In search of schools that can weather storms
In 2006, the total cost of being unprepared for yearly storms amounted to P19.989 billion — 2.38 million families were affected, 891 people went missing, and 1,158 died.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council believes that 2006 will go down in history as the year when it wasn’t enough to simply brave the storms. In that year’s storms, people were displaced and found shelter in classrooms. But the problem was these classrooms did not hold out for long. And now, two years later, one worldwide competition is on the lookout for a classroom that can face even the worst of storms.
In 2007, My Shelter Foundation teamed up with a number of equally committed partners to bring about the Millennium School Design Competition. Accredited by the United Architects of the
Headed by My Shelter Foundation executive director Illac Diaz, the Millennium School Design Competition is part of My Shelter Foundation’s “Be Better Build Better” program. The competition is not just looking for a durable design, but one that’s environment-friendly as well. And for this, the foundation has partnered up with the Philippine Green Building Council, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), United Architects of the Philippines (UAP), Private Sector Disaster Management Network, the Department of Education, and Red Eye to come up with a competition that will spur this much-needed school-classroom development among most parts of the country. The competition is also sponsored by DHL, ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya, ABS-CBN Bayan, Holcim, Petron, Rotary Shares and Manila Jaycees.
The winning entry will serve as the design to be followed for the reconstruction of the
The Millennium School Design Competition of 2007 gathered a jury panel composed of architects from overseas and various institutions in the country. The judges included architects Rui Leao of Macau and Rita Soh of Singapore, architects Yolanda Reyes of the Architects Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA), Amado De Jesus of UAP, and Nathaniel Mendoza of Dep-Ed along with Director Ronal Flores of NDCC, director Emmanuel Cuntapay of DPWH and executive director Raul Manikan of ABS-CBN.
The design entries were a lot, but the ones that caught the judges’ eyes were Philippine entries by architects Bronne Dytoc, Nicolo Precioso Del Castillo and John Patrick Buensalido. There were also US entries from architects Joe Villanti and Suzette Stoler. The judges also couldn’t help admiring the entries of architects Eleena Jamil of
Declared grand winner was Eleena Jamil who received a cool $10,000 cash prize. Bronne Dytoc took second place with a $5,000 cash prize while Nicolo Precioso Del Castillo bagged the third place with a cash prize of $3,000 . John Patrick Buensalido, Joe Villanti, Suzette Stoler and Fuyuku Makino were awarded honorable mention and given $2,000 each.
Jamil’s entry was inspired by our resilient bamboo. In this winning design, the bamboo was used as a prominent feature of the school and all its classrooms. Jamil believes this material is very cost-friendly and readily available, especially throughout
The construction of Jamil’s
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For more information, visit millennium-school.org.
E-mail the author: ravin.facts@yahoo.com.
