After nine installments, plus some lengthy breaks due to the current situation and personal matters, we are almost ready to close out this series on the UP Diliman campus. The Urban Roamer is working to finish this just in time before the 112th founding anniversary of the University of the Philippines on June 18. So let’s not waste time and continue from where we left off.
Executive House
The equivalent of the Malacañang as far as UP is concerned, the Executive House is the residence of the sitting University of the Philippines resident. Lately though, it is no longer used as such as UP presidents opt to stay in their own homes and just travel to the campus on a regular basis. Thus,. the Executive House has been converted into an events venue for intimate gatherings from time to time.
Unfortunately, I have no information about its architect or when it was built, but it’s estimated to have been completed in the 1960s at least.
PAUW-UP Child Study Center
One of the two educational institutions providing preschool education in the campus, the PAUW-UP Child Study Center is not actually run directly by the university but a nonprofit, the Philippine Association of University Women. Nothing much can be found about the school, like when it first opened its doors but it may have been around the 2000s.
School of Statistics
Completed in 2017, the School of Statistics building is one of the most recent developments in the UP Diliman campus. It also serves as a milestone for the School of Statistics which finally got a multistorey building of its own after having to bear years of being located in a smaller facility at the back of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice.
Office of the University Registrar
Completed in the mid-2000s, the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) building serves as the home of two offices of different scope. One is the Office of the University Registrar under the UP Diliman administration which handles the registration of students in UP Diliman. The other is the Office of Admissions under the UP System itself which handles the admission of students into the different campuses of the University of the Philippines. So yes, the Office of Admissions is the one that handles the UP College Admissions Test or UPCAT.
NISMED Complex
Located along Qurino Avenue between Kalaw and Velasquez Streets, the training and development complex in this part of the campus consists of two institutions. One is the National Institute of Science and Mathematics Education Development (NISMED) which was established in 1997 to help raise the quality of science and mathematics education in the country. This NISMED complex is comprised of two buildings, one built in 1993 to house NISMED’s precursor, the Science Teacher Training Center. It was eventually given the name the Dolores F. Hernandez Hall, after the founder of science education in the country.
The other building currently serves the UP Information Technology Training Center, which offers instruction and technical assistance on information and communications technology to those within and even outside the university. Established in 2004, the UP ITDC is housed in the Vidal Tan Hall, named after the 8th UP president from 1951-1956 and a notable civil engineer in his own right.
Police and Fire Station
Given the vastness of UP Diliman, not to mention a sense of distrust among some in the campus with regards to the police, ensuring the safety and protection of the campus is not easy. Regardless, the campus has its own police and fire station to address security and fire emergencies that may occur. Though given the incident of fires in recent years, not to mention the incidences of fraternity-related violence, some contended that UP Diliman’s police and fire departments haven’t been exactly doing their job well.
Architecture complex
In 2005, after years of staying at the upper levels of Melchor Hall, the College of Architecture moved to a space of its own along E. de los Santos Avenue. Indeed, what the College of Architecture had in mind was not just one, nor two, but four buildings in its complex. One of the buildings was the former Campus Maintenance Office which was heavily damaged in the previous fire but has been adaptively reused to be the administration building of the college.
At this time of writing, the 4th building, an auditiorium, is being completed, along with an open-air amphitheater as well.
Lakandula Complex
The stretch of Lakandula Street houses some key current and upcoming facilities. Coming from E. de lo Santos, the first building one gets to see is the UP Press building, where the university’s publications are being printed.
A few steps ahead is one of the newest landmarks in the campus which, at this time of writing, is still under construction. This will be the home of the UP Resilience Institute, the university’s research institute dedicated to the study and possible prevention of natural disasters. Some may know it though by its previous incarnation: Project NOAH.
Finally, we have the Albert Hall, which is the home of the university’s Archeological Studies Program. The building may have been named after Alejandro Albert, the first Filipino undersecretary of what would become the Department of Education and once served as acting president of UP.
Fine Arts complex
Last but not the least of the college campuses in this series is the College of Fine Arts who set up their present home in the 1990s in what was before the premises of the College of Veterinary Medicine before it moved to the Los Baños campus in Laguna.
The Fine Arts complex area consists of the main building which is the Bartlett Hall, named after the first president of UP Murray Bartlett; Enriquez Hall, named after the first director (AKA dean in today’s terms) of the College of Fine Arts Rafael Enriquez (whose house that is now found in Las Casas Filipinas was the first site of the college); and Tolentino Hall, named after of course one of the most notable alumnus of the college and National Artist Guillermo Tolentino. A fourth building was recently completed which serves as the college’s art gallery.
While technically not part of the College of Fine Arts, located nearby is the site of a future facility, the Freedom Memorial Museum dedicated to the martial law and Marcos years from 1972 until 1986 which is envisioned to be completed in 2022.
Further at E. Jacinto
The stretch of E. Jacinto from the Fine Arts complex is one of the “last frontiers” as far as development is concerned. In the old days, there was an equine stud farm where horses are bred but the facility has shut down by the 1990s. But around the time, housing projects were beginning to rise in the area, particularly the Hardin ng Doña Aurora which is the housing facility for the faculty and staff, the 75-capacity Kamagong Residence Hall which is the dormitory for graduate students and the 482-capacity Centennial Dormitories which caters to undergrads.
To be concluded
Acknowledgements as well to the University of the Philippines, UP Diliman, Iskomunidad, Wikipedia, Lakansining, Department of Science and Technology, UP ITDC, UP College of Architecture, ABS-CBN News, Dr. A. Albert Elementary School, and Spot.ph
