CCP’s biggest project to date – the rehabilitation of the iconic Main Building

Even with the on-going rehabilitation of its Main Building, the Cultural Center of the Philippines forges ahead and moves forward this 2024 with more relevant artistic programming that reinforces arts education and appreciation among the publics and embodies values of katotohanan (truth), kagandahan (beauty) and kabutihan (goodness).

“This year, the CCP heralds another year of firsts and of good old reliable programming, celebrating and advancing the unique creativity of our people and culture,” said CCP vice-chair Margie Moran-Floirendo during the CCP Institutional Press Conference held recently at the LIwasang Kalikhasan’s Bamboo Pavilion.

For 2024, it will be business as usual with CCP’s biggest project to date – the rehabilitation of the iconic Main Building. In 2023, the CCP announced the closure of its Main Building to give way to rehabilitation.

 REHABILITATING THE CCP MAIN BUILDING

The rehabilitation has been underway since January 2023. The rehabilitation project emanated from the building audit the CCP did from 2018 to 2019. The findings from the audit necessitated that the 55-year-old building needed more than its usual maintenance.

What the audit findings saw were the apparent wear and tear due to the building’s old age. But the deterioration seems much worse beneath the surface, although the foundation of the building remains strong.

“As we all know, CCP is the work of our National Artist Leandro Locsin. We can’t just overhaul the whole building. It has been a delicate balancing act of preserving the design and modernizing the building to keep up with the time,” said CCP president ad interim Michelle Nikki Junia.  

Repairing the damages is a very tedious process. Because these structural works redefine the structural integrity of the building for the next 50 years, the construction has been very meticulous.

For the Phase One of the rehabilitation, the CCP engineers, the construction firm and hired consultants have been doing structural retrofitting following the 2015 building code standards while adopting sustainable options.

The Phase One centers on modernizing structural, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical features. Phase Two will simultaneously happen with Phase One, once the structural works are done. Phase Two focuses on mechanical and technical capacities of the theaters.

As of January 2024, the rehabilitation is about 30 per cent completion. With all the consultants already onboard, the CCP expects that the work would speed up.

“We project full completion by 2025. The Main Building and its theaters will definitely open by 2026, welcoming everyone to its theaters with new productions and programs befitting the call of the time,” said Junia.