VOLUME 1 • ISSUE NO. 1
VINCENT ASSOCIATES A C T I O N
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CREATED BY:
APISTAR CARDASTO GOMEZ HERBOLARIO MAGAT PALENCIA
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VINCENT ASSOCIATES
CONTENTS
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PHILOSOPHY
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II.
RESEARCH & EDUCATION
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III.
EVALUATION & REPORTING
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IV.
ACTION PLAN
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V.
COMMUNITY
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VI.
HEALTH
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VI.
ORGANIZATION
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V.A. ACTION PLAN
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VINCENT ASSOCIATES
I.
PHILOSOPHY Founded in the Philippines in 2022, Vincent Associates is an emerging adaptive reuse and sustainable design practicing firm that is dedicated to creating and redefining buildings that are not just beautiful but also soulful and healthful creating a clear connection between the building and the environment. As the world is rapidly changing and time flies quickly, buildings are not exempted in aging as well. However our philosophy highlights that even an old and historic building starts to age and become underutilized...
" ... its value depends on how you see it and the story it tells and will continue to tell. " VA believes that architecture doesn't always need to start from scratch. The true challenge begins when you need to work with what you already have and turn it to something remarkable, making the useless usable.
V.A. ACTION PLAN
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DIAGRAM OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES (FELDMAN, 2018)
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PHILOSOPHY
HOLISTIC VISION Vincent Associate's vision is to breathe new life into historic or underutilized structures by converting them into something more dynamic and useful through forwardthinking building design and science. The goal doesn't simply end in making the useless into something useful but to transform it into a more sustainable and will easily adapt to the environment. The firm’s goal is to design numerous LEED certified projects globally, especially at ASEAN countries including Thailand. Vincent Associates is not just passionate about design that solves complex problems but they strive to go beyond the baseline and raise the industry to a higher standard. Our belief is that sustainability in adaptive reuse begins from a project’s inception and continues even after its completion. Our goals are patterned and led by the diagram of guiding principles (shown on left) in order to come up with office standards and design principles. VA envisions not only designing outstanding projects but also inculcating the culture of adaptive reuse and sustainability into our office culture, creating a healthy and encouraging work environment. In this way, it would be easier to translate and concretize this philosophy to our projects.
1-year Goals • Develop an early phase projecta template for sustainable adaptive reuse design • Develop a project kick-off adaptive reuse program checklist • Develop a project energy use and sustainable design database to create project benchmarks 3-5 year Goals • Develop and employ a project close-out process to collect lessons learned from all projects done • Develop an adaptive reuse program checklist and apply it for each phase of design and construction • Deliberately check in with project teams at project phase completion to set sustainability goals
V.A. ACTION PLAN
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RESEARCH & EDUCATION
Continuous education and training are essential to our utilitarian value in an endeavor that is at the helm of the heritage conservation movement and is continuously developing its knowledge of how the built environment's cultural and historical significance affects our quality of life and modern demands. Encouragement and opportunity for the preservation of architectural elements that are important to the local community, while also conserving the region's integrity and historical continuity, are crucial to the process. In addition to supporting adaptive reuse design and modern sustainability, we also seek efforts in participation in seminars, workshops, and lectures, and as well as consistently bring in outside speakers and product representatives to strengthen our expertise and endeavors as a firm. Our company performs its own research into sustainable products, technologies, and systems with the goal of repurposing an existing structure for a new purpose while simultaneously emphasizing the need of preserving the structure's cultural significance or heritage. The steps to be taken to ensure the architectural fabrics of the building are our primary priority. We also ensure the societal, economic, and political measures to maintain the establishment's importance and status. Our previous project successes and failures are also highly valued so that we may better comprehend the success of our previous efforts and chart a course for future advancement.
1-year Goals • Encourage people to use their allotted continuing education time to attend local heritage conferences and tours of local heritage sites, particularly in areas where adaptive reuse has been established. • Organize an annual off-site tour of a local heritage building that exemplifies great adaptive reuse and modern sustainability measures. • Promote employees to communicate about their historic conservation and adaptive reuse design experiences and expertise in public. • Make heritage conservation and sustainability conversation starters at engagements, with presenting bulletpointed objective guides for adaptive reuse approaches. • Hold quarterly team-building events and seminars, as well as Advanced Research meetings and conferences, to promote knowledge exchange. 3-5 year Goals • The workforce is self-assured enough to claim that they have the capacity and expertise to design any project to suit local and international architectural norms. • Organize bi-annual knowledge conferences collaborating on events and fairs with the Local Heritage and Cultural Group. • 90% of the company's members are LEED certified and demonstrate leadership that ensures the company's triple bottom line returns of people, planet, and profit.
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III.
EVALUATION & REPORTING
Post-occupancy monitoring and performance analyses are vital to understanding and evaluating a project's success. That is why we aim to make it a point to look after our turned over projects. With this, we can see what restoration techniques work well for us and more importantly, we can nitpick our design and building rehabilitation faults. With this, we can have the luxury of knowledge with regards to our bread and butter which is adaptive reuse and restoration of heritage structures. With these knowledge in our arsenal, we can go and deep dive into our future projects with confidence and mastery of our craft.
successful design is one that serves its purpose well With all these said, we are launching our firm's very own Client Monitoring Program (CMP). It is not hidden from any one's knowledge that the services we provide require more monitoring and evaluation as compared to structures that are built from the ground up. Restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse requires a more comprehensive feedback report from the occupants and clients. That is why in this CMP, we will assure that we closely monitor the building efficiency and integrity through standardized surveys and tests. 9
VINCENT ASSOCIATES
1-YEAR GOALS Conduct exit interviews with the clients and a sample of the projected users upon reaching 75% project completion Conduct surveys projects
post-occupancy for all past
Collect building consumption data (energy and water measures) that can be used to analyze energy efficiency Gather user occupancy comfort data through interviews
3-5 YEAR GOALS Constantly collect and compile 4-5 years worth of building consumption data of at least 3 buildings Create a standard postoccupancy evaluation that is specifically tailored to the firm's work objectives Conduct a complete and comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis for at least 1 completed project to be able to measure the firm's green efficiency (total carbon use of material gathering, construction, occupancy, maintenance)
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ACTION PLAN
LOCAL MATERIALS Adaptive Reuse tend to start with the basic brace of columnslab-beam. Designs would often end up industrial as such methods often compliment such basic existing parameters. Applying straightforward modernistic approach while incorporating Thai patterns is the common way in the market. After a pandemic, local resources can be used to create a healing environment that requires minimal energy. This might be a significant source of revenue for the people, particularly in the area of local building materials.
1-5 year Goals Host talks and architectural fairs about the utilization of Thailand's local materials and the importance of doing so.
MARKETING NARRATIVE The current market supports ventures with good storylines. The power of social media can make a business, even in the most secluded areas. As people like to romanticize life, design packages that offer a certain lifestyle can be a good marketing strategy. Incorporating such strategies can give the firm a good edge as architecture often give broad opportunities to the owner. Designing specialized solutions from unique historical structures can give the old structure a new life that can support itself in the fast-paced society it currently serves.
1-5 year Goals Build social media presence Establish modern design packages Introduce and normalize the "Look and Sell" marketing pattern to the public
ENERGY, WATER, AND GREEN CONSERVATION To rebuild means lesser requirement for energy consumption in overall. Architecture should progress to the point where people no longer need to construct new buildings and new ways of life should be established. The world is approaching a stage where conservation is being normalized at all levels of society, and including such notions into every project assures that every user has the opportunity to do so. Existing structures can be reused to provide spaces while adapting to the new community and repairing the ones that are outdated. People's lifestyles naturally follow the application of energy, water, and green conservation, and as a result, the next generation gets shaped and architecture has more leeway in constructing such places.
1-5 year Goals All projects abide by the LEED certification requirements Install renewables on 75% of the projects Design/Install gray water reuse and/or rainwater collection systems on 20% of renovation projects
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COMMUNITY
Established in 2022, Vincent Associates is a leading architectural practice in Thailand where all employees work closely on renovation of cultural, residential and commercial projects around the country. By redeveloping properties back to its former glory or turn it into a profitable use. The Vincent Assosiates propses a meden heritage style interior renovation and application of proper protective exterior innovations. The vocabulary of adaptive design to explore new ways of creating architecture. The firm also seeks structure and spaces that can be redesigned which can serve as a good location for their business venture. Taking advantage of its location and history to reuse the building without disrupting the existing culture
1-YEAR GOALS Organize a culturally driven business development plans Documentation of the existing structural features and context of the community Host a cultural round table to share ideas and best practices
3-5 YEAR GOALS Examine the conditions of adaptive reuse projects interiors to see how long VOCs last. Collaboration governmental private sectors
with and
Establish Vincent Associate as a leader and resource for adaptive reuse projects
Vincent Associates is working closely with local authorities and organizations to realize the importance of Thailand architecture and designs. We are actively exploring opportunities to engage with our neighborhood and colleagues as a means to share information and highlight critical issues that we’re facing at the local cultural context
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VI.
HEALTH
Even with today's issues, it goes without saying that everyone's health should be a primary concern. It might be physical, mental, emotional, or psychological in nature. The most important factor is health. For all of us to have satisfying lives, we need good mental health and well-being-to reach our greatest potential, to contribute meaningfully to our communities, and show resiliency in the face of hardship and stress Personal wellness is also a factor that we in Vincent Associates consider not only in the buildings we design, but also in our company's culture and environment. Vincent Associates sees healthy living and, by extension, healthy building design as critical components of a holistic view of sustainability. Along with World Health Organization's (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health and Working for Health Action Plan, which implies a need for defined set of guidelines steps to boost investments in health worker education, skills, employment, and safety protection, along with recovering from the aftermaths of the pandemic, we at Vincent Associates, are continually exploring opportunities to challenge ourselves in our design thinking, as we do in other parts of our work as we see the urge to do so in respect to healthy building design in these and other similar organizations.
1-YEAR GOALS Organize quarterly office yoga sessions To lower our carbon footprint, encourage employees to walk or cycle to work instead of driving or taking the bus. To promote healthy eating, weekly office snacks should contain 75% fruit and vegetables.
3-5 YEAR GOALS Examine the indoor air quality of three adaptive reuse project interiors to see how long VOCs last. Enroll one or more projects in a certification program along with the guidelines of ASEAN Green building Codes dedicated entirely to indoor environmental health.
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VII.
ORGANIZATION
VINCENT ASSOCIATES ORG STRUCTURE
Joriel Vincent T. Magat Chief Executive Officer
Francheska B. Palencia Head Architect
Florence Marielle B. Apistar Senior Project Manager
Andrea Bettina D. Gomez Senior Architect
Jennivhel A. Cardasto Junior Architect
Ma. Louella N. Herbolario Intern
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