65-year-old Ramon Magsaysay Center to be re-modernized
To commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Magsaysay’s ill fate and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2023, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation has tapped the Interior Design students of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde for valuable inputs to revamp the RM Center in step with the 21st century.
Come rain, come shine on my daily drive along Roxas Boulevard to my destination of work in a previous life for more than a decade, the erect columns of the Ramon Magysaysay (RM) Center would act as Atlas’ shoulders as it supports the entirety of the massive structure proudly standing still.
A much-loved statesman, Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr., the seventh president of the Philippines, is often mentioned together with the American populist chief executive John F. Kennedy, as both of their destinies were abruptly halted — one a plane crash, the other an assassin’s bullet.
Today, the RM Center honors the legacy of the Filipino leader through its austere but ahead-of-its time architecture supported by discrete concrete columns, all masterfully designed by architect Alfredo Luz, a pioneer of Philippine modernism. To commemorate the 65th anniversary of Magsaysay’s ill fate and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2023, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) has tapped the Interior Design students of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) for valuable inputs to revamp the RM Center in step with the 21st century.
The undergraduates were mentored by an impressive lineup of DLS-CSB educators and industry leaders, to include Ley Gatpandan, Greggy Saliba, Karol Antonio and Lheng Vito Cruz.
They were likewise aided by president Br. Edmundo Fernandez FSC, Chancellor Benhur Ong, Vice Chancellor for Academics Angelo Lacson, School of Design and Arts Dean Asela Domingo, Environment Studies Associate Dean Christine Benet and Interior Design Program chairperson Kat Correa.
The lauded designs were selected by a panel of judges, comprised of Metropolitan Museum of Manila president Tina Colayco, landscape architect, environmental planner and author Paulo Alcazaren, architect and furniture designer Gaston Lorenzo Pastrano, interior design firm Atelier Almario CEO Ivy Almario, Metro.style Home and Living editor Anna Magsaysay-Rosete and United Architects of the Philippines Student Auxiliary (UAPSA) 2021 National President Maxine Lumbera.
Here are the award-winning proposals: