If architecture is frozen music then landscape architecture is the natural theater within which it is enjoyed. Appreciation of architecture—the elegance of structures and the experience of spaces within are impossible without an external context. This is especially true given our island heritage and cultural affinity for the tropical outdoors. It is this lack of coherent physical settings that is a major deficiency that prevents Filipinos from enjoying Philippine architecture, and that impedes Philippine architecture from evolving fully. That situation is beginning to change.

In the last forty years or so, the art of landscape architecture, through its practitioners, have labored to offer correctives to the blight of our modern urban and rural realities. Grand gardens for the elite and the privileged were the first products of modern landscape architectural design but the art of molding the landscape to enhance lives and lifestyles soon moved to address more public needs. The refreshing gardens of a revived Paco Park, the varied views of the Nayong Pilipino, special gardens at the Luneta and sculpture-filled outdoor malls at the Ayala commercial center were all welcome amenities that set a new standard for designed outdoor space in the country.

The artist responsible for all these was Ildefonso P. Santos Jr. For this pioneering work he is acknowledged by his peers as the “father of modern Philippine Landscape Architecture.” Santos has dedicated the last forty-five years of his creative life and poured his energies to mitigating the madness of modern lives that are much too separated from nature. IP (as he is known to those in the design fields) has designed hundreds of parks, gardens, plazas, courtyards, memorial parks, recreation and leisure facilities, resorts, hotel grounds, campuses, streetscapes and cityscapes that have contributed to improving the lives of Filipinos. His creations have been enjoyed as well by Malaysians, Singaporeans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Saudi Arabians, Indonesians and even Americans, in numerous key cities and destinations in the world. He is one of the few Filipino designers who have a body of built and acknowledged work overseas.

Part of Santos’ creative flair is genetic. He is the son of Ildefonso Santos, renowned Filipino educator, translator and Tagalog poet. Instead of colorful words that his father used, IP uses ground cover, shrubs, vines and trees. Instead of lines, IP uses meandering walkways and balmy esplanades. Instead of stanzas, IP creates grassy ridges, shaded outlooks, welcoming courtyards and vibrant plazas. IP’s poetry is enjoyed across a whole range of scales—from tropical haiku in small pocket parks and gardens to whole landscape narratives for city districts, sprawling resorts and colorful mixed-use developments.

His upbringing and the route he took to his art is colorful and filled with serendipitous surprises. As a young boy in Malabon, Santos’ playground was the then still idyllic landscape of a small bay-side town. It was rural in ambiance but was only a short ride down to central Manila. Here he developed a love for nature, which he later expressed through drawing skills he picked up from studying the graphic illustrations of Francisco Coching and Botong Francisco.

Santos finished his primary education in Malabon. His high school years were spent at the Malabon Central institute, the St. James Academy and at the Ateneo de Manila. He enrolled at the University of the Philippines, taking Pre-Med in anticipation of a possible career as a doctor. A move to Letran and then another to the University of Santo Tomas redirected young Santos’ sights to a future as an architect. There was a strong demand for the profession as Manila along with the rest of the country was still recovering from the trauma of war.

Santos earned his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the UST in 1954. He was a working student, picking up valuable skills and experience in the construction field from the Sta. Clara Construction Company between 1952-1954. He decided then to pursue further studies abroad but not before marrying his college sweetheart Amaparo Romulo. On the way to the United States they honeymooned in Hawaii. This is where Santos is first exposed to the beauty of lush well-maintained tropical landscape that was designed as part of a coherent whole. He was intrigued at the possibility of a profession designing such landscapes on the realization that this is what the Philippines needed. But he did not know how to get the training and expertise.

On arrival in California, Santos enrolled at the University of Southern California to take a second degree in architecture. Needing a job to support himself and his wife, Santos chances on an opening for draftsman in a landscape architectural firm. He applied and was immediately accepted at the office of Ralph D. Cornell. This was the start of his apprenticeship in what was to be a lifelong passion—landscape architecture.

In the meanwhile Santos continues to excel at USC. One of his mentors was the famous landscape architect Francis Dean, who was to become a principal partner in the practice of Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams (EDAW)—today, the world’s largest and most successful multi-disciplinary consultancy firm. IP graduated in 1956 with his second degree in architecture. He continues on to a master’s program, graduating in 1960 while continuing his stint at Cornell’s studio; that had now expanded to a partnership of Cornell, Bridges and Troller.

At Cornell, Bridges and Troller, Santos contributed to designs for key projects in California like the UCLA Campus, the Civic Center Mall, and the Music Center of Los Angeles. He was also involved in international projects, specifically the Nile and Baghdad Hilton Hotels. Santos’ also contributed to landscape architectural designs for parks, school and office complexes. In nine years Santos becomes a senior designer, earning acceptance by his American principals as well as membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects.

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