Concrete memory, golden renewal: The Philippine International Convention Center restored as it marks 50 years

Posted on Daily Tribune

By Roel Hoang Manipon

A mindful restoration brings National Artist Leandro V. Locsin’s landmark architecture into the present while preserving its celebrated artworks, civic role and complicated historical legacy.

The Philippine International Convention Center displays National Artist Leandro V. Locsin’s mastery of Brutalist architecture. Photograph by Roel Hoang Manipon for DAILY TRIBUNE

At the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, on reclaimed land between Manila Bay and Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) rises as a monumental composition of concrete. For nearly five decades, it has witnessed diplomatic gatherings, graduation and oath-taking ceremonies, corporate events, forums, exhibitions, concerts and celebrations.

Its exterior is stark and muscular, but its interiors are unexpectedly sumptuous, their monumental scale softened by artworks, warm wood and intricate architectural details. Like the nearby Cultural Center of the Philippines, the complex displays National Artist for Architecture Leandro V. Locsin’s mastery of Brutalism — an architecture of massive forms made to appear light, even floating.

Set on a 12-hectare site and encompassing more than 70,000 square meters of floor area, the PICC consists of five interconnected modules: the Delegation Building, Secretariat Building, Plenary Hall, Reception Hall and The Forum. Instead of treating the convention center as a single monolith, Locsin divided it into distinct yet connected zones, linked by bridgeways, courtyards and reflecting pools. The arrangement allows large occasions and smaller gatherings to take place within the complex at the same time.

The PICC formally opened on 5 September 1976 as Asia’s first international convention center. Its first major event was the annual meeting of the boards of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, held from 4 to 8 October that year.

The National Museum of the Philippines recognized the PICC Complex and four intrinsic artworks as National Cultural Treasures on 27 June 2019. Their status was formally presented to the public on 27 September 2022, affirming the site’s exceptional historical, cultural and artistic value.

Through the years, the PICC has remained a favored venue for major conferences and celebrations. It hosted meetings connected with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while also becoming the setting for the graduations, oath-taking ceremonies, weddings and other milestones of generations of Filipinos. It is thus both an architectural monument and a repository of personal and national memory.