My fellow Filipino Architects and Builders

In 2 weeks I will find myself back in my homeland to present at the 33rd National Convention of the United Architects of the Philippines at the World Trade Center-Manila. My acceptance of their invitation to speak, though I have others in the pipeline, is on the premise that my presentation will be an honest yet vulnerable attempt for a dialogue between a Filipino Architect (wanting to achieve her dreams), to another Filipino Architect who is creating the next generation of design culture.

Here's how I will start off our dialogue, to be continued when I actually arrive in Manila this April:

Building Industry Professionals today live in one of the copasetic centuries and at the same time one of the most uncertain periods of the Third Millennium. This dichotomy presents synergistic challenges where technology and building science continue to influence design and define the benchmark of a civilized nation. The potential for unintentional and undesirable outcomes based upon inter-disciplinary considerations is always present.

As fast-paced changes in the built environment continue to evolve in global economies and societies, it necessitates that urgent considerations be made on how we delineate our own ethos amidst the integration of various influences and the growing Pinoy Diasporas.

This presentation will cover information on the overriding cultural constraints and environmental issues that undermine a nation’s potential for creativity. Investigations are made of the critical pedagogy of those who have defined design movements in history. A “reshaping” of thinking about architecture and forward-thinking initiatives are posed to foster a new design-thinking, process, and inspired responses that intersect with the next generation of technologies. It provides guidance for confronting design choices made by architects that potentially act as a catalyst for the creation of a design culture that pushes boundaries. This results in an inspiration to develop movements that allow our homeland to be considered one of the most important emerging cultural centers in the world. One of the most influential architects and father of Modern Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, once quoted:” The mother of art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own, we have no soul of our own civilization.”

Together let's realize “What it takes to create a 21st Century Design Culture”. My presentation will offer innovative content which will be of interest to building owners, those planning to build, those in academia, policy makers, and industry professionals relative to today’s built environment.

Some members of the Taliesin Fellows (also graduates of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture) will be joining me in Manila to install a surprise "Retrospective" that was originally installed at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin East home in Spring Green Wisconsin during the fellowship celebrations.

I look forward to an open exchange of ideas with you. See you in Manila! I will speak on April 27, 2007 at the World Trade Center-Manila.