The Pride of UP Diliman: A Critical Analysis of Quezon Hall If you ask a student of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman where the famous Oblation statue can be found, he or she will answer, “In front of Quezon Hall,” without hesitation. Indeed, Quezon Hall is almost as iconic to UP Diliman students as the Oblation itself. It is the seat of administration at the campus, and together with the Oblation, it welcomes anyone who enters UP Diliman via the University Avenue.

1. The History behind Quezon Hall Quezon Hall has extreme historical and cultural significance, and much can be gleaned from an analysis of it. It is one of the oldest structures in UP Diliman, having been built in the 1950’s. During the time of its construction, World War II had just ended, and UP was in the process of transferring from Manila to Diliman. In order to address the need for the repair of damaged buildings and the erection of new ones, the US-Philippines War Damage Commission gave a P13 million grant to the UP administration. Quezon Hall was one of the new buildings constructed as part of that infrastructure project. In his study about Philippine architectural character coherence with UP Diliman as a model, Mark Anthony Morales affirms that those buildings “established the Diliman campus’ original institutional character” (10). Originally, Quezon Hall was called the Administration Building and was meant to house only the Central Administration. But in 1963, one year after