The award-winning design concept by architect Deo Alam is intended as housing for indigenous coastal communities in the northern most part of Mindanao, namely Zamboanga City, Tawi-Tawi and Sitangkai.
Deo Alam Design and Architecture (DADA) has been named the 2017 Grand Prix winner of the Jacques Rougerie Foundation Awards held at Institut de France in Paris earlier this year.
Francis Rambert, director of the French Institute of Architecture, awarded The Grand Prix 2017 Innovation and Architecture for the Sea to architect Deo Alam, the sole Filipino representative. Among all the other entries from various countries, “Currents for Currents” by Deo garnered the event’s plum prize.
“We are ecstatic to have received such a prestigious award, but more than that, being acknowledged for ‘Current for Currents,’ a project we passionately and tirelessly worked on is absolutely astounding,” said Deo, design principal of DADA. “More than anything else, this award propels us to push the design boundaries a lot more further and inspire other young architects in the country”.
The award-winning design concept is intended as housing for indigenous coastal communities in the southern part of Mindanao, namely Zamboanga City, Tawi-Tawi and Sitangkai. Similar to stilt houses that are native to the area, these stylish homes are equipped with wave generator turbines that are submerged underwater, ultimately making the community an energy farm with a sustainable and profitable energy source that can power neighboring towns.
The innovative design brainchild of Deo, rendered by Robert Andrew P. Galano and Pierre Michael Monjardin of 228 Design, elevates the Philippines in the field of global architecture. “Currents for Currents” also received Honorable Mention, out of 200 participants from over 40 countries, in the LAKA Reacts awards held in Poland late last year.
Jacques Rougerie Foundation is an organization whose advocacy is to create a new relationship between man and his natural environment, while encouraging innovative and technical architectural designs related to the sea and space, according to the precepts of sustainable development.
The foundation was created by French architect and oceanographer Jacques Rougerie. In 2011, he launched the awards to encourage young architects to create “innovative, audacious and promising projects that imagine new methods of sustainable development within the realms of sea and space”.
