Natcon Directory | Page 51

Speakers ’ Profile SEMINAR O2 The Building Blocks of an Architectural Firm Joseph DG. Javier, UAP Javier has about 18 years of professional experience, 15 years of which as principal of his design firm. In this lecture, Javier shall lay down the rationale of establishing your own architectural firm. Difficult questions of what, how, when, and where shall be presented and answered. If you are in this professional abyss between staying through your mundane employment; and opening your firm and controlling your career, you need to be in this lecture. Dominic Galicia is the Principal Architect of his firm, Dominic Galicia Architects, a design-oriented practice whose work has been recognized for its sensitive attention to both concept and detail. He obtained his professional degree in architecture in 1988 fro m the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA where he was a Notre Dame Scholar. In June 2005, he received a University of Notre Dame Distinguished Asian Pacific Alumni Award. He also studied architecture for a year at Notre Dame’s campus in Rome, and also pursued studies in architecture at Pratt Institute in New York. A licensed architect both in the Philippines and in the New York State, USA, Arch. Galicia has served as Vice President of the Heritage Conservation Society and has represented it on the Executive Council of the National Committee on Monuments and Sites (NCMS) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). He represents the Philippines in the International Scientific Committee on Twentieth-century Heritage (ISC20C) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), in which capacity he helps guide the public-private initiative to revive Escolta, Manila’s historic downtown. SEMINAR O3 Architecture as a Platform for Nation-building Dominic Q. Galicia, UAP 49 Arch. Joseph Javier graduated from the University of the Philippines with honors in 1995 and secured his Philippine license to practise in 1996. After working for various top architectural and realty firms, Javier established JDSM (formerly Joseph AdG Javier, Architects) in 1998. Javier is also professor and Head of Design Track of the Architecture Program of the De La Salle – School of Design and Arts. He was president of the Alabang Chapter of the United Architect of the Philippines in 2008. Javier was also principal of Uttamchandani-Javier Design Studio – HK from 2008 to 2011. The concept of a nation, as with the concept of anything of great worth, can be expressed in the relationship between form and space, and how light and sound animate this interaction. This relationship, called architecture, has the potential to influence our lives in the most profound ways, to conduce in each of us the nobility of the individual, and to conduce in all of us together the nobility of a nation. The concept of us as a nation is rooted in the concept of us as a civilization. It is an ongoing exercise of understanding ourselves and our needs in the context of our geography, history and resources. Unity, respect, dialogue, and transparency are key components of this quest to build architecture worthy of our nation.