Para hindi lang specifications and naisusulat...

For the Writers out there...

DRAMATIC WRITING: An Intensive Scriptwriting Workshop for Film and TV
July 2, 3 and 10, 2004
Videotheque, UP Fil Institute, Diliman Q.C.

Resource Speaker: Tim Tomlinson, President, New York Writers Workshop, Professor, New York University

Workshop Schedule: Day 1 (1-7 PM), Day 2 (9-12am / 1-5pm), Day 3 (9-12pm / 1-5pm). Workshop fee: php2500 for students / php4000 for non-students. Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis. For further details, interested parties may contact 9263640 (direct line), 9262722 (telefax) or 9205301 (UP trunkline) local 4589/4440; or log on to http://www.upd.edu.oh/~film_ctr or e-mail upfilminstitute@hotmail.com

A project of the UP Film Institute in cooperation with UP CMC Foundation

MTV Ink Magazine Party

This July 2 Friday will be MTV Ink's anniversary party at the Megamall, Megastrip and Podium!

Lots of bands will be playing and it's free!

All you need to do is to get a copy of MTV Ink Magazine's July Corrs issue so you can:

1. Chow on all the dirty ice cream, fishball, and popcorn you want.
2. Join the raffles where you could win a pair of converse sneakers, stuff from bench, human, girbaud, etc.

Hosts are Ate Glo and Marc Abaya.

It's a three in one party:

- Nina and Nyoy Volante at Megamall's Atrium
- Irish pop trio Bellefire, Nina and True Faith at the Podium
- Sugarfree, Cambio, Twisted Halo, Artstrong, Stonefree, Third World Project, Drip, Kjwan, Isha, Narda and Bagetsafonik at the Megastrip.

Building Around Trees and Other Green Stuff

In the pursuit of political correctness in our society we see ourselves doing a lot more in order to show how sensitive we are to our environment. Going beyond political correctness it could simply be said as trying to do the right thing.

Now more than ever, we see this sensitivity being brought to the forefront of the interface between the built and the natural environment which is best represented by the ever popular "respect the tree" paradigm.

It is now of course better to build around existing trees rather than to bulldoze them over as would be the case years earlier when builders were of a more unenlightened lot. These are after all more enlightened times and to do otherwise might be simply viewed as barbaric.

The Mt. Malarayat Experiment

Respecting the environment in design and construction is a commendable effort. An effort which has been more and more pushed onto the psyche of a lot of the younger designers out there. No thanks in small part to the Mt. Malarayat clubhouse design built by the Active Group people which showcases the ultimate in "tree respect" as they built their lobby around it.

Of course, notwithstanding the numerous times they did try to get rid of it initially and were met with a series of unfortunate events, their resulting redesign of the lobby was and is inspiring to the green at heart.

Of course giving the Active Group credit for doing what they did as a first in the Philippines will probably bring a lot of people to howling. Of course they were not the first to think of building around a tree, just ask some Filipinos who live in forests and some who actually build homes on tree tops.

The high profile of the project doesn't hurt though in bringing the concept to a wider audience though.

More and more designers are doing this approach now which is a good thing. Saving the environment is a good thing.

However, it is true that more and more designers are hopping onto the green wagon but the thing is, most are just hopping in without really bothering to know why.

Building Around a Tree is Good

Well yes, most of the time, but only if you know how. Sometimes building around a tree instead of just cutting it down is actually sentencing it to die as well but only in a much slower way.

Of course, with technology not seeming to slow down its progress anytime soon, anything is somehow seems possible.... as long as you have the money though.

Placing rootguards, having automatic and customized irrigation, hydroponics and other available and soon to be available products will allow you to plant or build around trees almost anywhere.

Of course reality always comes knocking on imagination's doors invevitably.

Building around trees can get financially restrictive but it doesn't have to be. The key is to simply understand trees better.

The Way of the Tree Root

Of course, one of the best ways to understand a tree is to understand its roots.

Tree root systems consist of large perennial roots and smaller, short-lived, feeder roots.

The large, woody tree roots and their primary branches increase in size and GROW HORIZONTALLY. They are predominantly located in the top 6 to 24 inches of the soil and usually do not grow deeper than 3 to 7 feet. Root functions include water and mineral conduction, food and water storage, and anchorage.

In contrast, feeder roots, although averaging only 1/16 inch in diameter, constitute the major portion of the root system's surface area. These smaller roots GROW OUTWARD AND PREDOMINANTLY UPWARD from the large roots near the soil surface, where minerals, water and oxygen are relatively abundant.

So much for the thought of just building around a tree and wishing the roots grow downwards instead of horizontally, upwards or deeper.

The thing is, unless we genetically or physically modify the tree we are building around somehow we have to respect the space it needs to grow and not just the immediately visible part of it such as the trunk and branches.

Easy with the Construction

Another thing to consider is the construction activity to be done around the tree as well. Root destruction, soil removal and soil compaction from construction equipment and activity do happen and should be taken into consideration.

One of the biggest killers of trees (especially in the urban areas)is soil compaction. Soil compaction restricts water and oxygen uptake by roots, and is associated with roads, parking lots, foot traffic, construction machinery, livestock, poor soil preparation, and a host of other factors.

Changes in soil depth around trees also can cause injury to root systems. The addition of only 4 to 6 inches of soil over a root zone drastically reduces the amount of oxygen and water available to the roots. Removal of soil around a tree can expose and injure roots, change the soil conditions where roots grow, and reduce water availability as well.

Serving Solutions

Oftentimes the least expensive and simplest solution is the one we overlook.

Just going onto a site and having a survey done before drawing out a plan would have been great. Issues with trees or other visible and not so visible landmarks could have been dealt with right away and the design wouldn't have to be compromised.

Of course, anyone well versed in construction knows that it is really what's underneath the surface of the site which matters most of the time and is the cause of a lot of adjustments in the design. Hence the better argument of scoping out trees before they are dealt with since they do have a lot going on underneath.

Build it Where it's Bad: Humanap Ka ng Pangit!

If you really want to do something about the environment and would want to leave our trees alone, maybe you should start looking at the worst site possible to build on instead of the best ones on your next project.

We do have different crierias for what makes a site the worst and what makes it the best. Let me qualify my words first before we proceed so we'll all be on the same page. My qualifications for the worst and the best are in the purely aesthetic. The best being one with good green grass and healthy trees and the worst being the ugly almost barren land.

Given the choice between these two where we should build, granted that they are equal in soil stability (e.g. bearing capacity, etc.) we more often than not go for the beautiful one.

I say, why don't we choose the worst one instead since we'll be covering it with concrete or whatever anyway.

Not building on the "best" our lands has to offer is one way we can minimize impact on the enviromnent not to mention preserving a lot of good natural amenities. And actually, building on the "worst" areas and turning them into one of our "best" as well is not bad. It's a good thing.


Note: Tree facts in this article are taken from the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension as reported by J.M. Sillick, former Colorado State University student, and W.R. Jacobi, professor; bioagricultural sciences and pest management.

Ben Tumbling loves architecture and the environment as much as he loves to tumble.

bok talk!

i've been bouncing off this idea on some arki friends for some time now, and the reception has been good, so (finally) i'm making it public.

THE IDEA: a regular "roundtable discussion" where young architects can exchange ideas and opinion on topics regarding their profession

THE OBJECTIVE: personal and professional growth, through the sharing of ideas and general support

THE METHOD: hold a discussion once a month, not too formal, maybe 2-3 hours of a saturday afternoon in some cafe. proceedings will be summarized and posted here.

NOTE: since this is in the beginning stages, there are no set guidelines; let's see what works first. as a start, we can focus on light, specific topics which people can relate to.
so we won't overdiscuss the Idea, we're just going to do it, and see what happens. so..

THE FIRST "BOK TALK" will be held on July 10, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Meeting place will be at The Podium in Ortigas (reason: middle ground between q.c. and makati, presence of possible cafes where we can talk). The first topic will be: what you learned from your first job. We need to know how many people will be going, so please confirm by posting here, or texting me at 0916-5792376. More than 6 people will probably need a volunteer moderator. If you have any good ideas for a venue within the Ortigas area, kindly post it here. We also need suggestions for future topics.

Designing Earbuds and The Proverbial Eggcrate

I am writing this as response to the comments on an earlier post (10 Things...) because I thought the issue needs to be explored a little bit more, and (really) because Im excited about the prospect of an on-line design forum. Poni suggested this as a "sub-section" of arkiboks, where members can post suggestions to design problems or such and I asked about the issues concerning intellectual rights. Raymond had a good point that the best way to "own" the idea is to get it published.

The first question I have then is: "Is blog-publishing publishing enough for one to claim rights to his/her idea?" I am not familiar with the technicalities of "blog-rights" so if anybody can please shed some light on this, we would appreciate it.

Secondly, Suppose we were able to claim rights to a design, how much of the design can be claimed anyway? What I mean is that, there are so many aspects of design that a little bit of variation might pass as original work. Change a bit of color, some materials, add a bit of idea from somewhere and you can claim its yours. I think this glitch alone can get us in such technical mess, we might as well forget the whole thing.

However, I have a suggestion: If were just doing this for the sake of design exercise, why do we have to stick to buildings? I mean there is as much fun in designing doghouses, utensils, furniture, lampshades, doorknobs, visors, garbage bins,etc. Take earbuds for example. Those plastic things really hurt my ears everytime I use them. The cotton is to thin, the plastic cylinder edge is too blunt, and the plastic itself is too soft it bends all the way at the slightest force. Or maybe, to jumpstart our discussions, we could talk about the undying egg-packaging problem, or other simple design problems. With such simple design problems, were getting to the essence of designing, and at the same time we dont have to worry about anybody trying to "steal" our "work". I would even be grateful if some earbud-producing company would take my suggestions for better earbuds.

Maybe later on, when weve sorted out most of the problems of on-line IPR, we could progress to more complicated archi stuff. What do you think? Can we make this work?

Architects in Flux

You are invited to UAP MAKATI CHAPTER's next ARCHITECTS IN FLUX
event. This is a first in a series of building and construction
materials lecture and forum. The lecture consists of four parts:

1. Armourwood Product Presentation by Mr. Irving Basconcillo,
Armourwood Territory Manager
2. Use of Wood in Construction by Archt. Allan Garcia, UAP
District Director
3. Tips on Proper Application, External and Internal Protection
(Painting/Waterproofing) by Mr. Patrick Negrete, Boysen Technical
Service Engineer
4. Frames and Claddings by Mr. Rommel Pastrana, James Hardie
Philippines Project Sales Engineer

The lecture will be concluded through a question and answer forum
and a raffle.

The lecture shall be held on JUNE 24, 2004 at the Banquet Hall,
Second Floor Milkyway Café, Pasay Road cor Paseo de Roxas.
Registration starts at 6:00pm.

The lecture is open to chapter members, architects, graduates and
architecture students. Admission is free. Seats are limited. Please
confirm your attendance in advance. You may contact Archt.
Annabelle Sotto (7119572/09194103964) or Archt. Elwin Buenaventura
(6378596-99/09185622501) for confirmation or inquiries.

Edit Proof Your Autocad Drawings

So you want to "lock" a drawing so that other users can view, but not modify, the information in the drawing. Here are a few tips and tricks straight from Autodesk.

There are several ways to prevent drawing data from being modified. You should decide which approach to use based on your situation.

The following descriptions summarize several of these options:

Password protection

AutoCAD® 2004 based programs have a Password Protection feature, which may be accessed for the current drawing using either of the following methods:

In the Options dialog box, Open and Save tab, click the Security Options button.
On the command line, enter securityoptions.
These commands bring up the Security Options dialog box. By entering a password on the Password tab, you may add, change, or remove a password which will be required to open the drawing once the drawing has been saved. If you add or change the password, the Confirm Password dialog box is displayed.

Note: If you lose the password, it will not be recoverable. Before you add a password, Autodesk Product Support recommends that you create a backup of the file that is not protected with a password and save it in a secure location.

In AutoCAD 2000, 2000i, and 2002 based products and AutoCAD LT releases 2000 through 2004, you may use an add-on utility to password-protect a drawing. Search the Internet for such utilities.

Drawing conversion

You can convert a drawing into another file format so it is more difficult to modify. By using an alternative to the drawing file format (DWG) you can maintain some control over the drawing data. You can convert a drawing to one of the following file formats. Note that all of these formats are two-dimensional in nature; thus, some information is lost in the conversion.

EXPORT command. Formats available with the EXPORT command are EPS, BMP, and WMF. These formats are viewable by many graphics software packages. There are, however, conversion programs that can convert these formats back into AutoCAD DXF
™ format so it's not really that secure.

Note: The Export options in AutoCAD LT are more limited than AutoCAD. When using AutoCAD LT, you can choose only the WMF format.


Plot files. Plot file formats such as HP-GL, HP-GL/2, PostScript all provide a good degree of accuracy, and viewing programs are available (search AutoCAD-related Web sites). The PostScript plot file can be converted into the Adobe PDF file format, which is readable and plottable by the Adobe Acrobat program. Also AutoCAD includes the Raster File Export plotter driver, which uses the PLOT command to generate files in several raster file formats (BMP, TGA, PCX, and TIFF).

As with the file formats provided by the EXPORT command, there are conversion programs that can convert these plot file formats back to the AutoCAD DXF format.


COPYCLIP. You can use the COPYCLIP command to take a snapshot of the drawing. Using the PASTE SPECIAL command, you can paste the snapshot in bitmap (BMP) or metafile (WMF) format into another document. The visual accuracy is not as good as some of the other options. The advantage of using this option is that it may be faster than other methods for providing multiple clips of various views of a drawing at various zoom magnifications with accompanying annotation. The COPYCLIP command is limited to the Microsoft Windows operating systems, therefore, the data may not be portable to other operating systems, such as UNIX.
Slide file format. You can use the MSLIDE command to create a snapshot of the current view of the drawing in AutoCAD slide file format. The resulting file can be viewed but not edited in AutoCAD 2000 (using the VSLIDE (command) and other CAD viewing programs.

Hard copy. With scanner and raster-to-vector conversion software, printed media can be converted back into electronic DXF or DWG data. However, you can apply notations or a screened pattern as an overlay to printed media, making it more difficult to convert a hardcopy drawing into electronic format and more time-consuming to edit into a usable drawing.
Design Web Format™ (DWF™), a raster/vector file created from the Plot dialog box using the DWF plot drivers, is the most visually accurate and provides more protection than the other formats. To view a DWF file, you use a DWF viewer, such as WHIP!, which is available free at www.autodesk.com/whip, or others that you can find by searching the Internet.


Drawing alteration

You can modify a drawing so that other users have difficulty modifying it. This is probably the easiest and cheapest way to "secure" a document since you wouldn't need an extra program to do it. For example, locking layers or blocking the drawing data in a nested fashion at various unequal scale factors may impede inexperienced AutoCAD users. However, experienced users would be able to identify and readjust the parameters of such a drawing.

Read-only access

By changing the file attribute of a drawing or setting modification restrictions to certain groups on a network, you can prevent users from modifying drawing data. All viewing operations are available, but the user cannot save changes back to the drawing file. However, read-only access is not a foolproof protection of drawing data. If the drawing file attribute is set to read-only, the user can still save the drawing under a different file name. In a network environment, if the user has access to a directory for writing (such as a disk drive), the user can save the drawing to that location and then modify it.

View-only software

You can provide view-only and redline software to work with the drawing. Several software programs are available that allow a user to view and redline AutoCAD 2000 drawings. These programs have features that allow the user to zoom in and out of the drawing, and view non-graphical information such as layer and block information. One such program is Autodesk View, which is described in detail at http://www.autodesk.com/view. In a controlled environment, this software may provide an effective solution to protecting drawings.

Coverting to PDF

So far my favorite method is converting drawings to PDF. This is the most secure so far and the best way to preserve viewability. There is an extra cost involved though with getting the program to be able to do it. Your typical free Adobe Acrobat Reader may help you view PDF files but it will not make you convert files to PDF. For that you will need the other members of the Adobe family of software products.

The full Adobe Acrobat® product (not Acrobat Reader®) comes with two Windows® system drivers that can be used to create Portable Document Format (PDF) files from AutoCAD® drawings: Acrobat PDFWriter® or Acrobat Distiller®.

Acrobat PDFWriter.
This Windows-based system driver directly creates PDF files and will give the best results with most drawings.

Note: The Acrobat PDFWriter driver is not installed with a typical installation of Adobe Acrobat. To install the Acrobat PDFWriter system driver during the installation of Adobe Acrobat, choose a custom installation and select the Adobe PDFWriter check box.


Acrobat Distiller.
This Windows-based system driver can be configured to create either PostScript (EPS) files or PDF files. If EPS files are created, Acrobat Distiller can be configured to automatically convert the EPS files into PDF files. This driver should be used only with simple drawings. For most AutoCAD drawings, better output is achieved with Acrobat PDFWriter.
Refer to the documentation provided with Adobe Acrobat and in the Adobe Support Knowledgebase for specific information about installation and configuration of these drivers.

Configuring a custom page size

The default page size for Acrobat PDFWriter and Acrobat Distiller is 8.5 x 11 inches. The available default page sizes are for smaller sheet sizes only. You can configure the page size by following your Adobe manual or if you're more savvy you'll be able to use or write an autocad script to automate the page setups for you.

Filipino Architect is Runner Up in New York Design Competition

The Metropolis Magazine of New York, a leading Design and Architectural Magazine read by over 48,000 architects, designers, and structure aficionados in business, government, and education has recently conferred honors to two Filipinos who bested over 7,000 entries to win the runner-up prize for the Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition.

Local social-entrepreneur Illac Diaz and Arizona based architect Lira Luis came up with their Big Idea: The OFW Portable Transient Shelter Pod; a knockdown single occupancy living unit that provided comfort and sanitation for transients in the city of Manila. The product used readily available materials and water cooled systems to assure the occupant of maximum comfort, lighting, and living space.

"We began to collaborate on how Illac's’s Pier One Dormitory will help shelter over 35,000 transient seafarers in Manila in very affordable yet healthy conditions" says Lira, who is the first Filipino apprentice to the famous Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

“We began a virtual partnership,” says Diaz “I had ideas on how to give seamen the best living conditions at the lowest cost, but I lacked the architectural knowledge. Lira had several structural solutions and found a good cause on which to apply her skills.”

Their final product is a ingenious and vertical version of what Habitat for Humanity is doing; the mariners themselves help with the construction of their own living spaces! Listening to Illac Diaz describe it makes one think of an adult version of building houses with LEGO.

“We are continuously targeting our efforts and services on seafarers because these 240,000 individuals bring in over 2.8 billion dollars to the economy. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Also, we wanted to target this segment because through their layovers in international ports, they are put at risk of being infected with sexually transmitted diseases that they may unknowingly pass on to their partners in the Philippines. At Pier One, we want to individualize the care of seamen, including voluntary testing to safeguard them and their families. The Shelter Pod concept that Lira and I have come up with can be mass produced to give more humane temporary living spaces to other segments such as the urban poor and disaster victims. Yet, what perhaps further caught the judges’ attention is the fact that we create support structures that make our areas social living environments.”

board exam aftermath

So I took the architecture licensure exams last week. Now what? Now, we wait. And good things come to those who wait. Or not.

A lot of people have a lot to say about the board exams, so I’m not even going to go there. (Okay, maybe I’ll sprinkle in a little of my views here & there.) My main concern is getting through the next few weeks of prolonged agony, known as THE WAIT.

As I type, there are close to a thousand examinees who are anxiously scanning the dailies for any hint of an early report. But, as we all know, we always get hit when we least expect it. So maybe not ALL applicants / examinees are anxious. Some are writing posts about other people’s tension. (Guilty as charged!) But most would be mulling over the exam questions, the design problem, and the X number of sheets they were able to produce in 11 hours. Some would be researching on answers. Others would be comparing notes. “Ano sagot mo sa utilities, yun eklat eklat blah blah blah… C pinili ko. Kaw? Ha? Hindi ba ano yun?” But even those kind of distractions run out… so what do you do in the meantime? Eat. Sleep. Do whatever it is you usually did before you took the exams. Look for a job. Go back to work. Or, if you can afford it (which I know many can't), go on vacation. Take a trip. Just don’t dwell on the past.

On top of it all, keep in mind that you did the best you could, given such heinous circumstances. If it were up to me, all of us who took the exam should be given medals of valor. Everyone I saw had that “last man standing” attitude. (They’re not going to take us alive!!!) And with all the planted landmines and thrown grenades and time bombs we were subjected to during the course of 72 hours (not counting the supposed 24-hour hiatus, which was spent replenishing ammo) – we should be considered heroes. To go into rooms armed only with Number Two pencils, a calculator (which, incidentally, does little to help, programmable or otherwise) and black ballpoint pens, taking unexpected hit after unexpected hit. At the end of the ordeal, everyone felt that they were pretty much done for. But, dear examinees, remember: the wisdom of men does not compare to the wisdom of God. Therefore do not feel that you are the only inadequate architect wannabe walking the face of the earth. Because, in truth, everyone is. Others are just delusional.

Think not of the exam results, and if you had done all you can to prepare for it. Because you probably did prepare enough, and, in all honesty, there is no way you could have done better, save for getting contraband reviewers (read: LEAKAGE) or becoming psychic. If you fail, well, then it’s just further proof that the exam does not properly gauge one’s abilities to become a competent professional. That much I know, and believe with all my heart. So if I fail, I comfort myself in the knowledge that eighty percent of the people who speak to me about the board exam expect me to top it, in one way or another. And all of them expect me to pass “with flying colors”. Apparently, the board of architecture, who do not know me personally, how I work, how I think, and how I go about my personal business, are more in a position to judge my architectural competency than my office colleagues, my classmates, my bosses, my professors, my family or my friends. Do you really think I’d fall for that kind of logic? Would you???

Creators Dilemma

When youve built a few, when youve felt the responsibility of creation, you will start thinking about why you're doing these things. Youll start thinking how one project is different from the other, and what makes them similar. Youll start thinking in terms of why this form or why that form. Youll start trying to explain yourself to others, making "why" stories, but the real battle is explaining to yourself how youve come to make such things, and somehow realize that somehow, no story captures everything youve done (or want to do), no point of view seems quite accurate. But outside, you cling to the stories, the manifestos, the "theories", the "reasons".

You know they're not all true. On the other hand, you know theyre not all false, and in the middle there's a nagging doubt if you do know enough to decide what is true or false. You know that somehow, the stories and theories are the only way you can get your message through. And that somehow you can build more consistently with these "reasons" in mind, and somehow, your clients understand you better with them. They become a sort-of meeting point between your creative mind and other people's understanding. In the face of success, there's a part of you that starts beleiving they actually were the reasons why you made your creations.

But deep down inside, you know the truth - they are only partial, some true, some merely convenient, found by trial and error, or from other people's "myths" that seem apropriate to the item you're trying to explain. Deep inside, you know what you lack, you know what you need - a consistent point of view that could accomodate all your ideas, your work - your "theory of everything".

So begins your search, though you have a feeling that you might never find it. Youll have to try, and for the mean time, decide truth and consistency in every act, weighed down by the knowledge that when - if - you ever get to a point of acquiring that consistent point of view, youll still have to apologize for the inconsistencies of the past. And you wonder whether the discovery is worth the apology.

Fete De La Musique

A night of music and rain...

This is my account of the things that happened in the Fete De La Musique at Eastwood City last June 19, 2004.

The Fete De La Musique is an annual music event wherein various venues are opened for simultaneous performances from various genres of music. The result is a mixed crowd, of all ages and all walks of life. Its a gimmick day for the majority, a family night out for some.

Wanting to clear my head and relax after a week of work, I decided to go to the Fete De La Musique. I was supposed to meet with some friends later on at the venue, so I went solo for the first few hours that I got there. I decided to roam around and checkout the various musical venues available. I checked out the rock venue first, since it was the noisest and has the largest crowd. Then i passed by the World Music venue, with Cynthia Alexander currently onstage. Then I got a text message from a friend saying that they are at the Jazz venue. Ok I gotta check that out.

After spending some time at the indoor jazz venue, I then went back to the World Music Venue. I saw some friends and acquaintances at the venue. I got to enjoy the music of The Makiling Ensemble, and the Radioactive Sago Project. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

It began to rain. Most of the crowd dispersed upon the first few drops of slight rain. Some stayed, the band played on. Sige sayaw! We were dancing and laughing and cheering despite of the rain, but it poured harder by the second, and eventually everybody went to find shelter. Takbo na!!! The band still played on for the matiyaga crowd who where by this time far away at the arcades and the tents for the outdoor dining areas of various restaurants.

Then the canopy of the stage gave way, and that was the end of the music for the World Music venue.

The rock venue, which is similarly an open air venue, was also in chaos. The stage was located at the far end of Eastwood City, with a single access point only from the main entrance of the whole complex, at the Citibank building. What resulted is a bottleneck at the main entrance point.

The arcades and canopies of restaurants and business establishments where full of people. Vehicles tried to get out of the whole complex. Gangs of teenagers where everywhere, reminiscent of the chaos that erupted in the recent UP fair. Good thing was that no violence erupted but everything was in disorder.

We were all wet and cold. I eventually met up with my friends, listened to some ethnic music and we ended the night with a nice bottle of beer at the nearby Whistlestop.

Music and rain at the Eastwood City. Bad combination. Let's try to analyze later. This might be a nice topic for my paper.

The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School

by Michael McDonough, award-winning architect, artist, and industrial designer, who has practiced and lectured internationally for over 20 years

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around.

2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don’t learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed.

3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
You hear a lot about details, from “Don’t sweat the details” to “God is in the details.” Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, “Watch King Rat. You’ll get it.”

4. Don’t over-think a problem.
One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, “OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.” Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.

6. Don’t forget your goal.
Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. “Hold the moment,” they say. “Honor it.” Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you.

7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power – the power to create things and impose them on the world – is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns.

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.

9. It all comes down to output.
No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can’t output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn’t exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output.

10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

Brad Pitt: The Architectural Intern

To all those taking their architectural internship, it looks like you are now in good company with Brad Pitt.

After trying to tear down the walls of Troy, Brad Pitt wants to turn himself into a master builder. The star is planning a break from filming blockbusters to learn the secrets of modern design at the Los Angeles studio of Frank Gehry, one of the world's leading architects.

Pitt will serve an informal apprenticeship with Gehry, the Canadian architect who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and is preparing an £800 million plan to redevelop a strip of downtown Los Angeles.

Earlier this month Pitt, 40, appeared at a Los Angeles architectural forum with Gehry as a member of his downtown "Dream Team", a consortium drawing up ambitious plans to counter urban blight in the city.

Gehry, 73, introduced Pitt as a friend, but the relationship will acquire an extra dimension if, as expected, the Dream Team wins the right to redevelop Grand Avenue. Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened six months ago, is credited with bringing visitors back into the forbidding downtown area.

Pitt, who is advising Gehry on cinema, sports hall and restaurant designs for the master plan, has told his film-booking representatives, Creative Artists Agency, that he wants to spend at least a year learning computer-aided architectural design, which has transformed building over the past 20 years.

Friends say his dedication will surprise those who dismiss Pitt as just a pretty face. "Brad is very serious about architecture and now he has the confidence to set his own priorities," said one.

Tickler Thoughts 1

Some of the things I didnt say, but tickled my mind. A bit.

"Architects make architecture, historians make history, and what they both make is myth"
--- Jencks and Baird

"You dont know what the building really is, unless you have a belief behind the building. A belief in its identity in the way of life of man. Every architect's first act is that of either revitalizing a prevailing belief or finding a new belief which is just in the air somehow.."
--- Louis Kahn, 1965

"One could build beautifully designed houses, always provided the tenant was prepared to change his outlook"
--- Le Corbusier, 1969

"Architecture, when equated with language can only be read as a series of fragments which make up architectural reality."
--- Bernard Tschumi, 1990

"Since Myth is a type of speech, everything can be a myth provided it is conveyed by discourse. Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters its message."
--- R. Barthes, 1957

"Slogans and aphorisms are the simplest forms of myths and are easily assimilated, so they become the most direct mode of disseminating ideas about architecture. Whether they are 'true' is immaterial as long as they seem convincing; they need only to appear to be true to be utilized."
--- PA Johnson, 1993

FETE DE LA MUSIQUE 2004 - NEWS UPDATE

This just in! Festival Organizers have just announced changes in the
line-ups and venues. Some major changes due to last minute glitches:

* Blues events have moved out of Chicago Roadhouse (which might be closed
for the evening, a long story!) - these have moved to Amoeba.

* All Alternative events have moved out of Amoeba and Ipanema and are now
consolidated in one stage. This will take place at the Cybermall lobby.



MAIN STAGE at CENTRAL PLAZA
----------------------------
Butong Pakwan 5:00-5:30
K-Honistas 5:30-6:00
Pinikpikan 6:00-6:30
Escola Brasileira de Capoeira 6:30-7:00
Butong Pakwan 7:00-7:30
Sing India 7:30-8:00
Kadangyan 8:00-8:30

La Batterie 8:30-8:45
Escola Brasileira de Capoeira
Pinikpikan/K-hon

ALL
OPENING (Cynthia) 8:45 - 9:00
Cynthia Alexander 9:00 - 9:30

Makiling Ensemble 9:35-10:05
break 10:05-10:15
Radio Active Sago Project 10:15-10:40
Salindiwa 10:45-11:10
break 11:10-11:20
Rannie Raymundo & Syzygy 11:20-11:50
Wunjo 11:55-12:20
Loquy 12:25-12:50
Brass Munkeys 12:55-1:20
break 1:25-1:35
Brownbeat 1:35-2:05
Bayang Barrios 2:10 - 2:40
Pinikpikan 2:45-3:15
CLOSING (Pinikpikan) 3:15 - 3:30


REGGAE/SKA at VIA MARE
----------------------
Coffee Break Island 9:00-9:30
Homegrown 9:40-10:10
break 10:10-10:25
Hemp Republic 10:25-10:55
Neighbors 11:05-11:35
break 11:35-11:50
Jeepney Joyride 11:50-12:20
La Cucarasta 12:30-1:00
break 1:00-1:10
Reggae Mistress 1:10-1:55
Tropical Depression 2:00-2:45


ROCK at D PARKING LOT (near McDo)
---------------------------------
Monsterbot 4:00-4:20
Boldstar 4:20-4:35
Grass 4:35-4:50
Severo 4:50-5:05
13 Needles 5:05-5:20
Olympic Smoker 5:20-5:35
Weedisneys 5:35-5:50
Ciudad 5:50-6:05
Southern Grass 6:05-6:20
Hellbender 6:20-6:35
Mayonnaise 6:35-6:50
Happy Meals 6:50-7:05
Boy Elroy 7:05-7:20
Monkey Spank 7:20-7:35
Kjwan 7:35-7:50
Greyhoundz 7:50-8:10
Chicosci 8:10-8:30
OPENING (MAIN STAGE) 8:45 - 9:00
The Dawn 9:00-9:20
Dicta License 9:20-9:40
The Mongols 9:40-10:00
Twisted Halo 10:00-10:20
break 10:20-10:30
6 Cycle Mind 10:30-10:50
Itchyworms 10:50-11:10
Rivermaya 11:10-11:30
Bamboo 11:30-11:50
break 11:50-12:00
The Late Isabel 12:00-12:20
Stonefree 12:20-12:40
Kapatid 12:40-1:00
break 1:00-1:10
Imago 1:10-1:30
Nuncyspungen 1:30-1:50
Sugarfree 1:50-2:10
Cambio 2:10-2:30
Sandwich 2:30-2:50



JAZZ at CITYWALK 2
-------------------
Jazz Friends 9:00-9:40
H3O 9:45-10:15
Blue Echoes 10:20-10:50
break 10:55-11:05
Quail Quartet 11:05-11:35
Sound 11:40-12:10
Wahijuara 12:15-12:45
break 12:45-12:55
Affinity 12:55-1:35
Mother Earth 1:40-2:20
Buhay 2:25-3:15


BLUES at AMOEBA
-----------------
Bluesviminda 9:00-9:45
Mr. Crayon 9:50-10:20
Snakecharmer 10:25-10:55
break 10:55-11:05
Kharma 11:05-11:50
Freeway Jam 11:55-12:25
Blue Jean Junkies 12:30-1:15
break 1:15-1:25
SPY 1:25-2:00
Huka 2:15 - 3:00


ALTERNATIVE at CYBERMALL
------------------------
Mojofly 9:00-9:20
Nityalila 9:20-9:40
Sundownmuse 9:40-10:00
break 10:00-10:10
Pinwheel 10:10-10:30
Coffee Shop Conspiracies 10:30-10:50
The Brockas 10:50-11:10
Playphonics 11:10-11:30
Bridge 11:30-11:50
break 11:50-12:00
SpongeCola 12:00-12:20
Nancy Drool 12:20-12:40
Paramita 12:40-1:00
Narda 1:00-1:20
break 1:20-1:30
Zarah Smith 1:30-1:50
Session Road 1:50-2:10
Kitchie Nadal 2:10-2:30
Moonstar 88 2:30-2:50
Barbie's Cradle 2:50-3:10


LOUNGE at EL BOTIN
------------------
Anya 9:00 -9:45
break 9:45 -10:00
Mozzie 10:00-10:45
break 10:45-11:00
Mishka 11:00-11:45
break 11:45-12:00
Cooky Chua 12:00-12:45
break 12:45-1:00
Lynn Sherman 1:00-1:45


HIPHOP at BASEMENT
------------------
Syke 9:45-10:05
Jocelyn 10:05-10:25
Pikaso 10:25-10:45
Dice & K9 10:45-11:15
Ill-J 11:15-11:30
7 Shots 11:30-12:00
Rocky Rock 12:00-3:00


ELECTRONICA at BIG KAHUNA
-------------------------
Daydream Cycle 4:30-5:10
Bagetsafonic 5:10-5:50
Neon8 5:50-6:30
Brian Cua 6:30-7:10
Mic Freak 7:10-7:50
Trip M 7:50-8:30
OPENING (MAIN STAGE) 8:45 - 9:00
Squid9 9:00-9:40
Wolfmann 9:40-10:20
Rubber Inc 10:20-11:00
Silverfilter 11:00-11:40
Morse 11:40-12:20
Drip 12:20-1:00
Dayuhan 1:00-1:40
Clone 1:40-2:20
Flow44 2:20-3:00

Behind the Scenes

moments that made up the board exam experience

Lunch Break

In a carinderia somewhere in the University Belt, a bunch of architecture graduates from a prestigious university exchange tips and techniques on taking the board exam:

Grad # 1 : When in doubt, I always choose C!
Grad # 2 : Ako, I choose B.
All : Why is that?
Grad # 2 : Becase “B” is for “best!”
Grad # 1 : Eh, “C” is for “correct.”
Grad # 2 : Hindi ba, “C” is for chamba?
Grad # 1 : Eh, kung “B” is for “bopol”???
Grad # 2 : Uhhh…(sirit)
Grad # 3 : Naalala nyo ba yung prayer bago mag start ang board exam? “Lord, may we never guess, or rely on luck, or take the exam lightly…”
Grad # 4 : Oo, ako pa nga ang pinabasa ng proctor, kaya feeling ko ako pinapatamaan.



Disabled

The day I applied for the exam at the PRC, I saw this girl hobbling on the sidewalk near Morayta St., assisted by two other people. When I looked closer, I realized it was somebody I knew from school. She was supposed to apply that day but didn’t go through with it because she slipped and twisted her knee cap at the PRC toilet. She completed the application later, though. When exam time came two weeks later, we were assigned on the same floor. Her kneecap hadn’t completely healed yet; it was still painful to move so she had to walk slowly. She was worrying about how she would be able to deal with the design exam on the third day; whether she would have to stand the whole time if the chair wasn’t high enough to sit on. Then we saw this guy at the end of the hallway with two crutches. He had on a white shirt and was obviously taking the exam. We couldn’t imagine how he could do it. My friend realized she was still lucky. She did wonder, though, after the exam, whether or not it was a sign that she twisted her kneecap, and whether or not she should have continued with the application.


White Shirts

Everyone seems to look good in white. Upon seeing the first few white shirts at six in the morning lined up on benches facing the University of the East courtyard, I wished I’d brought my camera so I could take a picture. Some two days before, I accompanied another friend while he was buying his white shirts. We went to Bench, where he bought two tight-fitting cotton tees (with lycra). He even got two free Dao Ming Si posters with it. He was going to wear the shirts with low rise jeans, of course – no sense in tucking in a shirt in high-waist jeans and feeling baduy while you’re taking the exam. I went across to HerBench to see if I could find any white blouses. They were twice as expensive. I decided to just wash my old ones.

Mr. Chummy Proctor

While a friend and I are discussing exam questions in the hallway, this guy in a brown polo shirt passes by and makes a comment: “Kung saan-saan nila kinukuha yung questions, no…” And we both look at each other and think: “sino yun???” Later, I find out he’s a proctor. He’s assigned to our classroom on the second and third day. Somebody asks to clarify a question, and he just says, “analyze n’yo mabuti, ha…” which almost makes me laugh out loud given the absurdity of its application in particular questions. When I meet him on the hallway, or even if I just see him from afar, he looks at me and nods his head, as if we were friends. I almost nod back on impulse, but eventually end up giving him a blank look. Later I find out my friend has the same experience. During the design exam, she happens to look up from her desk, and is freaked out to see him on the viewing glass of the door, looking at her. Weird.

Coping Strategies

Before the exam, I see one girl sticking little pieces of masking tape on a chair. She’d probably done about 50. I think about doing the same thing, but I didn’t want her to think I was imitating her. I also see a guy laying out his pens in an orderly manner in a plastic case. I begin to wonder whether I should have brought a bigger pencil case. I comfort myself with the fact that I taped different colored pieces of paper to the ends of my pens, so I could identify them easily.

The room we’re assigned in for the design exam has airconditioning and two ceiling fans. I can’t think fast when I’m freezing, so I ask the proctor to turn off one ceiling fan. Thirty minutes later, the guy in front me says, “miss, mainit, pwede bang paandarin natin?” I say, wait just one or two more hours for the room to cool. An hour later, the girl beside me says, “miss, mainit talaga…” I give in, and the ceiling fan is turned on again. I suppose it really was hot, but I still felt cold. I think better when I’m perspiring.

During the course of the exam, the noise of shuffling tracing papers and pen strokes audibly increase. I also hear somebody’s watch beeping per hour. I hear a whirring sound, though, that didn’t seem familiar. I look for the source, and it turned out the guy to my right was using what looked like an automatic eraser (I didn’t know those existed). I felt really primitive with my P7.50 eraser, blowing the dirt off, not having one of those nifty brushes.

In Midst of Quiapo

Quiapo is one of the most fascinating places in the world (I haven’t exactly been out the Philippines, but I just have a feeling it is…but maybe it’s just me). The mix of historic aged buildings with the squalor, the hustle and bustle of the schools and the various small businesses gives it a unique character that makes enclave developments like Rockwell Center or Greenbelt feel bland and made up. This is the real inner city, the best place to hold the board exam – where architects-to-be can see neoclassical, art deco, gothic, bahay-na-bato, and modern buildings coexisting – and decaying. They can see what time (and the city) does to architecture. While the taxi we are riding in goes around, I get a glimpse of the old mosque and Quinta market. Just in front of the gate of the school where the exam is held stands a dignified bahay-na-bato. On the fourth floor, I am pleasantly surprised to find that there is a Chinese temple on the other side of the building. At the end of the design exam, when I get out of the classroom, I see the lighted peaks of the towers of the Basilica of San Sebastian, and I think – what a perfect sight to end the day.


Special Thanks!

To Noel and Ving (and Harold, for the two sessions he attended), my co-group reviewees, for the shared knowledge and all the chikahan in-between,

To Johannes, Nap, Ferdz, Jing and all those whom I may have forgotten (or didn’t know) who passed down their notes and reviewers (though winner pa rin si Ferdz, with the liquid-papered terms on Ching, and the Filipino terms on the index cards…heheh)

To Maureen for making the PRC application almost seem fun,

To Kareen and Matet, for the company on the day of the exams,


And, dear reader, for reading another long article on the board exam!

(Fete de la Musique!!! :)

FETE DE LA MUSIQUE 2004

Fete de la Musique 2004
19 June, Saturday
Eastwood, Libis

* The Alliance Francaise de Manille has been celebrating the Fete de la
Musique in Manila since 1994. This makes this year's Fete the 10th
anniversary of this musical celebration!

* The Fete de la Musique in Manila has been held in venues such as Nakpil
Street in Malate, The Fort in Fort Bonifacio Global City, and El Pueblo in
Ortigas Center. This year, the scene moves to Eastwood City in Libis,
Quezon City on June 19.

* We did a quick head count and found out there are 115 musical acts
performing this year, all on the same night. There will be 11 different
stages scattered throughout Eastwood, each spotlighting a different musical
genre. Whether you're into Jazz, Rock, Blues, World Music, Hip Hop, Reggae,
Ska, Lounge, or Electronica, you're sure to find your own scene to groove
on.


=== Gig skeds ===

ROCK -- Parking Lot area, 4 pm 3am:
Monsterbot 4:00-4:20
Boldstar 4:20-4:35
Grass 4:35-4:50
Severo 4:50-5:05
13 Needles 5:05-5:20
Olympic Smoker 5:20-5:35
Weedisneys 5:35-5:50
Ciudad 5:50-6:05
Southern Grass 6:05-6:20
Hellbender 6:20-6:35
Mayonnaise 6:35-6:50
Happy Meals 6:50-7:05
Boy Elroy 7:05-7:20
Monkeyspank 7:20-7:35
Kjwan 7:35-7:50
Greyhoundz 7:50-8:10
Chicosci 8:10-8:30
The Dawn 9:00-9:20
Dicta License 9:20-9:40
Twisted Halo 9:40-10:00
Mongols 10:00-10:20
6 Cycle Mind 10:30-10:50
Itchyworms 10:50-11:10
Nancy Spungen 11:10-11:30
Stonefree 11:30-11:50
The Late Isabel 12:00-12:20
Imago 12:20-12:40
Kapatid 12:40-1:00
Rivermaya 1:10-1:30
Sugarfree 1:30-1:50
Cambio 1:50-2:10
Sandwich 2:10-2:30
Bamboo 2:30-2:50


JAZZ -- City Walk2 area, 9 pm - 3:15 am
Jazz Friends/Myra Ruaro 9:00-9:40
H3O 9:45-10:15
Blue Echoes 10:20-10:50
Quail Quartet 11:05-11:35
Sound 11:40-12:10
Wahijuara 12:15-12:45
Affinity 12:55-1:35
Mother Earth 1:40-2:20
Buhay 2:25-3:15


BLUES -- Chicago Roadhouse, 9 PM to 3 AM:
Bluesviminda 9:00-9:45
Kharma 9:50-10:20
Snakecharmer 10:25-10:55
Mr. Crayon 11:05-11:50
Freeway Jam 11:55-12:25
Huka 12:30-1:15
SPY 1:25-2:10
Blue Jean Junkies 2:15-3:15


WORLD MUSIC/OTHER -- Main Stage at the Central Plaza, 7:15 pm - 3:30 am.
Kadangyan (7:15-7:45)
Sing India (7:45-8:15)
Festival Opening Number (8:45-9:00)
Cynthia Alexander (9:00-9:30)
Makiling Ensemble (9:35-10:05)
Radio Active Sago Project (10:15-10:40)
Brass Munkeys (10:45-11:10)
Rannie Raymundo (11:20-11:50)
Wunjo (11:55-12:20)
Loquy (12:25-12:50)
Salindiwa (12:55-1:20)
Brownbeat (1:35-2:05)
Bayang Barrios (2:10-2:40)
Pinikpikan (2:45-3:15)
Closing Number (3:15-3:30)


REGGAE/SKA - Via Mare, 9 PM to 2:45 AM.
Coffee Break Island (9:00-9:30)
Homegrown (9:40-10:10)
Hemp Republic (10:25-10:55)
Neighbors (11:05-11:35)
Jeepney Joyride (11:50-12:20)
La Cucarasta (12:30-1:00)
Reggae Mistress (1:10-1:55)
Tropical Depression (2:00-2:45)


LOUNGE - El Botin, from 9 PM to 1:45 AM<
Anya Santos (9:00-9:45)
Mozzie (10:00-10:45)
Mishka Adams Quartet (11:00-11:45)
Cooky Chua Trio (12:00-12:45)
Lynn Sherman Trio (1:00-1:45)


HIPHOP / R&B - Basement (next to Jack's Loft) from 9:15 pm to 3 AM
Syke (9:15-9:35)
Joselyn (9:35-9:55)
Thor (9:55-10:25)
Pikaso (10:25-10:45)
Dice & K9 (10:45-11:15)
I LL-J (11:15-11:30)
7 Shots (11:30-12:00)
Rocky Rock (12:00-3:00)


Need a map of the site? Find out where the stages are!
Download the map of the festival site in JPG format HERE.

Much Ado About Nothing

By the time you’re reading this, the Odyssey that is the Arki Board Exam of June 2004 is over, and all the noble Board crusaders are now anxiously waiting what good graces will be endowed to them by the High Tribunal of Arki Board Examiners. Starting one week from now, every Board taker (and maybe their families and friends, too) will trek to the nearest newsstand and check to see whether the names of these brave men and women have been fortunate enough to be recognized as worthy to be engraved in the Philippine Registry of Architects. For the more tech-savvy ones, they’ll go online and go to the Inquirer website to do just that. (Sorry for the commercial plugging, since it is the Inquirer website which I know who posts the earliest results.)

Till then, they’ll have all the time to lambast anyone and everyone, and vent their frustrations, starting with the PRC for such lousy regulation procedures; the Board Examiners for such absurd questions; the review centers for not leaking to them what is the design problem for the third day; their alma matter for not giving them the proper education and training that they need; the exam proctor for not allowing them to open their books; their study groupmates for not bringing enough snacks during their group study sessions; and the guy who invented Board Examinations in the first place for making professional life such an arduous journey to start with. Even Frodo maybe had had the easier task of returning the ring to Mordor.

If there’s one thing I can say now which can somehow lift one’s spirits up in these times of desolation, it is this: the Board Exam never was, is and ever will be a good barometer of how good an architect you can be. (Originally, I had intended to write it as “…how good an architect you WILL be”, but that is like assuming that all Board takers are going to be good architects, of which I doubt will happen, mainly because not all Board passers will ever practice architecture anymore.)

Do you honestly believe that one’s topping of the Board Exam is an omen for that person to design really great buildings in the future? And those that did pass but did not top will design less than great buildings? Do you honestly believe that those who flunk do not have what it takes to succeed in the profession? And those that passed have it?

I then remember a famous, albeit unconfirmed, anecdote that the instructors at the review centers tell from time to time, and that is Leandro Locsin, the National Artist for Architecture, the architect who designed the CCP, PICC and other great works of Philippine Architecture, took the Board Exam five times before he passed. (I still have yet to read some official confirmation of this interesting bit of trivia, so those who have some information about this, please share it to us, so it may serve as an inspiration to future board flunkers,… I mean, board takers.)

In the end, what matters more is what you do AFTER you passed the Board Exam that will mark your place in the annals of great architecture practitioners, and NOT the Board Exam itself.

It is they who have no significant buildings or projects to their name who will continuously brag that they were the topnotcher in the year xxxx, even if it is already 10 years past. If you are a lawyer, that would have been a glowing entry in your resume. But not as an architect. Have you heard Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, Nicholas Grimshaw, Renzo Piano or any other great architect brag that they have topped the Board Exam? Simply put, the Board Exam is just a bridge that every architect wanna-be will have to cross to obtain the thing that will make us official architects in the eyes of the world—a license.

So what if you flunked the Board Exam?

Is it the end of your fledging architectural career? Does it mean you’re a dumb designer? Will your boyfriend/girlfriend break up with you? Will your family disown you? (I guess for a family with a lineage of architects, the answer would be a ‘yes’ for the last question.)

If you flunked the Board Exam, it simply means that you just weren’t able to answer satisfactorily the questions asked by the High Tribunal of Architecture Board Examiners.

And if you flunked it for the second time, then it simply means that you just weren’t able to answer satisfactorily the questions asked by the High Tribunal of Architecture Board Examiners the second time around.

And if you flunked it for the third time, then it simply means that you just weren’t able to answer satisfactorily the questions asked by the High Tribunal of Architecture Board Examiners the third around. And that you have to take a hiatus from your Board Exam Escapades for one year and re-assess your career path as a professional architect.

One has to remember that life does not end when you flunk the Arki Board Exam. So don’t cry when you do. By now, you should realize that with the way the Board Exam is handled and with the kind of questions the Examiners give, it’s not worth our tears nor our worry to fret over flunking. Maybe if they had asked sensible questions that would really determine our competence as professional architects, then maybe we’d worry whether we really have what it takes to be one if we flunked. As it is, I’d worry more about my cellphone getting snatched, my wallet getting snatched, or the Lakers snatching homecourt advantage from the Pistons. (But, from the look of it, that chance seems getting slimmer and slimmer, especially now that the Pistons are up 3-1, and oozing with championship poise!)

And if it so happens that you pass, well, what can I say but congrats, and welcome officially to the world of the overworked and underpaid.

And if it so happens that you also get to be a topnotcher, well and good for you, because you also get to enjoy some cash prizes from your review center and Boysen.

But if it so happens that you do not pass, just reread the phrases that have been bold-en here. It’ll really make you feel a whole lot better. I hope...

Conflicting Viewpoints About The Arki Board Exam

Conflicting Viewpoint # 1: You [need, do not need] those 3,840 hours of apprenticeship to have the optimal background knowledge and experience to take the board exam.

At least, that’s what the High Tribunal of the Arki Board Examiners hoped when they instituted that policy. Fact is, if you were to base from the results of the recent years, there is no correlation between the number of apprenticeship hours and the one’s chances of passing. I know of some people who took the board exam less than three months after they’ve graduated, and passed on their first take. Some even became topnotchers. On the other hand, I know of some who have even completed, and even exceeded the required 3,840 hours, and passed it—on their second take.


Conflicting Viewpoint # 2: You [need, do not need] to study for at least two months to have a chance to pass the board exam.

When a friend of mine took the Board Exam, he only studied seriously for about 3 weeks, and did his studying at night since he is still busy with his sidelines. I know other friends of mine who not only studied in lesser time, but who even found time to go surfing somewhere up north in the 2 months prior to the exam. And all of them passed in our first take.

On the other hand, I know of some people who filed a leave of absence 6 months prior to the exam, studied at day, attended review classes at night, and even took refresher courses. And he/she flunked.


Conflicting Viewpoint # 3: Enrolling in a review center [will, will not] increase your chances of passing.

That’s what all the arki review centers would like to make you think, because that’s their business. So they post these banners outside their office, proudly claiming that this board passer and/or topnotcher came from their hallowed halls, if only to convince potential reviewers to enrol in their centers.

Fact is, no one has ever conducted a study whether these review centers actually has some direct contribution to the success of board examiner. I know of some board passers, even topnotchers, who did not attend review center classes, even the two-week refresher courses. And I also know of some who flunked the board exam more than once, who enrolled in more than one review center.

But that’s not to say that review centers are a waste of time. As I stated above, I was careful to mention that review centers have no direct contribution, because somehow, they have some indirect contribution. These indirect contributions would be in the form of forcing you to be in the mood for studying. Just by attending the night classes from 6-9pm will somehow tell your brain and your body that "you are taking the board exam, you must study now, no more night-outs, no more gimmicks". But then, if you really want to study, irregardless if you went to night-outs or some gimmicks, you really will find the time to study.


Conflicting Viewpoint # 4: Memorization [is, is not] a sure-fire way to pass the first two days of examination.

When the High Tribunal of the Arki Board Examiners consistently ask out-of-this-practice questions like “What do you call this machinery part of the escalator?”, “Who designed this Apartment Building in India?”, and “What do you call this type of transformer connection?”, you don’t really need memorization skills. You need psychic skills, so you can read the minds of Board Examiners as to what will the questions be like.

The way they ask questions in the Board Exam, you have to have a really, really, really broad knowledge about everything that is even remotely connected with architecture. In fact, many board takers have commented that the Arki Board Exam is more like “Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire?” contest, because the High Tribunal of the Arki Board Examiners can simply ask ANY questions they please with no limitations to scope whatsoever.

When I took the Board Exam, a fellow board examiner read from cover to cover the Building Code, the Plumbing Code, and the National Structural Code. She even made little notes in index cards for the important points and dimensions. Come exam time, the predominant questions were mostly about history and professional practice. Taking cue from what happened, another friend of mine who was going take the subsequent board exam decided to focus on history. Come exam time, the predominant questions were mostly about laws.

I even know of board topnotchers who relied on their powers of the “eeny-meenie-miney-mo” to answer the multiple choice questions, rather than going over books after books, codes after codes, sample exams after sample exams.


Conflicting Viewpoint # 5: To pass the board exam, you [need, do not need] to follow all these tips and advices that every board passer seems keen to be giving.

By now, you’ll realize that this Board Exam for Architecture is a complete enigma.
Whether you have the experience or not, you can still pass—or flunk.
Whether you study or not, you can still pass—or flunk.
Whether you enrol in a review center or not, you can still pass—or flunk.
Whether you memorize or not, you can still pass—or flunk.
Given these, then what kind of advice could someone give that could make sense and help future board takers?

No wonder our industry is in such a pitiable state because the main “screening” for would-be architectural professionals is in itself in a pitiable state.