MALAYA – A Cultural Shift in the Filipino Diaspora

Malaya: Free

The pursuit of a prosperous future in greener pastures is the common thread that binds diasporic Filipinos together. While it is an honourable act of survival, questioning if it is worth the price is the driver of this investigation. In the 21st Century, millions flock out of the homeland at the expense of their national identity. As a race, Filipinos are a disseminated population serving others while simultaneously uplifting their loved ones back home. Consequently, this resulted in a new concept of nationhood and what it means to be ‘Filipino.’ ‘Bansang watak-watak sa buong mundo’ (a country scattered worldwide).

This phenomenon prompted the Filipino Diaspora or Filipino Migration model implemented in the 1970s to compensate for this social framework. This event has turned the Philippines into one of Asia’s world’s largest labor exporters. Unavoidably, it has become the ‘cure-all’ for every middle-class Filipino worker to avoid poverty, high unemployment, minimal opportunity, and low-quality education.

Set in the Port of Cebu from Cebu City, Philippines, the project challenges this systemic thinking to propose a conceptual architectural design. A speculative architectural scenario aims to promote nationhood and enrich the individual’s sense of purpose and identity. The design speculates as a testing ground of a seaport transforming and reimagining an empowerment agency for overseas Filipino workers and diasporic generations. It aims to equip these unsung heroes with the skillsets and knowledge required to voyage into the world with an understanding of the importance of their cultural heritage. The floor plan evokes a sense of fluidity of movement and collaboration, and visibility, allowing cross-pollination of knowledge-sharing and skill-building within the community.

The essential implementation of a radical ‘crane system’ reinvents how a typical port would behave among people. Instead of an industrial element designed for efficiency and speed, the crane transforms as an active mechanism into a social context cooperating with the inhabitants. This design feature mimics how the Filipino people operate as a collective community, practicing the spirit of ‘Bayanihan.’ Rather than a mere structure, the building is an active participant in nurturing a community.

The design process incorporates and celebrates ancestral Filipinos’ pre-colonial way of living. This intention physically manifests by building boats and working within flexible, fluid spaces within the port design. This practice also revives the relationship between the built environment and water by using it as a mode of transportation. Traditionally, this Filipino practice was crucial in forming and developing ancestral Filipino communities. The remedied port of Cebu transforms into a beacon of new possibilities proposing a cultural shift toward the Filipino Diaspora. It instills an appreciation of the connection of water within an archipelagic island nation.

The Original Filipino archetypes were analyzed to create links with relevant archetypes shedding insight into building effectively near water. This design approach follows the theory of ‘Our Seas of Islands’ by Epeli Hau’ofa, a Tongan and Fijian anthropologist, stating that islands are not a collection of independent bodies. Instead, it is a vast interconnected network that intrinsically binds people, culture, and architecture.

The proposal encourages the Filipino people to look within and showcase what they can offer to the world rather than looking further to find greener pastures. To be free from this mindset is acknowledging the past and bravely looking toward the future.