“I experienced warmth in the midst of urban poverty”
by Lisa Sykes
“We knew that visiting the settlement was not common and so we felt extremely privileged to be allowed into the area to see exactly how the people were living.”
Opportunities to travel to the Philippines and work alongside TAO-Pilipinas to design urban shelter for middle income people in Metro Manila don’t come around often so I was extremely excited when I got the opportunity to go to Manila on a study visit connected to my architecture degree project at Lund University in Sweden.
I was part of a study group of 16 pupils, half from Sweden and half from other countries in Europe and Latin America. The first phase of the project was a four-week introduction period in Sweden before traveling to Manila in February 2009, where we met with TAO-Pilipinas for the first time. Immediately a good connection was made between the students of Lund and the staff of TAO and we began a four-week intensive program of site visits, housing visits, and interviews with local people.
The assigned task was to design housing for middle income families on the North Triangle Site in Quezon City, next to the Trinoma Mall between EDSA, North Avenue, and Quezon Avenue, which proved to be no easy feat. As one of the requirements, I was instructed to conduct a site analysis of this area, which proved to be fascinating given that the site is currently an informal settlement for 25,000 people. We knew that visiting the settlement was not common and so we felt extremely privileged to be allowed into the area to see exactly how the people were living.
For me, this was the most remarkable time spent in Manila, as it was the most dissimilar situation I experienced compared to life in Sweden or the UK. I experienced a warm and friendly environment in the midst of urban poverty, an environment that is rarely felt in even the wealthiest areas of the western world. It was important to meet these people, to ask them questions, to see their daily life, and build a relationship that would last through the design phase of our university projects. By meeting the current settlers first hand, we were able to think very sensitively about our proposals, about what they would want, about how they could use the site and the buildings, and ultimately, about how we could improve their lives under strict parameters such as apartment size, project cost, and so on. I learned that people with a limited income tended to be much more creative and resourceful than most others and so I wanted to allow this creativity to flow through my project work.
Despite this site visit being the most memorable on my part, we undertook a series of equally interesting and diverse site visits to other areas in Manila. The group visited the St. Hannibal Christian Community (SHaCC) housing in Pasay City and the Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity housing in Baseco, Manila. My reaction to these areas was of utmost admiration. It struck me that you don’t need to spend a large amount of money or have an incredibly complex design to construct new housing areas for former slum dwellers. I was particularly impressed with the design of the St Hannibal’s housing units and the way in which the residents had adapted to an environmentally conscious lifestyle incorporating urban agriculture. Each unit had a small outdoor area, whether it was a terrace of balcony space, and all residents had used these areas to maximize the urban agriculture possibilities such a small space could offer. Assorted plants, bushes, herbs, and fruits were all grown in an attractive manner, and it proved to me that simple actions can vastly improve quality of life and housing environment. It was these gestures that greatly encouraged and influenced my design proposals. We conducted a series of interviews with middle-income residents of HURA and National Housing Authority projects within Manila, as well as visited high-end developments (such as the Porto Fino housing development in Muntinlupa) and relocation projects (for example, Smokey Mountain). I was fortunate enough to listen to a series of lectures at the University of the Philippines by a series of teachers and professionals alike.
Our project work continued on our return to Sweden, where we designed new neighbourhoods and specific housing blocks and units. All projects were diverse, challenging and ultimately successful. Faith Varona of TAO-Pilipinas was present at the final presentations in Lund and offered insightful comments and suggestions. Faith will be showing the projects to the relevant housing departments back in the Philippines with the hope of some of our ideas being used in reality.
The trip to the Manila has showed me the importance of meeting the people you are designing for in person, of listening to their views and reacting to what they want and need directly. I have learned a great amount about the Philippines in general, the way of life and the nature of Filipinos, and perhaps most importantly, to adapt to and embrace a new culture and environment at a fast rate. I will never forget the experience I had with TAO-Pilipinas and Lund University and I hope to continue with this field of work in my professional career.
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About the Author
Lisa Sykes is a postgraduate student in architecture at the University of Nottingham in the UK . She has been an exchange student at Lund University since January 2009 where she got the opportunity to travel to Manila as part of the Urban Shelter course offered in Lund. She has always had a keen interest in how architecture can help the developing world and will choose to continue this work once she returns to study for one more year in the UK . She spent one year in Shanghai where she developed her interests in art and photography. Lisa also loves to travel and spend time in other countries and hopes to return to Asia in the near future to continue enhancing her knowledge of this region.
Tags: lisa sykes, lund university, urban shelter course
Reflections | rp | 15 January 2010 |
