Every March 8, we celebrate International Women’s Month. On this significant day and the whole month of March as well, we honor the contributions of women who have distinguished themselves in their fields of endeavor.
As an architect, my favorite female architects are the British-Iraqi architect Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid and the Italian architect Gaetana Aulenti.
Described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the Curve,” Hadid’s major works include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum, Rome’s MAXXI Museum, and the Guangzhou Opera House. She was awarded twice in 2010 and 2011 with the Stirling Prize, the United Kingdom’s most distinguished architectural award. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II made Hadid a Dame (the female equivalent of a knighthood) for her valuable contributions to architecture. Before she passed away in March 2016, Hadid made history by becoming the first woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British architects.
Aulenti, who passed away in 2012, was a well-rounded architect whose work extended to industrial and exhibition, design, furniture, graphics, stage design, lighting, and interior design. Among her famous colossal museums are the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (1980–86) with ACT Architecture, the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the restoration of Palazzo Grassi in Venice (1985–86), and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco with HOK (2000–2003). As a woman, Aulenti belonged to a minority among design professionals in postwar Italy, where Italian architects explored other production principles from outside the country.
In the local scene, an ABS-CBN article named seven Filipinas, namely Edith Oliveros, Mercedes Berenguer-Topacio, Dolly Perez, Herminia Cancio Layug, Sonia Olivares, Ely Pinto Mansor, and Josephine Labrador-Hermano as stalwarts of Philippine interior design.
Perez, also known as the “Mother of Landscape Architecture,” was “the first female landscape architect in the Philippines. Among her marquee projects are the Rizal Park, Dambana ng Kagitingan in Bataan and the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Cancio-Layug and her brother Agustin opened a furniture manufacturing company called Cancio Associates. She later partnered with Architect Lor Calma to open Cancio-Calma Associates.
Mansor is regarded as the champion of Filipino design talent. She was the brains behind Movement 8, an all-Filipino organization of furniture and product composed of Kenneth Cobonpue, Milo Naval, Al Caronan, Tony Gonzales, Tes Pasola, Ann Pamintuan, Renato Vidal, Carlo Cordaro, and Luisa Robinson. Under Mansor, Movement 8 joined several international furniture fairs to promote Filipino design to the world.
Philippine School of Interior Design graduate Labrador- Hermano is credited for pioneering the publication of local home and design websites and magazines. She was also a trailblazer in the media industry by publishing Design & Architecture magazine in 1989, the first serious local magazine to focus on Filipino design.
One outstanding quality of Filipinas is the consistency of their grace and femininity, even in competitive fields, regardless of whether they may find themselves in the majority or the minority among their co-professionals.
As far as my company is concerned, I am happy and proud to say that many key positions are held by women, whose dependability, competence, and efficiency are key. Overall, about 85 percent of our employees are women. No doubt their presence is one of the reasons why Italpinas Development Corp continues to grow through the years.
On a personal note, my early development as a person has been influenced by women. Being the only boy in the family, my three sisters gave me all the support towards the growth in my younger days.
Happy International Women’s Day!
