Speakers ’ Profile
SEMINAR 18
Archion Architects:
Out-of-the-box practice
Daniel A.
Lichauco, UAP
In an effort to keep things interesting, relevant
and current, running the practice of Archion
Architects has had numerous challenges, the
majority of which are repetitive and cyclical.
Working with the assumption that each person
in the office is a professional, we try to make
things work at this level all the time. “Your time
is your own” has been the long standing motto
of the office where in we try to make each
person responsible for their part of the job. It is
in explaining this corporate philosophy that will
hopefully make people understand that there
are a lot of different ways to run a practice and
that this one hopefully is the most fulfilling for
all concerned.
Daniel Vicente Aquino Lichauco, or Dan as
he is fondly called, is the Principal Architect
and Managing Partner of Archion Architects.
He is also an Urban Planner. He finished BS
Architecture from the University of Santo Tomas
and eventually acquired three Masters degrees:
Master in Architecture with concentration on
Classical Architecture and Classical Urban
Design from the University of Notre Dame in
Indiana, USA; Master in Urban Planning from the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan;
and Master in Architecture, with concentration
on Architectural Design and Theory also from
the University of Michigan. He has over 27
years experience in total project delivery
process and over 15 years experience in urban
planning. As a practitioner, he has extensive
experience in urban planning, masterplanned
communities and educational institutions, highend residential, institutional, office buildings,
healthcare facilities and tenancy improvement
design. His architectural firm is a Sustaining
Membe of the Philippine Green Building Council,
thus it is but natural for the firm to apply the
principles of green architecture in their projects.
Architect Lichauco has also been teaching
at the University of Santo Tomas College of
Architecture for the past 17 years and he was
a Teaching Assistant at the University of Notre
Dame and University of Ann Arbor in the US.
57
SEMINAR 19
Emergency Architects,
Assemble!
Patrick
Coulombel
Emergency Architects foundation labours alongside
people who have lost everything, helping them get
back to a semblance of normal life. Earthquake, flood
and war see our teams interceding all across the globe,
providing assistance to people in need, whether victims
of natural, industrial, technological or human disaster.
Each of us works to restore people’s sense of security,
find shelter for displaced populations and arrange
children’s access to education. Launched in 2001,
Emergency Architects is today a state-approved publicinterest foundation. We credit this recognition to the
work, commitment and professionalism of more than
1,500 architects and engineers, who have intervened in
more than 27 countries since our establishment. Today
more than ever before, we are duty-bound to work for
those women, children and men who do not have the
dignity of a roof over their heads and for the millions
of unschooled children. There is much to be done and
we rely on y our support as we strive to build a better
world. The resulting multiplication of natural disasters
and the mass movement of climatic or war refugees are
most likely going to inrease in the next decade. They
represent a real challenge as regards the conception
of solutions for adaptable emergency shelters for
refugees and displaced persons. The object of this
presentation is to encourage participants think about
these new challenges for construction, along with the
high-performance building solutions required. Patrick
Coulombel will share the knowledge and experience
that has been gained by Emergency Architects over the
last 13 years in the field. The constraints with which
emergency building is now confronted crystallise the
evolutionary trends for all architecture, in a context of
depleted resources: build more, to last longer, with less.
Patrick Coulombel is an acknowledged architect since
1991 and co-founded Emergency Architects, a foundation
known worldwide for operating quickly and for its
efficiency in drastic situations. He holds an architect
diploma recognized by the School of Architecture of
Paris Belleville and Paris la Villette (1991). He has an
approval by the Federation Internationale des Experts
Maritimes et Fluviaux (1992) and is also a judiciary
expert for architecture. Moreover, he is a self-taught
shipbuilding architect and has a certificate that gives
him the right to sail (Brevet de Patron a la Plaisance,
1993). Mr. Coulombel is also a member of the French
“Legion d’honneur”. Professionally, he has worked as
a Lecturer of Electro-Technic and Mathematics in high
schools and has also worked in various architectural
office before opening his own business in 1993. He
is also part of the shipping sphere for he worked on
sailboats and used to teach teenagers how to sail. The
creation of Emergency Architects enabled him to warn
against risk in emergency situations in his current job.
Significantly, he is the co-founder of a specialised degree
that deals with emergency architecture in partnership
with an engineering school in Paris, the ESTP.