Makati Cultural Center | Mark Anthony Baquir

Philippine culture has been under a lot of scrutiny in the past few decades. Filipinos tend to forget their own cultural heritage and aspire to be of another to follow the changing fads of today. Our culture, ancient or classical, is slowly being forgotten along with the values and virtues it brings with it. As a matter of fact, without our culture, our national identity is lost. There is a need to revitalize the Filipino’s outlook on our culture by finding out a fresh, new and exciting way to portray its complexity, prestige, and its uniqueness. After all culture is an important part of every person’s life. Given our current situation particularly in the Central Business District where there is a need to create new cultural facilities for the city. The city where 50% of its land-use is for commercial purposes12 and with the trend now is the development of central commercial facilities throughout the district there is a need to broaden the land use mix in the city. These include: a.) Historical and cultural uses (museums, art galleries, performing arts centers, etc), and b.) Recreational uses to complement the dominance of the business sector and to enhance local community activities that allow the city to provide a fuller range of activities to residents and visitors.13 Although the minimum requirements of the building codes are met, the amount of usable open or green spaces appears lacking. Such spaces are needed to improve the urban landscape, to promote a healthy environment, to enhance pedestrian movements and, as a whole, to maintain competitiveness with other cities, both local and international. In the city of Makati, although there is an increase in recreational spaces, open spaces have decreased. This increase is explained largely by the net gain in recreational area caused by the opening of new golf courses surrounding the open areas in Fort Bonifacio after the old golf course was converted into commercial '>http://land.These'> spaces although considered as recreational fail to qualify in terms of being a public space, this shrinking of the truly public realm will continue to increase with ongoing privatization of public assets and facilities and more and more privately owned places will increase to fulfill public roles. There is a need to create a new center for culture and arts to embody the culture of the city, define it and make transparent the changing cultural trends, and express the different social values of the city, there is a need for a community center to serve the common neighborhood community to strengthen individuals and institutions to address the needs of the people. And a need for a true public space for different socio-economic groups in the city and create a paradoxical city center in preserving our rich cultural history and support all the communal needs of the people living in the area.