Sunday, February 08, 2009

i get lost still. i should be old enough to know where i am and what i should be doing but i still get lost. not literally but emotionally. i catch myself staring into space and thinking..what am i doing? is this right? and more importantly, what is my value? as a person? as an architect? this could be very deep but let me put it this way, i want to help. i want to change the world in my own little ways..but how??

so..a few days ago, i started wondering, contemplating and probably making things clearer that maybe, i can help in making this place better for the future through my profession, as an architect. well, honestly, im still a young cub in this construction and design jungle but i know someday, ill be as big as the lions and lionesses out there and i dont wanna be an ordinary member, i want to create something..something good! this train of thought might not be anything unique but i just want to help...

Sustainable, green, environment-friendly architecture. thats what i want to pursue, i want to be able to talk, breathe, and know by heart all the necessary tools and materials needed for this. how? im still in the process of answering that and im surely open to hear out any suggestions and for anyone to help me! i am hoping that more and more designers will be open to this idea.

right now, im researching about different sustainable materials which i can specify for construction and design here in Manila. one product i read in an issue of Architectural Record Magazine is fly ash, as i have read in Inquirer.net, "Fly ash is a by-product of coal power plants. As the coal is burned, ash is released which has been traditionally disposed of in landfills, or worse, released into the atmosphere and eventually adds to urban dirt and pollution. However, it has been found that fly ash can be used for construction purposes. It is definitely a sustainable practice to replace some Portland cement with fly ash when preparing concrete. (It can replace up to 50 percent of the cement.) It is sustainable because it makes use of material that would otherwise be waste, therefore allowing our natural deposits of limestone (a main ingredient in preparing cement) to last longer." hmm...good? well, we know that coal burning is bad for the environment BUT, we cannot stop this (for now) so maybe, just maybe, we can somehow use the negative side for the greater good! like using the by-product of burnt coal=ASH. i seriously dont know if i am right and im still researching, but for now..this is my thought.

what other materials can Filipino architects use??

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