The 11th Annual Research Conference for Architectural Researchers and Educators (ACARE 11) has been successfully held last January 26 and 27, 2012 at the Alumni Auditorium of De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in Cavite, in cooperation with the United Architects of the Philippines - Cavite Chapter.

The event has been attended by 11 Peer Evaluators, 12 Presenters, 44 CODHASP Officers and Architects, 9 Guests, 70 Students and a Representative from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). There was a campus tour after the first day of conference using the University’s e-jeep (electronic jeep) and a tour of the Museo De La Salle maked the end of the event. A total of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php150,000.00) has been given to the Organizing Committee which came from the NCCA and the UAP.

SUMMARY DAY 1:

ACARE 11 day one was graced with six research presenters who are architects from around the country. The first paper presentation was entitled “DiwangLunan” presented by Ar. Emilio U. Ozaeta who discussed on searching for the Genius Loci: San Juan City Pride of Place. Through phenomenological research approach the Spirit of Place embodied for San Juan was identified to be “water”. The data gathering fullness for the research was queried since Greenhills was not included as a part of San Juan in the study.

For the second presenter, Architect Rene Luis Mata presented his paper, “In Search of Heritage Trees” which focused on endemic trees that were used as a building material during Spanish times. With collaborations with landscape architect Susan Ong, his research identified the significance of heritage trees as an untapped potential for the construction industry in the country.

The third research presenter was Ar. Br. BelaLanyi with his research on “Benchmarking the Trend towards a Globalized Concept of Function in Architecture”. The objective of the study was to examine the birth, the development and the recent destabilization of “function” as an architectural concept, with its consequences; emphasizing the confusion and confrontation between globalization and local traditions.

“Proposed Physical Development Plan for the Historical Town of Malolos” was the research presented by BSU (Bulacan State University) dean Architect Ma. SaturninaParungao. It emphasized the importance of conserving the town of Malolos, Bulacan into a Heritage Town Center that will also serve as a tourist district.

The fifth research paper was presented by Ar. Rhea Olimpo with a title “Richness and Pattern Analysis of Our Lady of Remedies Plaza in Manila”. With an objective to analyse the visual, non-visual and pattern richness in the plaza; various applicable improvements for the site were formulated in order to meet the goals of the study.

For the last presentation of Day01 are ArchitectsJuanito Malaga and ZenaidaGalingan with their research on “Make or Wreck: Vegetations in Heritage Architectural Ruins”. It focused on two Heritage Architectural Ruins, the Cagsawa Church and Sinimbahanan Church; and the effects of vegetations with these structures.

SUMMARY OF DAY 2

The presentation proper started at around 9:30 in the morning, and was opened with a very interesting innovation of a tricycle to an aerocab by Ar. Teofilo Vasquez... who is not just an architect, but an inventor, innovator, artist, manager, teacher and philosopher mold into one.  Ar. Topy believes in utilizing the power of Architecture to better our communities and improve our lives... with this, reactors and some of the audiences pointed out that the impact of the said aerocab to community and traffic planning should have been incorporated in the presentation.

Our district director for Area B, Ar. Rene Richie Corcuera graced the event...representing our UAP National President , Ar. Ramon S. Mendoza...leaving us five main points to consider:

1. Promote the creative ability to design as a core competency of the architect that can add value to society.
2. Facilitate programs and projects to meet global challenges through networking, sharing of knowledge and resources, continuing professional development and specialization.
3. Work to strengthen the improvement of service delivery, reduction in red tape, abortive works, and asking appropriate fees for service.
4. Reinforce the important role of Architectural education and training to raise-up a new generation of graduates, architects and professionals.
5. Improve the services and friendliness of UAP to better serve members of the public.

Aside from these things, he also emphasized that we... architects should be passionate in terms of service to our very own organization, the UAP.

Ar. Liza Morales Crespo in her presentation entitled: “The Green Revolution: Sustainable Design and Technologies in the 21^st Century and Beyond” pointed out that civil and structural engineers have an important role in the design of green buildings... and that there should be re-evaluation on the current methods of building together with a re –organization of the hierarchy of priorities needs.

The afternoon session was also as good as the morning session.  Ar. Semeon Formozo and Ar. Luis Bo-ot discussed the successful invention of their homemade manual tapping machine which they entitled “Development and Collaboration of a Protoypical Machine”. What’s good with their prototype is that... it is made up of local materials... but will absolutely make improvement in building performances most specifically in terms of acoustics.

The final presentation was delivered by Ar. Rosalie Flores-Bernardo with her research entitled “Solar Power and Historic Buildings:  A Case Study on Building – Integrated Photovoltaics for the exterior lighting of the St. Michael the Archangel Building.  The Research tackled on how technology may be integrated into existing buildings of historic value through facade lighting as an output of the energy harnessed from solar panels.

The conference was ended up with a point of view coming from our very own ACARE president, Ar. Christopher SP Espina.  He emphasized that the goal of these conference is to align our presentation with what we need to improve our teaching methodologies for the BS Architecture program to improve graduates’ competency.  He also mentioned that there should be cooperation between academicians and the practicing architects.

(With reports from Arch. Daisy L.P.-Palattao, uap, Convenor, ACARE 11Chair, DLSU-D Architecture Department)