DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL

PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL

EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

A PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL

EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE.

I. INTRODUCTION
A. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
Tourists flock in and out of the Dumaguete City, nicknamed the City of
Gentle People, due to the various wonderful sights it beholds: from scenic Rizal
Boulevard, to Silliman University’s picturesque and historical campus, and to the
multiple other landmarks that have existed for years. However, Dumaguete is beyond
that, it is also a melting pot of culture and arts. The culture of a place is a reflection
of its society.
The culture of Dumaguete is fascinating and captivating. It tells us about
the people of the place, their lifestyle and their beliefs. Observing the culture of
Dumaguete gives you a fair idea about the traditions and practices that are still done
by the locals until now. It is a place of nurturing creative minds and refining their
crafts.
Local artists are the prides of any country. It is only justifiable that they
are also given value as they enrich not only Filipino heritage but also the culture.
However, as the number of artist grow, so are their need of space. Apart from that,
there is no primary architecture which would cater its overall cultural experience.
This proposal aims to promote overall cultural experience and to promote
local artists especially the young ones who are still emerging in the industry. This
proposal also aims to create a transition between history and how it shaped our
modern culture.

i. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

The City
of Dumaguete is a
hub of interactions
for visual artists,
musicians, writers.
Local artists would
perform and
showcase their
talents in different
places of the city.
As the capital of
Negros Oriental,
the island locals
gather to
Dumaguete to sell
their goods and works in the city’s market and in various parks during various fiestas
and events only.

i. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

C. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

To the local artists

Local artists of Dumaguete offer multi-venue art exhibitions
wherein participants showcase their artworks and musical talents to
restaurants and atrium inside malls. The fulfillment of this proposal will
help primarily local artists, especially freelance artists, to have a place in
showcasing and marketing their works.

To Dumaguete City and People

 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

Dumaguete is a small city, but it has all the luxury and self-regard
as big city living. Since Dumaguete is a semi-cosmopolitan city, the
proposal will be a great advantage for the city to promote and improve
tourism. This proposal’s purpose is not only by showcasing and marketing
artists’ work but its purpose is also to educate the people to learn deeper
about the cultural heritage.

To future researchers
This proposal can benefit future researchers into exploring deeper
into cultural heritage, both historical and modern. This will serve as an
example to aspiring researchers that will delve into a similar study.

D. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

i. SCOPE

The chosen site

The researchers will still have to make sure that the site chosen will be
available for potential development
Existing and Non-existing Policies
The guidelines for land use will be followed, if not stated, then,
hypothetical policies will be made.
Human Error
The data gathering techniques of this study will involve community inputs
and perspectives; it is still expected to have human errors.
Inaccuracies of Existing architectural data
Some data may obtain errors. It cannot be avoided to have inaccurate
architectural data due to time constraints.
Limited Literature with respect to the cultural history of Dumaguete
Written and published works about the historical and cultural context of
Dumaguete city are limited.
 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

Negros Oriental
Negros Oriental, mainly Dumaguete City’s cultural heritage and cultural
arts are the main focus of the study.

ii. LIMITATIONS

E. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. HISTORY
i. HOMINIDS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA AND PHILIPPINES
Remains of Hominids or Homo Sapiens are found in the premises of
Southeast Asia, and, even Philippines. Found in the Tabon Cave, Filipinos call
them as Tabon Man and is believed to be dated back from late Pleistocene period
around 47,000 years ago according to the article The Peopling of the Philippines:
A Cartographic Synthesis by Gaillard and Mallari. During the Holocene period,
the ancestors of Negritos were hunter-gatherer until they were isolated and
separated, thus, farming and food gathering became part of their lifestyle
(Gaillard & Mallari, 2003).

ii. IDENTITY SHIFT AND LANGUAGE

During Spanish Colonization (1521 to 1898), Spaniards classified the
Filipino people as Negrillos (now known as Negritos), Indios (non-Negritos
pagans) and Moros (Muslims) (Gaillard & Mallari, 2003). There are 14 major
languages spoken in the coutry according to the 16th edition of Ethnologue and the
2000 census of National Statistics Office (Ilao et al, 2015).
 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

B. CULTURAL EVOLUTION
i. INDIGENOUS CULTURE
14% of the Philippines’ population is represented by the indigenous
people (De Vera, 2007). The indigenous people of Negros Oriental are upland
shifting cultivators. Called as the Bukidnon people, also known as
Mag’hat/Magahat/Mangahat/Ati/Ata, gather food as main source of livelihood
(Peralta, 2000). Today, most of the indigenous people of Negros Oriental reside
in upland plains and hills as well as work in haciendas and farms (Hirai, 2015).
To display this rich history, museums have been built in a way that would appeal
to the public. That is why museums, nowadays, try to diversify their approach in
order to captivate audiences including ethnic minorities (Nakamura 2015).

ii. THE MUSEUM IN CULTURAL ASPECT

As tools for sustaining local culture, local museums have provided people,
with cultural resources, to actively engage in cultural and artistic activities. (Hsu
& Chao, 2017) Historically, museums were considered to be the place for
aristocrats during the Baroque wunderkammer (repositories for notable
collections). Following the showcase of dynastic power, museums started to
mirror the bourgeois class’ self-understanding (Mavragani, 2018). However,
museums nowadays are part of modern tourism. Its significance to economic
development is proven through the increase in employment, and, even self-
employment. One significant example is the Regional History Museum in
Kyakhta, Russia. As part of their tour, an interactive tea ceremony is held
according to their old merchant traditions (Tsyrempilova & Bildueva, 2018).

iii. THE MUSEUM AS OF DIGITAL AGE

Museums tell stories based on the creations exhibited. Giannini &
Bowen’s Of Museums and Digital Culture: A Landscape View, explained that due
to modernization and the dynamic movement of time, digitalization of visual arts
 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

has competed with museums in terms of engaging audience. “The museum as it is

defined today is essentially a 19th century institution that embodies 19th century
aesthetics and values.” (Giannini & Bowen, 2014). Apart from the art itself, the
way that people acquire information on these collections have also developed. In
the article Digitalism: The New Realism, Giannini and Bowen substantiated this
behaviour through using cameras and smartphones to take commemorative
photographs of paintings and other exhibits (Giannini & Bowen, 2014).

C. CULTURAL ARTS
i. THE FUTURE OF PHILIPPINE ART
As time progresses, so does the way of life. The youth of today seek more
engagement in the exhibits displayed. That way, the younger generation can relate
more into the story behind the creation of what shaped their history (Cesario et al,
2017). Apart from the audience, even artists as of now take advantage of
technology to explore and experiment on their creative capacities. Technology, as
an aid to actualize the artists creativity is also justified in Ştefănescu’s The
Beignnings of Modern Art (Ştefănescu, 2019). In a way, art, in any form, has been
part of Filipino culture. Matthias Arndt on describing Filipino contemporary art says:
“During the past three decades in contemporary art I have discovered that there is no
single art world, but rather a number of different spheres that simultaneously compete
with and enrich each other” (Arndt, 2015).

III. METHODOLOGY
 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Gaillard, J. C., & Mallari, J. P. (2003). The Peopling of the Philippines: A
Cartographic Synthesis. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279808792_The_peopling_of_the_Philippines_
A_cartographic_synthesis.
 Ilao, J. P., Guevara, R. C., Llenaresas, V. D., Narvaez, E. A., & Peregrino, J. M.
(2015). Bantay-Wika: Towards a Better Understanding of the Dynamics of Filipino
Culture and Linguistic Change. Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Asian Language
Resources,10-17.
 De Vera, D. E. (2007). Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines: A Country Case Study.
 Peralta, J. T. (2000). Glimpses: Peoples of The Philippines. 1-19.
 Hirai, H. (2015). Indigenous Communities in the Philippines: A Situation Analysis.
Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308742756.
 Nakamura, N. (2015). Managing the Cultural Promotion of Indigenous People in a
Community-based Museum: The Ainu Culture Cluster Project at the Nibutani Ainu
Culture Museum, Japan. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266499099.
 Hsu, K., & Chao, J. (2017). Transformation Strategies for the Operation and Management
of Local Cultural Museums in Nantou County. Sustainability,9(11), 2018.
doi:10.3390/su9112018
 Mavragani, E. (2018). Museum Services in the Era of Tourism. The Future of
Museums,37-47. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-93955-1_4
 Tsyrempilova, I. S., & Bildueva, S. V. (2018). The Role of Museums of Buryatia in the
Development of Cultural Tourism. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental
Science,204, 012045. doi:10.1088/1755-1315/204/1/012045
 Giannini, T., & Bowen, J. P. (2018). Of Museums and Digital Culture: A landscape
view. EVA London 2018. doi:10.14236/ewic/eva2018.34
 Bowen, J. P., & Giannini, T. (2014). Digitalism: The New Realism?
doi:10.14236/ewic/eva2014.38
 DESIGN IX: THESIS PROPOSAL
PROPOSED CULTURAL HUB IN DUMAGUETE CITY: PROMOTING CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE THROUGH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Prepared By: Gayadao, Maria Rufil A. & Palencia, Alyanna Marie L.

 Cesario, V., Nisi, V., & Coelho, A. (2017). Teenagers as Experience Seekers Regarding
Interactive Museums Tours. International Conference on Digital Design &
Communication. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322332070.
 Ştefănescu, M. (2019). The Beginnings of The Modern Art. Review of Artistic
Education,18, 225-261. doi:10.2478/rae-2019-0028
 Arndt, M. (2016). Wasak! Filipino Art Today.