Arch 360: Of High-Rise Cities, Realities, and Duties
By Daks Jimenez
One of the most exciting and arguably one of the most educational pursuits of ASAPHIL is the annual Arch360. In recent years, in an effort to be united as one ASAPHIL, Arch360 has been a joint effort of the different ASAPHIL chapters.
This year, Arch360 was entitled, “Torre de Filipinas: A Symposium on Sustainable Architecture in High-Rise Design. When the theme of this year’s symposium was being conceptualized, the different issues that architecture faces in our country today were being brought up. Out of all these discussions, a particular controversy was brought up concerning Torre de Manila and how it violated the heritage and spirit of place of Manila as it “photobombed” the otherwise striking view of the treasured Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. With this as a starting point, a discussion on matters about how emerging technologies in a continuously urbanizing country can be regulated and utilized to better fit culture and context soon progressed and as a result, “Torre de Filipinas” as the title of the next Arch 360 materialized.
It was conceptualized with one particular question in mind, how should high-rise buildings be designed in the Philippines?
As mentioned, this topic of course requires a look into emerging technologies today. It is a challenge enough to design a functional and aesthetically appealing high-rise building (Arki students who have went through the excruciating rigors of 3rd year would know). To add the element of culture and consequently, context, is another daunting challenge in itself. Thankfully, Arch360 was graced by three respected resource speakers in Engr. Edgar Sabidong, Arch. Gloryrose Dy, and Arch. William Ti who shared their experiences with the participants regarding the topic.
The three speakers all had different takes on the issue. Engr. Sabidong, a civil engineer and a board member of the Philippine Green Building Council, discussed new technologies available today with regards to constructing a sustainable high-rise building. His talk included all concerns about temperature control, modes of construction, and available materials among other things. He illustrated high-rise buildings like machines with different functional components that allows them to not only survive but be efficient in their context. The second speaker was Arch. Dy, a Davao-based architect who talked about the application of vernacular building and design traditions to the modern context of high-rise building. The symposium was wrapped up by Arch. William Ti, Head architect of WTA Design who shared his insights on integrating green spaces with the vertical forms of high-rise buildings.
Three speakers, providing three different point of views on what “Torre de Filipinas” or the Philippine skyline should be like, and probably would be like given the resources, in the future.
Now, as students and future designers, what is our takeaway from all this? What should we have learned from this Arch360 in this particular topic that would help us in our careers in the future? Truth be told, this is an example of the perfect marriage between our aspirations and our duty as designers for the nation.
Torre de Filipinas teaches us something apparent but in need of emphasis, that it is up to Filipino designers to take control of the built environment if we truly want it to be ours. As a country we were often led to believe that someone outside our boundaries knew better about how our cities should be designed and the reality we face is that with the global competition today, we are very likely to lose opportunities to other designers because they are supposedly "world-class”. What’s even more painful is that the people who choose them are also Filipinos. It is the harsh and grounding reality of our profession today. However, if we have learned anything from Arch360, it is that we know we are capable of being globally competitive. We sure have the ideas for it.
If we look back at the different plates that we’ve done throughout our stay in college, every piece of research, space programming document, design concept, every sketch, render, and model, we see that up to this point, we have been relentless in our pursuit of innovation in design. As we’ve been told, the future and the “real world” is different and not as flexible to new ideas as college is but that is no reason for us to drop what we have learned and just go with the flow. Otherwise, what was the 4 or 5 years that we have spent or are to spend in the University of the Philippines even for?
At this point in our lives, we are eager to take as many opportunities as we can and we are not to be faulted for this because we do need experience to grow as designers. However, we also have to realize that our country needs our help not just in the future but now. It cannot and does not wait for us to grow and develop. Cases like Torre de Manila happen often whether we grow or not. Our country needs us now. That is the takeaway from this year’s Arch360.
The late Prof. Jojo Mata once told his class before (non-verbatim),
“Many have tried to design a truly Filipino high-rise building before but have failed. That is the challenge to the younger generations now. Maybe it is up to a younger generation, with all of the innovations today, to solve this problem.”
The future of our cities and our country is being entrusted to us. Let us do our nation proud.
