After two successful community projects constructed by architecture students from Foundation University, the search is on for the third Estudio Damgo project.
Anna Lee Koosmann, outgoing instructor of the FU Department of Architecture and Fine Arts, said they are now choosing from among three possible projects for the architecture students.
Estudio Damgo is the country’s first design-build studio for architecture students, patterned after a similar program in the University of Washington, where Victor Vicente Sinco, vice president for Finance and Administration of Foundation University concurrent head of the architecture department, obtained his degree in architecture. Sinco is a licensed architect.
Estudio Damgo I involved the construction of a day care center in sitio Dungga, barangay Malaunay in Valencia town. The project was led by another US-trained architect, Ray Villanueva from the University of Washington.
Koosmann, who was Villanueva’s classmate in architecture school in the U.S., came to the Philippines to lead the second Estudio Damgo, which involved the construction of a multi-purpose building for a community of victims of Typhoon Sendong in barangay Bajumpandan, Dumaguete City.
Koosmann said that the next Estudio Damgo project will be led by another architect, Ellen Lou Flores-Saludar, who also teaches at the FU Department of Architecture.
The possible project for Estudio Damgo III will again be in Valencia, in partnership with the Maluanay Farming Association. Discussions are still ongoing.
