Slum encounter
A Filipino-British post-graduate student gets inspired by the urban poor in Pasay
by Renee Corteling
“I had no expectations of what my experience would be exploring human settlements, but the whole encounter gave me great inspiration to widen my experience…”
In a way, my meeting with TAO-Pilipinas was serendipity. I am currently a post graduate architecture student in Portsmouth University in the United Kingdom. My particular area of interest is the philosophical analysis of architecture. But I am greatly aware that I need a more hands onexperience with building construction for the community. The Philippines for me seemed a good place to start. I had decided that for my final dissertation I would travel to Manila and explore the unknown world of the slum lands. I am very aware of the mass poverty and poor housing in the world through journals, lectures and media but this was an opportunity for me to gain a deeper understanding and more personal interaction with the communities I could possibly design for. Being in the Philippines to visit these communities to gain primary research for my dissertation was going to be a life changing experience.
Now it may have been my naivete, but I did think that I could simply walk into these communities and observe from the sidelines, covertly researching without being a bother to anyone. Luckily reality met me in the form of University of the Philippines professor Romeo Santos, who suggested that I get in contact with TAO-Pilipinas. He talked to me of a workshop that a group of students from Taiwan University had participated in. Unfortunately I missed the initial field trip, but he told me TAO-Pilipinas would be a good first port of call and I found myself in contact with the head of research, architect Faith Varona.
