be improved over time should assist communities to build their centers without even needing us, the initial designers.

Promise

The result is a building that is inspired by, designed by, and crafted by the local community, which hopefully creates a high sense of care and ownership towards these barangay centers. Our aim was to balance standardization with localization so that what was formerly a transactional experience be transformed into a social space that encourages meaningful connections and a dignified experience.

By conceiving spaces that can be influenced by people, we create an empowered community, reviving engagement toward government institutions, as people start to see them as a reflection of their collective visions and values.

We are optimistic that the project, no matter how small, can cause a ripple effect towards a more engaged citizenry especially if applied successfully to all 140 barangays, or even across 42,000.

WAFx

In 2023, the Pangasinan Barangay Centers shattered the mold of conventional civic typology, winning the Ethics and Values Category at the World Architecture Festival. The project is a complete reimagining of what a Filipino government building can be—rejecting the concrete box and becoming a unique architectural response that not only serves but also embodies its immediate community.

Today, this participatory concept has scaled into five model centers in the Fourth District (and counting), continuing its mission to provide social spaces that the community can fully identify with. As Pangasinan is painted with color one barangay at a time, the hope is for a cultural awakening that reignites the relationship between citizen and institution.

To learn more about the project, watch our WAF presentation below:

Project Team    

Architecture   \  Jason Buensalido, Ems Eliseo, Cholo Ramirez, Aramis Corrulo,  Chris Dela Cruz, Lhouis Lanting, Aaron Espiritu, Miguel Razon

Collaborators 

Structural  \ KB Lucero

MEPF  \ Consbit Inc. Engineering Design & Consultancy