Vernacular architecture? What exactly does vernacular architecture mean? According to Henry Glassie we should look at architecture like poetry, a reflection of our past that delineates the beauty of the surrounding culture and discovers the humanity of the local people. In Glassie’s book Vernacular Architecture, he describes the academic process of studying a building, understanding the connection between the land, the inhabitants, and the local materials that form the structures. Glassie also describes how architecture can change to reflect a transition in cultural attitudes, innovation, and aesthetics. When we gaze upon the buildings of the past we are transported thru time, glimpsing the lives that were led before us through architecture. For instance, when looking at the ancient ruins of the mud houses of southern Asia we can hear the drums, smell the smoke, and see the soul of a life that was led thousands of years ago.

   Transnational urbanism? Just as vernacular architecture is rooted in time and tradition, transnational urbanism is rooted in vision, discovery, innovation and destruction from a birds eye view, removed from the local population. According to Eric Darton author of “The Janus Face of Architectural Terrorism. “. New Edifices are built on the bones of our past. Darton gives us the example of the world trade center built in the 1960's in lower Manhattan, taking over space that housed local businesses and destroyed centuries of maritime culture in the area. Transnational Urbanism makes way for visionary works of art, that reflect global technologies and the ability for one person’s dreams to be eventualized by many and memorialized by millions, embodying creative destruction in the process.

   The contrast between Vernacular and transnational urbanism as styles of architecture are rooted in the vision of a time and place. Vernacular Architecture reflects the diversity of the past and the cultures of Indigenous people in places unknown to us, although these structures reside on what was originally something else, nature is the ultimate source of vernacular architecture. (Glassie 2000). Transnational urbanism is the vision of the global city communicating our transnational technologies, global innovations and a day dream of future possibilities through immense building projects and towering skyscrapers, a monument to destruction and transformation to the global city.

   In Manila the grass huts on stilts are some of the first examples of vernacular architecture that we glimpse. As time passes we see the transformation of these grass huts into more modern versions. The transformation of indigenous grasses and woods as building materials to clay and bricks, mimicking the influence of Spanish architecture. As time passes and the effects of Spanish colonization influence building materials and styles, we see a transnational effect emerge. Large catholic churches build in the Romanesque style, statues of saints chiseled from stone reside at the entrances to these structures and are a departure from the simple indigenous buildings that once resided on these lands. Modern day Manila is an eclectic mix of architecture, merging the old transnational Spanish styles of early colonialism with todays modern architectural features of glass and metal. The diversity of buildings in Manila today rages from the vernacular compressed and unstable self built houses of the urban poor, constructed from any available material, to the Skyscrapers dotting the skyline announcing Manila's emergence into the global marketplace.