Sunday, July 13, 2008 Portals of Reception By Arch’t. Karl A.E.F. Cabilao, UAP
FIRST impressions last. These are great ways to spur a stranger’s interest in getting to know a person more. If it were in a meal, these are what we call the appetizers, dishes that make one look forward to a hearty banquet.
Establishing good first impression is not only vital in creating new acquaintances and unforgettable dining experiences. In architecture, mustering an indelible image through space planning and design is a must.
Tantamount to appetizers, gates and arches conjure these impressions. They often reflect the character of the space (the main course, as we would compare it) where a person would set foot. It is a major welcoming element into a building or a group of structures or a park.
Most residences have highly ornate gates, most especially the abodes of high-ranking personalities, to serve as preview to their homes. The Ishtar Gate, which led to the ancient city of Babylon, was once tagged as a “wonder of the ancient world.”
Thus, architects and planners often pour part of their creative juices into the conceptualization of these portals aside from just the design of their buildings. It is part of whipping up continuity within a place and yes, etchimg an aesthetic imprint on the visitor’s mind.
Originally, gates were supposed to ward off enemies. During the medieval ages, gates were made massive and heavily fortified to protect castles and cities. Nowadays, although the purpose of regulation is still practiced, they are made more elaborate and eye-catching.
Apart from the chore of welcoming a visitor, gates provide the necessary shift from one place to another. In Japan, the torii, a traditional gate to a Shinto shrine, serves as transition from the sacred (the shrine) and the profane (the world outside). Some say that those who are unclean are not allowed through the torii.
In the Philippines, there are not much gateways as imposing and as historically significant as say the Arc de Triomphe in France. But we do have our own humble collection. One of the more prominent gateways is a triumphal arch named Arch of the Centuries at the University of Santo Tomas campus along España Manila. Among the details found in this centuries-old structure is the depiction of the life of St. Thomas Aquinas. There are also commemorative plaques of distinguished UST alumni: Jose Rizal and former Philippine President Manuel Quezon. The arch has recently become a component for tradition for students — an initiation walk for freshmen and a send-off ritual for graduates. According to Wikipedia “there is also an old superstition that one must not pass through the arch until graduation or else an event will happen that will not allow him to graduate.”
Our metropolis also has its share of old and new gates and arches just like the old stone gates leading to Spanish churches such as the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and the Basilica del Santo Niño and the more avant garde designed portals in schools and business centers.
Buildings, cities and open spaces must have lasting imprints on people, may it be a local or a visitor from another place. And gateways play an important part in this reassuring, warm reception.
