ARCHITECTS AND THEIR RELEVANCE IN SOCIETY

International Conference of Architects 2021Manila, Philippines

By: Maria Cynthia Funk, MAdvArc, UAP & Rebecca Vanessa Rellosa, UAP

should be at the forefront of enabling and building the resilience of its people.

As such, a strong message from the conference has been the co-creation of a post-pandemic world while we all look forward to responding to the call for leadership in three realms; in the creation of policies and working with government; in resilience by bouncing back with an agenda and a vision; and, in the new economics by thriving better in a world in the Anthropocene dominion.

On October 26-27, 2021, the International Conference of Architects was hosted by the United Architects of the Philippines and was participated in by member economies of the APEC Architect Central Council (AACC). It is the overall authority for the control and management of the APEC Architect framework. Veritably a milestone, it has been entitled “Global Synergy” - an interplay of essential members of a whole, which when combined, would create an overall impact that is more outstanding than the totality of the individual contributions.

Preparations for the said event commenced in 2019, under the leadership of ICA Convenor Ar. Medeliano Roldan Jr.. with the objective of once again, creating a milestone that is meant to echo the success a decade ago, when the Philippines hosted the same conference and APEC meeting.

The exploratory format of the program by the organizers ensured a high level of engagement, not only among the speakers but also with the audience themselves. Each of the three sessions had individual presentations from 4 distinguished speakers on the assigned topic, followed by a 1-hour panel discussion with questions from both the moderators and audience, which allowed for a more in-depth discourse of the topics and engagement with the attendees.

The onset of the pandemic could have caused volatility and uncertainties in organizing the event; instead, it has become the perfect backdrop for the conference’s theme, leadership through architecture, which is best achieved with a global exchange of ideas and practices in the face of adversity. Architects

There is no distinction between natural and man-made disasters in front of this pandemic. As custodians of the environment, architects and planners should take part in discussing and creating policy greatly saving life and property. Politics, therefore, can be the vehicle by which collective decisions about public issues are arrived at. At the same time, as a society, we need to mitigate the impacts that disasters bring building resilient structures. These challenges certainly pose economic threats, therefore, there is a need to transition from an economy that is degenerative and divisive by default to one that is regenerative and distributive by design, as defined by economist Kate Raworth.

The ICA 2021 has been truly a memorable event against the backdrop of the global crisis for its learnings and realizations. All in all, it has posed to us a challenge that architects should truly need to get involved.