The spanking new edifice named in honor of Dr. Melchor T. Villanueva, founder of Naga College Foundation symbolizes the new level of growth of the Naga College Foundation also reflected in its increasing enrolment and all-around academic performance. The MTV Hall was inaugurated on December 7, 2007 on the commemoration of the founder’s 100th year and the 60th foundation anniversary of the institution.
The seven-level building exhibits a distinct “nakedness” architectural design – a unique style, emphasizing the natural state of materials: bare concrete form; undulated edges – the sculptural “eyelid” windows at the stair tower; and the perforated aluminum cladding façade.
The building consists of classrooms for high school, college and the school of graduate studies; a student pavilion; faculty room; basement parking; executive and administrative offices; the board room and the sky garden. It is equipped with an elevator, 100-meter radius lightning arrester, 100% back-up generator, full fire alarm/sprinkler system, closed-circuit television (CCTV), and state-of-the-art toilet facilities. It was designed by Architects Cesar Augusto S. Concio III and Virna Liza V. Padua.
The MTV Hall: An Architect’s Perspective
An educational building must function as a place of learning and must speak of a philosophy. And its philosophy shall be its function. It must evolve from a thought process - and the thought process should be anchored on truth. And the purest form of truth is the naked, unadorned truth. Thus is the philosophy behind the Dr. Melchor T. Villanueva Hall.
As philosophy must be moulded and welded into practical learning, so must the building withstand its practical environs where it stands. It wears its structure on its sleeve with no ornaments; its brutalistic unpainted concrete form symbolizing what it espouses to teach in its bare halls.
In teaching, then comes learning; and with learning comes application. So must learning be learned and then be taught in the cycle of rekindling of truth. Insights must be screened before being applied to the practical world. Thus, the aluminum screen symbolizes the aperture between the insides of learning and the outside world viewed through the rose-colored prism of a student.
Myriads of students shall walk past the screen and peek through each perforation and each perforation shall provide each student a different view of his or her future.
And once NCeans walk down their final steps towards graduating into the real world, they shall look back to the building and see their diffused reflection and be reminded of their once idealistic journey.
This building was erected to commemorate the 60th Foundation Anniversary of Naga College Foundation and the 100th year of its founder, Dr. Melchor T. Villanueva, a testament to his legacy and lifelong dedication of making quality education a birthright for people from all walks of life.
The building’s architectural design exhibits a unique style in itself and emphasizes the natural state of materials. Its particular distinction lies in its nakedness: its bare concrete form and undulating edges, the sculptural “eyelid” windows at the stair tower, and the perforated aluminum cladding facade. This nakedness symbolizes the School’s steps towards humanity’s quest for truth.
