FUTURE HABITATIONS MANILA
The capital of the Philippines, Manila has the world’s highest population density, with 42,857 people per square kilometer. It has a population density greater than Mumbai, India (23,000 people/sq km), and Paris, France (20,150 people/sq km). “Metro Manila” is an official term for the entirety of the metropolitan area. In its extents, Manila provides about 90 percent of the domestic industrial production. The city is the cultural and scientific center of the Philippines; it also has an expanse of spontaneous settlements wherein people live just above the subsistence level. The question is, how do you balance the growth of the city and simultaneously improve the quality of life for its inhabitants in a city of extraordinary extremes? Manila’s extraordinary history—written, erased, and rewritten—has rendered a current condition that is one of extremes and great tensions. The city is rife with poverty and affluence, congestion and release, pollution and ecological diversity. “Manila: Future Habitations” focused on four strategic areas within or adjacent to Manila’s historic core: the Port of Manila, where sea level rise, commerce, a desire to access waterfront by citizenry, and a need for middle-class housing stock all collide; the Baseco compound, a spontaneous settlement situated on a peninsula in Manila Bay with no infrastructure; the Pasig Riverfront, challenged by an ecological system in ruins; and the Intramuros, where infrastructure, architecture, and the vestiges of colonial Manila misalign. This studio focused on the design of human settlements, new types of dwellings, the connective tissue and common ground of cities, and the challenge of designing for the human condition against future tensions.
Read moreStudio tutors Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik, David Rubin Teaching Assistant William Baumgardner Students Cy Chang, Emmanuel Coloma, Zheng Alan Cong, Rose Lee, Peilin Li, Yinan Liu, Chenghao Lyu, Paris Nelson, Aime Vailes Macarie, Luisa Pineros Sanchez, Julio Torres Santana, Chi-Hsuan Wang, Bailun Zhang Final Review Critics Saša Begovic, Jennifer Bonner, Sean Chiao, Gina Ford, Stephen Gray, K. Michael Hays, Pavlina Ilieva, Hanif Kara, Grace La, Mark Lee, Nancy Lin, Mohsen Mostafavi, Mark Mulligan, Mary Anne Ocampo, Jinhee Park, Surella Segu, Kevin Storm Report Design Mikhail Grinwald A Harvard University Graduate School of Design Publication Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design Mohsen Mostafavi Assistant Dean and Director for Communications and Public Programs Ken Stewart Editor in Chief Jennifer Sigler Associate Editor Marielle Suba Production Manager Meghan Sandberg Series design by Laura Grey and Zak Jensen ISBN 978-1-934510-69-8 Copyright © 2018 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The editors have attempted to acknowledge all sources of images used and apologize for any errors or omissions. Harvard University Graduate School of Design 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 publications@gsd.harvard.edu gsd.harvard.edu A Harvard University Graduate School of Design Publication Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design Mohsen Mostafavi Assistant Dean and Director for Communications and Public Programs Ken Stewart Editor in Chief Jennifer Sigler Associate Editor Marielle Suba Production Manager Meghan Sandberg Series design by Laura Grey and Zak Jensen ISBN 978-1-934510-69-8 Copyright © 2018 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The editors have attempted to acknowledge all sources of images used and apologize for any errors or omissions. Harvard University Graduate School of Design 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 publications@gsd.harvard.edu gsd.harvard.edu Acknowledgments We wish to thank, once again, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design, Dean Mohsen Mostafavi; Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Anita Berrizbeitia; and Chair of the Department of Architecture, Mark Lee, and Interim Chair of the Department of Architecture, K. Michael Hays, for the opportunity to instruct this studio and for their enthusiastic support throughout the semester. We are also grateful to Sean Chiao, President of AECOM Asia Pacific, for proposing the study of Manila as the final city in this extraordinary series of explorations, his engagement and feedback throughout the semester, and for supporting the studio, along with his colleague, Nancy Lin, and the many AECOM representatives who engaged in the field. Many thanks to the participants at the Manila Forum who assisted the students in understanding the breadth of issues and challenges that face this city and the citizenry on a daily basis. Thanks to Jackie Piracini, Anna Lyman, Ashley Lang, Taylor Horner, and the Harvard GSD administration for their help. A special offer of thanks to Gareth Doherty for stepping up when desperately needed. We extend our gratitude to the studio’s midterm and final jury critics for their important words during reviews, and, of course, to the students for all of their hard work, without whom these visions would not be possible. We also wish to extend our appreciation to our former teaching assistant, Mikhail Grinwald, for his efforts in the realization of this book. Finally, special thanks to our teaching assistant this year, William Baumgardner, for his boundless energy and extraordinary patience throughout the semester. Without his participation, this studio would not be measured by the success it has achieved.
