BEST INNOVATIVE DESIGN

PHILIPPINES PAVILION / VENICE BIENNALE 2021

The work of architects Sudarshan Khadka Jr and Alexander Eriksson Furunes has been in the spotlight since their projects for Haiyan Typhoon-struck Tacloban. Their method of design, especially for the lower income communities in the Philippines, involves engaging with the end users for their input on the drawing board. The design of the Emergency Services Facilities and Study Centers in Tacloban are successful because affected families were involved in every step until the last brick was put in place.

These two architects collaborated once more, together with the social entrepreneur, GK Enchanted Farm, to showcase this community-led approach, which in Tagalog is called bayanihan, to design. This is rooted in a long Filipino tradition of neighbours looking out for one another, helping build homes for each other and being each other’s form of security. Within a bayanihan, the home does not begin and end with one’s individual shelter but is an integral part of a whole.

The winning project titled Structures of Mutual Support at the Philippines Pavilion of the 17th International Exhibition of La Biennale Di Venezia is a big sign to the world that Philippine design must not be ignored. It showcases the positive take-aways from how Filipinos have always built using the bayanihan system, especially in the pre-colonial era. Architects and end users working side by side together in a community for the community is very relevant till today. Especially in a time where one’s personality tends to trump community, the bayanihan method of building is an important model and could be the key to saving the planet.

“It showcases the positive take-aways from how Filipinos have always built using the bayanihan system, especially in the pre-colonial era” Words by JJ Acuña

Interior Designer, Creative Director at JJA / Bespoke Studio