50 Dictums from Local & International Architects

Leandro Locsin

"Creating Architecture that is both modern and undeniably Filipino."

Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa

"Architecture must respond to local conditions."

Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa

"I am a Filipino architect, and I only design Filipino."

Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa

"Architecture must be true to itself, its land, and its people."

Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa

"This process of creation must strive to express who we are and define our unique place in this world."

Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa

"Three factors make architecture truly Filipino: Filipino values, Philippine climate and the use of indigenous materials."

Carlos Santos Viola

"The structure should not only look good but must also be made well."

Caesar Homero Concio

"The structure must be well-oriented."

Pablo Antonio

"A truly great work of architecture must express harmony, simplicity, organic beauty, natural integrity, and beauty."

Pablo Antonio

"Buildings should be planned with austerity in mind and its stability forever as the aim of true architecture, that buildings must be progressive, simple in design but dignified, true to a purpose without resorting to an applied set of aesthetics and should eternally recreate truth."

Lor Calma

"Design is discipline."

Lor Calma

"Landscape architecture is where structure, open space and nature must come together harmoniously."

Augusto Villalon

"The architect does not really invent forms. Instead he interprets & recognizes old, sometimes traditional forms that he has seen & expresses them in his personal architectural vocabulary."

Carmelo T. Casas

"What makes a good architect? The love for your profession. You need to have a sense of responsibility to the people and to the clients."

Ramon S. Licup

"Good Architecture is not based on Design but on the buildings function."

Gabriel Formoso

"Honesty of conception and the principled concern for human requirements transcending the irrelevancies of prejudice and instinct"

Felipe Marcelino Mendoza

"He makes the fullest possible use of natural light and ventilation."

William Coscolluella

"More on vertical approach."

Royal Pineda

"Architecture is our tool to betterment. It should be an organic response, an interpretation that makes sense to its place and most especially, its people."

Royal Pineda

"Let's not be so conscious about the look of Filipino architecture. It's the freedom to be able to create something that works for the Filipinos and works with the resources of the Filipinos."

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

"Less is more."

Louis Sullivan

"Form follows function."

Louis Kahn

"Architecture is the thoughtful making of space."

Frank Lloyd Wright

"The mother art is architecture."

Louis Kahn

"Architecture is the reaching out for the truth."

Julia Morgan

"Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves."

Luis Barragán

"I don't divide architecture, landscape, and gardening; to me, they are one."

Le Corbusier

"Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light."

Frank Gehry

"Architecture should speak of its time and place but yearn for timelessness."

Daniel Libeskind

"To provide meaningful architecture is not to parody history but to articulate it."

I. M. Pei

"Architecture is the very mirror of life. You only have to cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit of a place; they are the reflection of society."

Frank Lloyd Wright

"An architect's most useful tools are an eraser at the drafting board, and a wrecking bar at the site."

Charles Eames

"The details are not the details. They make the design."

Constantin Brâncuși

"Architecture is inhabited sculpture."

Naty Crame-Rogers

"Design is a journey of discovery."

Zaha Hadid

"The design process is really hard work, and it's worth it."

Philip Johnson

"There should be no such thing as boring architecture."

Akihisa Hirata

"Great architecture doesn't come from great architects, but from great clients."

Ayn Rand

"I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build."

Frank Lloyd Wright

"The architect should strive continually to simplify; the ensemble of the rooms should then be carefully considered that comfort and utility may go hand in hand with beauty."

Bjarke Ingels

"Architecture is not about building the impossible, but about building the possible."

Richard Rogers

"Architecture is about public space held by buildings."

Le Corbusier

"An architect is a drawer, not a builder."

Alvar Aalto

"The function of architecture is to make possible the existence of human beings in a natural and complimentary environment."

Massimo Vignelli

"The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness."

Maya Lin

"I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me."

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

"We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together in a higher unity."

Oscar Niemeyer

"Form follows beauty."

Philip Johnson

"Architecture is the art of how to waste space."

Stephen Gardiner

"Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design."