Working well under pressure while navigating differences is what a group of seven junior architecture students from the Technological Institute of the Philippines (T.I.P.) consider as one of their takeaways from winning a recent architectural competition.
Their design proposal “Hinto: A Glimpse of the Forgotten” bested 95 other entries at the 2022 EULAT Manila Architectural Workshop organized by Instituto Cervantes de Manila and the Spanish Embassy in collaboration with the Intramuros Administration last November 2022.
Their proposal featured an open-planned structure amidst the bustling Magallanes street with arcs that stood on concrete pillars and latticework inspired by the traditional architectures of churches built around Intramuros.
T.I.P. Manila students Aubrey Denisse Santos, Missey Andrea Liwanag, Joriz Mendoza, David Joshua Falame, Aron Frank Gosim, Jeron Escandor, and John Joseph Aberte said they joined the contest only to gain some experience. Little did they know they would win the grand prize.
“We wanted to give people a space for them to find whatever answers they are looking for, to remind them of those things that they have somehow forgotten subconsciously,” explained Santos of their winning architectural design.
Their proposal featured an open-planned structure amidst the bustling Magallanes street of Intramuros with arcs that stood on concrete pillars and latticework inspired by the traditional architectures of churches built around Intramuros.
According to Liwanag, they designed it that way to help them maximize and control the entry of daylight into the building as well as facilitate better airflow “because we want to achieve as much as possible the openness of spaces.”
The 2022 EULAT Manila Architectural Workshop contest was an initiative of the European Union National Institutes for Culture as part of its EULAT 4 Culture project aimed at strengthening cultural ties between Europe, Latin America and the Philippines.
A five-man jury composed of Architects Jose Arcilla (Intramuros Administration), Gerald Lico (University of the Philippines), Rino Fernandez (University of Santo Tomas), Michael Manalo (National Commission for Culture and the Arts) and Javier Galvan (Instituto Cervantes) selected the winning entries based on their “capacity to integrate intangible characteristics in Fil-Hispanic architecture in a modern and innovative design, which invites reflection and debate.”
