Chester Neil D. Cunanan
University of the Philippines
/Shape-shifting Hubs-Sustainable Livelihood and Micro-Conservation Facility for the Threatened Philippine Biodiversity and Neglected Rural Communities
Site: Pancol, Palawan, Philippines
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To combat the sheer volume of human interventions that lead to biodiversity loss and devastated resources, an architecture of the future for the impoverished Philippine rural communities was envisioned through a series of interconnected modular hubs. Using the concept of shape-shifting, the project was designed with innovative features that allow various site adaptability, transportability, structural configurability, and space flexibility.
One of the main modular hubs is a sustainable livelihood training facility which was designed with tech-driven workshop and informal learning areas to aid one of the country's poorest sectors, the local farmers and fisherfolk, in their transition to more precise, scientific, and smart livelihood techniques. Working with this hub is the micro-conservation teaching facility that has living classrooms, VR learning areas, and deployable research labs for on-site and hands-on conservation. To support these hubs, the project also features an environmental monitoring facility that houses smart-run rooms which assess environmental conditions and status of wildlife. Collectively, these hubs allow locals to partake in effective ecological management through locally developed apps and tools that track illegal livelihood practices and other environmental crimes.
To ensure the continuity of the launched programs and to serve as a reminder of their effort to conserve the local biodiversity, the target communities will come up, design, and build their "micro-version of the hubs” — a “community project” that serves as a reflection of "architecture for the people, by the people." Designed to be a relocatable facility that will traverse the threatened PH biodiversity corridors, these lightweight, shape-shifting hubs were envisioned to leave nothing but environmental footprints of conserved biodiversity — circles of influence that can be replicated by other countries that have surpassed the "safe level" of biodiversity loss and are constantly suffering from human-driven pressures.
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