Editing Palma Hall (section)

== Architecture ==

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Palma Hall was designed by the first campus architect, Cesar Homero Rosales Concio. He also designed the twin building of Palma Hall--Melchor Hall (known also as the College of Engineering building) which is originally similar in structure and volume but modifications to the buildings have been made in the subsequent years. It is said that the design for Palma Hall and Melchor Hall was influenced by the popular City Beautiful Movement [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Beautiful_movement]] during that time. He also designed Vinzons Hall and the Church of the Risen Lord. 

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The main building is an asymmetrical structure and is divided into two wings, where the east wing has four floors and the west wing with three, imposed by a central section. Each wing features a continuous open balcony in each floor. The main entry of the building is a rectangular three-story-high portal, where the balconies of the second and third floor overlook it. The overall idea of the design is to make the structure well-ventilated and to let natural lighting enter its halls. This shows Cesar Concio's architectural style of having a rational approach in design resulting in logically arranged spaces, neatness of form and successful adaptation to climate. Furthermore, it also exhibits the architectural style that propagated during that time that characterizes an interrelation of space and transparency in its design that reflects the Filipino quality of lightheartedness.
The Hall also has pavilions where the institutes of the College of Science are located, namely: Pavilions 1 and 2 (the only pavilions with three floors) of the Institute of Chemistry, Llamas Science Hall or Pavilion 3 of the National Institute of Physics, and Pavilion 4 of the Institute of Biology. In the future, the said Institutes will move out of the pavilions to the new National Science Complex, in order to give way for the other departments of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy to occupy them. <ref>http://arkitektura.ph/?p=buildings&view=110</ref>
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Palma is the largest classroom building complex in Diliman that was initially 22,990 square meters initially but has now been expanded by buildings such as the Third World Studies Center.



'''Cesar H. Concio'''

Cesar Homero Concio, born in 1907, has been a great contributor to Philippine architecture both in the field of design and in education. He was a strong proponent of the International Style. <ref>Philippine architecture during the year 1990s to 1960s</ref> He was the first and was a longtime dean at the Mapua Institute of Technology. [4]

In 1928, at the age of twenty, he finished his B.S. Civil Engineering degree at the University of the Philippines, and placed third in the government board examination for engineers. Because during that time degree program in architecture was not yet offered at the U.P., he enrolled at Mapua, where he graduated in 1932 with highest honors. As a student, he had worked in various offices as a draftsman, designer, and construction supervisor. The next year after finishing his degree in architecture, he placed first in the examinations for architects, and subsequently started both his own office and teaching at Mapua. [3]

In 1938, Concio placed first in a government examination for scholarships, providing him the opportunity of taking his Master of Arts degree in Architecture, Housing and Town Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. <ref>UP Diliman Update </ref> He graduated in 1940, submitting a thesis for the design of the University of the Philippines campus that was awarded the highest honors. 

He came back to Manila and worked with the Bureau of Public Works from 1940 to 1945, teaching at the Mapua at the same time. In 1945, he served on the Board of Examiners for Architecture.

He resumed private practice in 1946, forming a partnership with Jesus Bondoc in 1947. The partnership has produced some of the most prominent examples of the International Style in the Philippines: the Liberal Arts (Palma Hall) and Engineering Building (Melchor Hall) of the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1950; the U.P. Protestant Chapel (Church of the Risen Lord) at about 1954, and the Children’s Memorial Hospital in 1957. After Bondoc left to form his own office, Concio designed the Equitable Bank Building along Juan Luna Street in Binondo and the Insular Life Building on Ayala Avenue. [3]