CASE STUDY: Urban Open Space

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE AREA

Quezon City is situated on the northeast portion of Metro Manila. It is bounded on the north by Caloocan City and
San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan Province, on the east by San Mateo and Marikina, on the south by Pasig and
Mandaluyong, San Juan and Manila, and on the west by Valenzuela, Caloocan, and Manila. Its northeastern and
eastern boundaries are defined by the Novaliches Watershed and the Marikina River. With an area of 16,112.58
hectares, it is the largest among the sixteen (16) cities and one (1) municipality in the region and is almost one-fourth
the size of Metro Manila.
Quezon city is the biggest city of Metro Manila and mostly occupied by small to medium establishment and
government property such as Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Heart Center, DENR, PAGASA Science
Garden and many more. And Quezon City has received several awards for being the most highly competitive
urbanized city in the Philippines being the outstanding public libraries with special programs and outreach.

HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN SPACE:

The Quezon Memorial Circle is located at the elliptical road of Diliman Quadrangle, it is 27 hectares park. It was first
envisioned in 1941 as part of the new national capitol city by President Manuel Luis Molina Quezón (1878-1944) and
the planning team of Arch. Harry Talford Hughes Frost (1886-1943), along with Eng. Alpheus Daniel Williams (1887-
1945), Arch. Juan Marcos de Guzmán Arellano (1888-1960), Arch. Louis P. Croft (1900-1978), and Arch. Welton
David Becket (1902-1969).

1941 QC Master Plan and Arch Harry Talford Frost

Its main feature is a mausoleum containing the remains of Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the
Philippines, and his wife, First Lady Aurora Quezon. It was supposed to originally intended as the grounds of the
National Capitol to be built in Quezon City to house the Congress of the Philippines. The location was also part of a
larger National Government Center located around Elliptical Road and the Quezon City Quadrangle (made up of the
North, South, East, and West Triangles). The NGC was meant to house the three branches of the Philippine
government (legislative, executive, and judicial).
The monument would consist of three vertical pylons (representing the three main geographic divisions of the
country: Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao), 66 meters (217 ft) tall (Quezon's age when he died), surmounted by
three mourning angels holding sampaguita (the national flower) wreaths sculpted by the Italian sculptor Monti.

Due to the cost of importing Carrara marble, the construction begun slowly. There were also problems associated
with the theft of the marble blocks and the management of memorial funds. The monument was finally completed in
1978, the centennial of Quezon's birth. On 1979, Former President Ferdinand Marcos mandated the site as national
shrine. The National Historical Institute manages, and has authority, over the monument itself, while the Quezon City
government administers the park.
DETAILS OF THE OPEN SPACE:
The Quezon Memorial Shrine is an art deco-themed monument was designed by Federico Ilustre and was built
during the 1950s and serves as the centerpiece of the Quezon Memorial Circle.The circle was surrounded of several
design features such as amusements parks, recreational areas for the visitors, museums and etc.,. The circle was
part of everyday lifestyle for the park goers and this is not just a park but a family-friendly spot. The circle was served
as the picnic and relaxations area for the people and also serves as the home for the homeless people. For those
into physical activities, the park has an amusement park that offers different attractions like slides, monkey bars, the
seesaws, rides for both kids and adults, and many more. Of course, Circle is also widely known as a place for
joggers and aerobics enthusiasts. Within the park you may also find museums, other monuments and markers, and
gardens located within the property. There are also several dining stalls and outlets that cater to all park visitors. The
Circle has slowly but surely become the melting point for citizens in QC with an active lifestyle, searching for a bit of
sanctuary in one of the busiest cities in the country.
Museums

The planned auxiliary structures (presidential library, museum, and theater) were never built. Two smaller museums,
one containing the presidential memorabilia of Quezon, and the other containing items on the history of Quezon City,
were installed within the Shrine itself. In the 1980s, missing, lost, or incomplete bas reliefs for the outside of the
memorial were installed.

A house of Manuel L. Quezon family in Gilmore, New Manila was transferred within the Quezon Memorial Circle and
was made a museum. A city museum, the Quezon City Experience (QCX) was also opened within park grounds in
late 2015.
The Presidential Car Museum, housing the presidential cars of former Philippine presidents, was inaugurated on
August 19, 2018.
Recreation spaces
Quezon City Circle also hosts the Circle of Fun, a small amusement park which has various rides such as the "Fun
Drop" a drop tower ride and the "Sea Dragon", a pirate ship type of amusement ride. A separate attraction, the Pedal
N Paddle offers go-kart rides, boat rides in a small pond, fish spa, a 4D theater and Skybike, where patrons ride
modified bicycles attached on an elevated rail.
A children's playground and a rental bicycles are also available which can be used on a bicycle track within the park.
Dining outlets and a flea market are also situated within park grounds.
Previously the park had a disco area near the Quezon Memorial Shrine but it has been closed down.
Public facilities for events such as the Seminar Hall, Century Hall, People’s Hall, and a stage, as well as covered
courts were introduced by the city government which took over administration of the park in 2008. A dancing fountain
was also renovated by the city government which is illuminated with colors at night.
Gardens, monuments, and markers
The elliptical park features smaller gardens and named green spaces within its grounds such as the Hardin ng Mga
Bulaklak and the Tropical Garden. The Quezon Memorial Circle also host a demo urban farm which in 2015 is
occupying. The urban farm inside the park is one of the several sites under the "Joy of Urban Farming" project of
Vice Mayor, Joy Belmonte which was launched in 2010. In 2011, the Cactus and Succulent Garden designed by
Serapion Metilla was opened to the public.
Among the other areas of the park is the World Peace Bell. The bell installed not before 1994, was a donation of the
World Peace Bell Association, a Japanese organization promoting awareness on the world peace movement. The
Philippines was the first Southeast Asian nation to receive a bell from the association. The first bell was made from
coins donated by the then 65 member countries of the United Nations, weighs , has a height of , and a diameter of . It
was designed by the Quezon City Planning Office.
The bell was turned over to then Quezon City Vice Mayor, Charito Planas by World Peace Bell Association Executive
Chairman Tomojiro Yoshida at the Tsunamachi Mitsui Club in Tokyo on July 1, 1994. The bell was inaugurated by
then President Fidel V. Ramos on December 10, 1994 who formally presented the bell to then Quezon City Mayor
Ismael Mathay.
A Peace Monument was also erected inside the grounds of the park by the Rotary Club. It marked Quezon City as a
Rotary Peace City as part of the "Community Peace Cities/Towns" concept conceived by the Rotary Club of Wagga
Wagga, Australia. Quezon City is the fifth Rotary Peace Community in the Philippines and 25th in the world. The
peace monument was inaugurated on December 7, 1999.
The Philippine–Israel Friendship Park is hosted within the larger Quezon Memorial Circle beside the Quezon
Heritage House. The park had its groundbreaking in December 2017 and was inaugurated in August 2018.It
commemorate President Manuel L. Quezon's efforts to accept 1,000 Jewish refugees in the Philippines during the
World War II era and the Philippines' support for the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the
establishment of the State of Israel.
Vendors and stalls
As of 2017, the Quezon Memorial Circle hosts five restaurants and 13 food stalls. There are also 19 kiosks, 39 plant
stalls, as well as 21 stalls from Agri-Aqua Network International. 7 other establishments also has presence in the park
including the TEC bike rental, Pedal n Paddle Inc., and Philippine Mango Seedling. Following a planned
redevelopment of the park by Mayor Joy Belmonte some stall vendors and restaurants surrounding the park's
children's playground vacated the park after their permit expired on June 30, 2019.
Visitors
In 2012, it was reported that an average of 8,000 people visit the Quezon Memorial Circle daily. The average figures
during the weekends were reportedly higher during the weekends amounting to 12,000 people. In December 2011,
more than a million visited the park.

REFERENCES:
https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/Quezon-Memorial-Circle-A-Famous-Historical-Park-in-Quezon-City
https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/07/16/quezon-city-the-history-and-art-of-the-quezon-memorial-park/
http://locale.com.ph/locale-city-guide/quezon-memorial-park-a-national-park-and-shrine/
https://primer.com.ph/travel/2019/08/30/quezon-memorial-circle-a-national-park-amidst-the-bustling-city/