PUTTING HEART INTO THE ART: A Rights Based Barrier Free Community

Last July, I got an email from Lantawan Magazine's editor- in-chief, Archt. Bela Lanyi, SVD telling me that University Of San Carlos' Department of Languages is asking if they can publish an article I wrote 2 years ago (with Eugene yaoto) in an English text book. I said no.  KIDDING. WHAT AM I CRAZY? :)) Of course I said yes, I was so happy I ran straight to my parents room to proclaim the good news. Haha. I'm honored and hyped that a lot more students will get to read this article that I poured my soul into. Thank You, Lord. :) 


This article is about Designing for Persons with disabilities.  So here I am, sharing it with all of you. Some may find it candid, some naive, some just plain idealistic. But here's a piece of my heart that goes out to our  brothers and sisters who are physically deprived :)

(Thanks to Sam Despi, our beautiful layout artist, for sending me a copy of this article again. haha. You the best Sammie! :D )

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2010 Cover

Like a paper tiger, the bahay kubo bravely folds out of the void, as if to challenge the sterotypes of native Filipino aesthetic as one of "horror vacui" or fear of empty spaces. In fact, its utter simplicity has more in common with Zen or modernist design, proof once again that distaste for clutter knows no borders.

Putting Heart into the Art

An advocacy for a Rights Based Barrier Free Community for Persons with Disabilities

By: Kathrynn Dawn Sy and Eugene Laurence Yaoto

Imagine traveling the world in alacrity, boldly breaking borders and discovering fresh ideas, reaching dreams and enjoying undisclosed havens. You’re just thrilled and thriving.

Then suddenly, you glance through a mirror, see a missing arm, discover an immobile pair of legs, a hearing aid,even ablurry reflection.The idea hits you—it’s not as easy as it seems.

Our ancestors found ways to reach far-flung places by building bridges, be it in the form of land bridges or boats. They discovered faster means of mobility shortly after.  But somewhere between the past and the present, along the highway towards urbanism and development, access became a problem. Ironically.

July ___,  2009. To our surprise, design class was cancelled. We heard it over the speakers.We had to be at the CAFA theatre to attend a talk about “People-Friendly Environments for an Inclusive Rights-Based Barrier Free Community for Persons with Disabilities(PWD).” Half curious and half skeptical, we went inside to check what it was about  with, frankly, an intention to make our exit and carry on with our design plate twenty minutes after.

We went inside and saw a slide onscreen but no one onstage. We scanned the place for a new face, a prospective speaker, and we beheld an intelligent and kind-looking woman in a wheelchair. She was Ms. Adela Kono, Vice-Chair of the Accessibility Monitoring Committee. Having spent half of her lifetime in a wheel chair, she’s an active accessibility specialist who believes in the worldwide disability movement’s motto:“Nothing about us without us.” To make the long story short, our skepticism, which continued on through halfway of her presentation,was slowly replaced by a burden. We found ourselves hanging on to the lady’s every word and every slide. Yes, we finished her presentation.

Building communities is a great honor bestowed on creators such as architects, engineers, and designers. Along with this is a sense of accountability for the safety and well-being of the inhabitants of our built environment, safety most especially for those who are already physically deprived.

Having been introduced to Batasang Pambansa 344 or the “Accessibility Law”  in our Professional Practice class, we were already aware of disabled persons’ needs and demands in so far as the practice of architecture is concerned.However, it wasn’t until that afternoon that we came to know how pressing and necessary it is to strictly yield to these demands and shed off little compromises as designers. We didn’t realize how strenuous and dangerous these small compromises are for PWDs until we actually heard it from them, elaborated and demonstrated down to the details.

 We have noticed that a lot of times, when designing structures with very limited areas, architects tend to shorten PWD entrance ramps, increasing the slope andmaking it difficult to access, lessen the toilet space, and forget about all the short access ramps that take PWDs from one storey/elevation/space to another.  Perhaps the reason that owners are hesitant to yield to these needs is that it takes a good deal of marketable space. Space, after all, is money.  Plus, it is not very aesthetically enhancing. But what is form, or in this case economics, without functionality?

To be honest, their needs are nothing too expensive, nothing hi-tech, nothing rocket-science. Their needs, however, still demand a lot of space and close attention for logistics: foot space, positioning of grab bars, distances and clearances to the .05m, height of switches and outlets, furniture and fixtures, parking spaces. It’s all just a matter of human rights, of putting heart into the art.

How can we think of comfort for usual people and not think of comfort for those who need it more? We truly need humane designers who will pay attention to the PWD’s most pressing needs and give some empathy in the service we call architecture, a call for relearning, an appeal for concerned professionals to put their knowledge in application.

Buildings are made for people, not the other way around.

That’s basic. Well, supposedly.

If designers were more humanitarian, more sensitive to the needs of others, then organizations such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities need not exist.

Disability is not a deficiency. It is a consequence. “It results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” (UNCRPD).

So you think your building is PWD-friendly? Below is a checklist, ten ways of checking if your building is barrier-free and universally accessible. Go over it. Pin it to your cork board. Attach it to your organizers. Whatever it takes. 

Be honest! 

(Checklist attached here, To see the chart checklist, get yourself a copy of the Lantawan Magazine 2010 back issue! :D )

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Thanks again, Bro Bela for allowing me to write, Eugene for encouraging me to join, And Mrs Kono, our resource person.


To everyone from CAFA, you'd be amused to know that this article was cooked at the ACC (archtitecture computer center) one hectic deadline afternoon when the ACC was full! You know what that's like!:)) ) 

Meanwhile, This year's theme is "Nation Building" and I still haven't thought of a topic due one month ago. My brain cells are dead, I think it misses school. Oh no.

Later. :)

Beyond Seduction: The Pursuit on Finding the Legacy of our Time

I submitted an article for Lantawan Magazine & Bro. Bela (editor in chief) urged me to publish it anonymously thinking it might be too offensive. I agreed, just because it sounded cool (woaaah anonymous!).Looking back, maybe I should've gotten a pen name! (oooh that would have been spicy! haha). Im publishing it here, just because I can. Just because I want to put a face behind my article. Just because, Im no longger a student.( \m/)


Here it goes:
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"When faced with a problem, we don't only think of a solution. We use the problem to come up with an even better design."-- This is what my Design 3 adviser told me when I consulted him about my parking building dilemma three years, eighteen plates, one esquisse, and one thesis ago. (whew)

It would be much later that I saw exactly what he meant. A lot of the greatest breakthroughs in architecture came  forth as a result of a pressing need. Gothic era's quadripartite vault transpired from the barrel vault because there was a problem of structural support, and so did buttresses. Brunelleschi's strutted, double- shelled dome was invented as a substitute to the conventional drum to serve as a deterrent to construction difficulties.Geometry was discovered as a basis for planning in the renaissance and would later make plans more functional, beautiful, proportional, interesting. Joseph Paxton's luminous, light, airy crystal palace ignited the era of pre-fabrication as a means of faster, and lighter construction through iron and glass. All these were design solutions that turned out to be architectural trends, catching on fast like lemonade sold on a hot day. The architects behind these innovations exceeded the expectations of their time- revolutionary!

Crystal Palace, ignited the industrial revolution

Brunelleschi's dome

In the long and rich history of architecture, every era, every period, every decade leaves an invaluable inheritance to the next. A lot of architectural principles during the Renaissance can be traced through subsequent architectural movements- from Mannerism, to Baroque, or Rococo, to Neo- Classicism, to Eclecticism, to Modernism, and to Postmodernism. The influence of Renaissance architecture can still be seen in many of the modern styles and rules of architecture today. The same goes with the Gothic era, the early Christian period, the Baroque, etc.

Now what's with "Parametric Design", "Smooth Architecture" and "digitally driven design" being dubbed as "the legacy of our time" ? I applaud the innovation behind this creative form- finding method. Aesthetics-wise, interesting. But what about climate? Won't those giant fish bowls increase heat gain inside buildings? And economy? Aren't we supposed to promote locally abundant and sustainable materials? The Philippines is a third- world country. Our needs are different. Our Social Issues are different. Therefore, the    direction we must take must also be different. We can blame it on the internet and the many pictures of buildings that scream "copy me!" or we can blame it on us for wanting to be something we're not.

In one of our school's forums, A schoolmate once asked an international, Filipino, parametric design expert about the advantages of this innovation. I was heart-broken when the expert said:"Since your forms are unique, you get to attract more clients, and more clients mean more projects" True, but we should know better than luring our clients. We're suppose to educate them. The notion of the parametric and the potential network practices may need to incorporate more digital techniques in order to step-up to the challenge of the future while building on the recent past. If it isn't for that, then it's nothing but seduction.

If I may quote from Niccolai Ouroussoff: " The greatest influence of this trend, however, may be on a younger generation of architects. Reared in an era where there seems to be an irresistible supply of work, these architects often seem eager to build at any cost. And their facility with computer software can make it easy to churn out seductive designs without digging deeply into social truths."

Personally, this type of architecture is a legacy for legacy's sake alone: egocentric, proud and shallow. It is true that " Open-mindedness doesn't necessarily cause you to lose origin or culture". But culture or origin is not the concern of what seems to be "close-minded" people like me. Rather, it is purpose. 

Wasn't architecture created primarily to provide for users' needs without jeopardizing the environment and the generations after us? Wasn't this what differentiated architecture from all other forms of art? Now tell me, what part of "service" does this twisting and tapering belong to? We are building habitats, not action figures. If we are brilliant enough to even think of leaving a legacy to the world, then, aside from the search of beauty, let's think of ways to increase the competence of our structures, not waste our time trying to make them look like ships, aircrafts, toys, or a scene from the Jetsons! The possibilities are endless: faster or easier construction, energy-saving features, cheaper resources, more functional building systems. The list is long.

Alessandro N. Tombazis, a noble Greek architect, said: "Architects by definition have to have a higher degree of egoism, otherwise they would not be creators. Within this vanity however, humility should be one of the guiding forces, otherwise we cannot serve, we cannot create understanding that what is around us is more important than our own selves."

What we need is a more meaningful legacy to leave the next generation with, especially at this age where change is most crucial. I want my generation of designers and builders to design for a reason, for a bigger purpose other than ego and aesthetics. I want us to humbly build in order to improve quality of life here on earth, that in its most beautiful form.


:)
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On a much lighter note, I miss CAFA. sort of. These are photos from three years ago. :) 

By the way, some time after thesis defense, Bro. Bela said he regretted making it anonymous :))
Oh serious stuff. haha.