A week after celebrating his 88th birthday, National Artist for Architecture Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa has gone on to better days, as that Dianne Reeves song goes. The announcement of the architect’s passing came on Wednesday, February 20, in the form of a photo card posted on the Facebook page of Angelo “Gelo” Mañosa, the National Artist’s son who is also a highly esteemed architect. The photo card bore a stylized black-and-white photo of the National Artist and the simple text: “Arch. Bobby Mañosa 1931 -2019”.
No details have been provided by the family regarding the cause of death.
Born on February 12, 1931, Bobby Mañosa grew up in privileged neighborhood in Manila. According to a Wikipedia entry on the architect, the young Mañosa “played jazz piano and initially wanted a career in music, but studied architecture at the University of Santo Tomas on the insistence of his father” (the engineer Manuel Mañosa Sr.).
Music’s loss turned out to be a substantial gain for Philippine architecture, as Mañosa went on to become of the most acclaimed and influential architects in the country. In his works, he sought to pay homage to the Filipino identity by referencing the “bahay na bato” and the “bahay kubo”. The architect’s most notable works include the Coconut Palace, the Edsa Shrine, Davao Pearl Farm, and Amanpulo Resort.
Mañosa is survived by his wife Denise and his children Bambi, Dino and Gelo. While
Bobby Mañosa will always be known as an architect, he was nonetheless able to fulfill his dream in youth: when not exercising his architectural muscles, he would play his beloved jazz music as part of The Executive Band from the 60s well into the 90s.