Davao-based social enterprise seeks to promote indigenous Filipino architecture through interactive exhibits
More Filipinos are getting a first-hand look at indigenous Filipino architecture thanks to a traveling exhibit by a Davao-based social enterprise.
Dubbed Balay-Balay Ta! (Let’s Play House), the interactive exhibit just completed the third leg of its Mindanao swing at the C.M. Recto entrance of Centrio Mall where shoppers enjoyed putting together its three-dimensional architectural puzzles featuring the Meranao Torogan.
CDO artists Nonoy Estarte and Nick Aca try their hand at putting together the Torogan 3D Artchitecture Puzzle
Balay-Balay Ta was previously exhibited in Davao’s Abreeza Mall, followed by another stint at Mindanao State University at Marawi City last October 13-17, before the 3-day event Centrio. However, those who missed the Centrio exhibit can still catch it at Xavier University on November 25-December 2 and later at Capitol University’s Museum of Three Cultures on December 7-11, 2015.
A joint undertaking of Davao City-based social enterprise Swito Designs and the National Commision for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the exhibit features five wooden prototypes of the 3D architectural puzzle featuring the Meranao’s ancestral and communal house known as the torogan.
An authentic Torogan in Lanao del Sur
“By putting together the puzzle, people can personally interact with the torogan which is first-person experience that will more likely leave a lasting impression on the assembler than any classroom or more passive means of learning can hope to achieve,” relates Gloryrose Dy, head architect of the project who came up with the concept. “It’s not only for children but also for grownups, and we have seen how both parents and children bonded putting it together.”
“Even as an architecture student, I only had vague ideas about pre-colonial/indigenous Filipino architecture,” she recalls. “All we learned about was the bahay kubo during our high school and elementary days.
Shoppers enjoying themselves putting together the Torogan 3D Architectural Puzzle at Centrio Mall
Dy came up with the idea while still a freshman architecture student at the University of the Philippines-Mindanao.
“With the Balay-Balay 3D Architectural Puzzles, I hope Filipino children would know more of their local and traditional architecture and be proud of their Filipino heritage,” she added.
However, the final product was a team effort started by Dy with fellow architecture student Henna Dazo and artist and toy designer Kim Vale who came up with the prototype.
Dazo’s thesis on the Marano torogan spawned Vale’s blueprint which also drew further inspiration from the studies of the late MSU Professor and Meranao Scholar Dr. Abdullah T. Madale. The design was further refined and executed by Davao artisan and woodworker Felix Banlota who hand-carved the prototypes.
A Sarimanok lends local color to the Torogan 3D interactive Puzzle Exhibit at Centrio Mall
Through the series of exhibits in Mindanao, the team hopes to gather enough feedback and critiques to polish the design for its eventual commercial release planned for the first quarter of 2016.
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