By Mike Baños
Cagayan de Oro City- A Kagay-anon architect’s entry is now in the finals of a renowned international design awards following its first stage win.
Architect Edwin Dychauco Uy House for a Father design entry is one of the 138 shortlisted entries (out of the 642 Design Mark recipients) as a Finalist for Best Design in the Golden Pin Design Award (GPDA) for 2024. It is the only Philippine recipient of the Design Mark qualified for the finals in the Spatial Design Category.
As described in the GPDA website, House for a Father is a thoughtful architectural design inspired by the bond between a father and his family. The structure incorporates familiar elements of a home—living and dining areas, kitchen, and storage—reflecting the father’s eternal love and providing a serene space for family reflection.
A steel cubic entrance leads to warm wooden doors, while wooden louvers on the western facade curved into the final resting place symbolize the father’s honor to his family. Strategic design features, like louvers, offer natural ventilation and privacy. The minimalist, home-like approach moves away from traditional monumental tributes, creating a space for contemplation and solace.
“I was ecstatic for winning the Golden Pin Design Mark Award 2024 for House for a Father and now I am way over the moon to hear the news that House for a Father is now a contender to be awarded the best of the best – Best Design Award!” Uy said in a post in his social media page.
“I am speechless and being here with such big architects is super. Such an honor! Thank you GPDA Jury for appreciating our design! Thank you once again also to my client for gracing us with this emotional project,” Uy added.
A House for A Father
The project draws inspiration from the enduring bond between a parent and the children. The design process was inclined to infuse every facet of the structure with echoes of its heartfelt story beginning with a simple idea: creating a space that feels like home for the family.
As you step into the space, you are greeted by a volume of space that guides you to the interiors, signaling that this is his final resting place. Inside, we included familiar spaces such as a living and dining areas, kitchen, powder room, and storage – all essential elements of a home. The open plan emulates the intimate bond between the family members.
The design embodies a coalescence of materiality and movements to convey reverence and express sentimentalities. A steel cubic structure with four sides that recedes in steps provides an emblematic entrance towards the warmth of the wooden doors. The ambiance softens as wood takes prominence, articulating it further with its tranquility. The solid wooden louvers on the western facade curves into the final resting place to symbolize the father’s honor to his family. Furthermore, the family’s surname is etched and cut discreetly into place to mark the father’s eternal love for his family. The use of concrete in the exterior serves as a grounding force, tethering the structure to earth where familial ties endure.
Moreover, how the materials were used was integral in the overall design. With the longer side of the lot facing the west, strategic measures were taken to mitigate heat gain, louvers were in place. To add, these louvers also provide natural ventilation and privacy. The louvers also ensure a serene and contemplative environment for the family visitors to reflect and find solace.
The Golden Pin Design Award champions Huaren Design. The term Huaren in general is used for people of Chinese ethnicity.
It recognizes commercial products and projects entered by design teams and industry professionals. Each year, through a rigorous and impartial judging process led by industry experts, over one hundred products and projects are selected to receive the coveted Design Mark certificate in recognition of outstanding design.
A small selection of the Design Mark recipients are then chosen to receive the Best Design trophy. The Golden Pin Design Award certificate and trophy is an influential signifier of quality in design.
The 2024 Golden Pin Design Award held its secondary selection on September 2nd at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei with 642 entries from 14 regions, including Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, stood out across four major categories.
Among the 642 winning entries, there were 245 in the Product Design category, 195 in Communication Design, 52 in Integrational Design, and 150 in Spatial Design where Uy’s design is entered.
For each category, winners earn the Golden Pin Design Mark Award for passing the initial screening. Four Filipino designers have been qualified for the Mark Award including Kenneth Cobonpue’s Spin (Product Design), Plus63’s Kapihan, and The Acid House’s Spotify You Do You (both for Communications Design).
These winning entries, having passed the rigorous secondary selection, not only receive the prestigious Golden Pin Design Award Mark, but also advance to the final round to compete for the coveted Best Design Award and the Special Annual Award to be announced during the awarding ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan on December 13, 2024.
After the final selection on September 9th and 10th, a total of 138 entries were shortlisted for the Golden Pin Design Award.
These exceptional works, hailing from 12 regions including Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, the US, Japan, the UK, Thailand, Poland, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, will compete for the highest honors in this year’s competition.
This year’s Golden Pin Design Award final selection jury featured 15 esteemed experts from various fields to determine the winners of the prestigious “Best Design Award” and “Special Annual Award.” Among the distinguished jurors were Korean design master Ahn Sang Soo, President of Japan’s GKID Shigenori Asakura, renowned Japanese graphic designer Irobe Yoshiaki, Alibaba Cloud Computing’s Design Lead Jianye Li, Compal Electronics Chief Design Officer Shikuan Chen, Taiwanese architect Ricky Liu, and several other highly respected professionals.
Ar. Uy’s design company, Edwin Uy Design Office (EUDO-Philippines) has offices in Makati and Cagayan de Oro.
He is considered as one of the Philippines’ innovative architects. His project House No. 26 was featured in a compilation of 18 diverse and purposeful dwellings from around the Philippines in BluPrint Magazine’s latest coffee table book The Architecture of Silence.
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