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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

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Maligayang Pasko! Merry Christmas! To my friends and loved ones who I was not able to greet personally, as my gift to you, I am making a one-time donation to UNICEF Philippines to help improve the health of children.

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From Manila Bulletin, Sunday, December 7, 2008:

Kubo, Bato and Beyond:
UP’s centennial architecture tilt
By Voltaire Veneracion

Three factors make architecture truly Filipino: Filipino values, Philippine climate and the use of indigenous materials.Francisco Mañosa, architect

In time for the centenary of the University of the Philippines (UP), the UP College of Architecture is holding a landmark competition to promote Filipino green architecture.

With the aspirational title, “Ang Pinakamagandang Bahay sa Balat ng Lupa (The Most Beautiful House on Earth),” the tilt aims to stimulate the imagination of architecture students and licensed architects alike and rediscover- or redefine- beauty in Filipino design.

The 20th century saw the UP landscape evolve into a hotbed of experimentation in architecture and the arts. Among the architects who have been commissioned to design the buildings of its Diliman campus, for example, were Cesar Concio (Engineering and Arts & Sciences buildings, Protestant Chapel), Juan Nakpil (Administration and Main Library buildings), Carlos Arguelles (Faculty Center), and Victor Tiotuyco (International Center).

To perpetuate this tradition of design excellence and experimentation in the new century, competition sponsor Lafarge Cement Services has agreed to build the winning designs beside the UP Post Office for the public to visit and appreciate. The lots are a stone’s throw from the saucer-shaped UP Chapel, a national architectural landmark designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin in the 1950s when he was just a young graduate of the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

For the UP competition, the organizers would like the entries judged on the basis of aesthetic, environmental, and cultural standards. Prof. Nicolo del Castillo, college secretary and the chairperson of the competition, explains: “The title of the competition itself connotes that the contest is Filipino. Lafarge approached us and said they wanted to sponsor a design competition. And we were able to pinpoint an area that’s close to people: the housing issue.”

Del Castillo observes that in a lot of housing developments for the middle class, homes have been patterned after homes in the West that are oftentimes not suitable to our climate and culture. Unfortunately, architects ultimately follow the dictates of clients.

“With this competition,” he says, “architects are free to create and not be influenced by the biases of clients.”

Del Castillo also explained that the entries should be environmentally sustainable and celebrate tropical living.

“The trend now is green, sustainable architecture- isa yun sa mga goals, but we didn’t want to simply buy into this trend. We wanted to incorporate the greenness into a delightful whole. Para hindi lang sasabihin, ‘Uy, ang bahay mo green.’ Instead, people will say, ‘Uy, ang ganda ng bahay mo.’”

Finally, the winning designs should be an expression of Filipino culture, with our inside/outside sensibility. “We are an outdoors-oriented people,” del Castillo says. “We usually entertain outside, so why not consider this and other behaviors in designing our houses?”

In the end, the UP College of Architecture seeks to make “Ang Pinakamagandang Bahay sa Balat ng Lupa” an opportunity for the profession to develop a deeper set of Filipino architectural principles- new forms that are both climate-responsive and in consonance with local culture.

While emphasizing that participants should not limit their imagination, del Castillo acknowledges the contribution of some architects to the development of this timeless, yet timely, aesthetics.

“(Francisco) Mañosa and (Leandro) Locsin have been advocates of climate-responsive architecture. They are to be credited for our awareness about architecture and climate. Dean Geronimo Manahan was also a strong advocate of that.”

Lafarge Cement Services CEO Samir Cairae says that their company is proud of being part of the project because it provides a meaningful way of promoting sustainable architecture while involving the participation of an important sector in creating greener living environments: architects.

Lafarge Philippines is part of a group of companies with headquarters in France which organized, with the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC), an exhibit on concrete in the Grand Palais museum in Paris last November 14 to 16 during the annual "Fête de la Science" (Science Festival).

Locally, Lafarge Philippines seeks to minimize its environmental footprint by using rice husks instead of coal as fuel in some of its plants. Their carbon asset development consultant Alan Silayan, managing director of Carbon Finance Solutions (CaFiS), explains, “One of the major things they’re doing is switching fuels from a fossil-fuel, coal, to a carbon-neutral fuel, rice husk. Coal is a main ingredient or fuel in cement kilns so if you can switch a portion of that to a carbon-neutral fuel, you reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. They’re pilot-testing it in one plant, and now they’re implementing it in another. And they have future plans for that and for energy efficiency.”

The competition that UP and Lafarge are organizing has two categories: for professionals and for students. Teams may also submit entries.

The competition involves the complete architectural design of a climate-responsive, Filipino house using any set of materials to be constructed on a 200-square meter lot. Each competition category will be assigned its own lot. The house should serve the needs of a family of five (5) persons at the most. It may be a starter house that can be adapted to meet the needs of a typical family as it grows and, as children grow up and leave the house, contracts. Finally, the house should cost a maximum of Php 750,000.00, the ceiling for PAG-IBIG’s affordable economic housing loan.

Registration for the competition began last October 27 and continues until December 16, 2008. Submission of entries will be on February 28, 2009. After winners are announced in March 2009 and the prototype houses built, the winning designs of each category are envisioned to dot UP’s campuses for the use of faculty and staff.

Architects and students who are interested to join may call telephone number 433-2280 or visit the website www.upd.edu.ph/~ca or http://geocities.com/pmbbl_2008.

BAHAY KUBO - ASIN

Note: Registration for the competition is extended to January 31, 2009. Thanks to Pearl Farm in Davao for the above photo of Samal tribe-inspired houses and to Asin for the folk song "Bahay Kubo" ("Hut").