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space matters: upid’s advocacy

“What will you build? A wall? A roof? A room? Or will you build stronger families, better neighborhoods and brighter futures?”

I saw this in Habitat for Humanity’s website yesterday and made me think about my work. For people like me who are in the design and construction industry, “building” is what we do everyday. But because it has been a part of our daily lives, we tend to forget the meaning and purpose of what we do as builders and designers. We do not just make things pretty and functional; we improve the lives of the people by providing better living and workings environments.

This has been the advocacy of UP Interior Design (UPID) under the College of Home Economics for the past 9 years—to build a better and stronger Filipino society by improving the interior environments of underserved communities and institutions here in Manila. This replaced the typical interior design exhibits that previous batches were organizing.  Apart from helping underserved communities, this annual project also allows students to become aware of the possible impact of their work as future interior designers especially with regards to community building and social change.

Below are the rehabilitation/renovation projects that past UPID students have undertaken:

BID batch AY 2001- 2002 – three underserved institutions: Golden Acres, Study Center for Children, and Gawad Kalinga model unit.

BID batch AY 2002-2003 – the pediatric ward, lobby, doctors’ hallway and chapel of the East Avenue Medical Center (2nd and third images above)

BID batch AY 2003-2004 – a preschool in Payatas, the library and clinic in the Balara Elementary School and the library of the Balara High school

BID batch AY 2004-2005 – Children’s Joy Foundation shelter for children

BSID batch AY 2005-2006 – Barangay Aklatang Pambata (5th & 6th images)

BSID batch AY 2006-2007 – HE Cares Foundation shelter for boys (4th image)

BSID batch AY 2007-2008 – UP Kalayaan Residence Hall

BSID batch AY 2009-2010 – doctors’ clinics at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (top image)

You can read our feature on last year’s Cradle Project HERE. Next week, we’ll share with you this year’s UPGRADE Project that hopes to improve the lives of 7 families! df

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