ABOUT

The idea for an architecture program for the College of Saint Benilde had been floated around as early as 2000, during the term of Ar Rose Marie Bautista, the first Dean of the School of Design and Arts (SDA.) In the last quarter of 2007, Ar Gerry Torres, who succeeded Ar Bautista as Dean of SDA asked Ar Minette Fajardo, a part-time faculty of SDA to submit a proposal to develop an Architecture program. However the plan was not realized due to cost implications.

In January 2008, Dean Torres convened a group of architects who were already teaching in Benilde to work on developing the architecture degree. The five-man team organized by Dean Torres included Ar Larry Carandang, the future program Chairperson, Ar Edward Que, Ar AJ Javier, and the late Ar Sid Gomez Hildawa. The group met regularly to accomplish the task and each of the members contributed the task of developing the curriculum, designing the flow chart, creating the syllabi, and conceptualising the new program. To make it distinct from the 37 existing architecture courses in Metro Manila, the group came up with five ideal characteristics of a Benildean architect. The graduates were envisioned to possess a strong background in the humanities, fully trained in digital technology, business ready, global in outlook yet grounded in the local, and focused on designing for cities. These characteristics were created as a response to the developments of the time, one of which was the forecast by the United Nations of a major demographic shift happening in 2010, when for the first in human history, the earth’s population becomes more urban than rural. The other significant factor was the rise of the Creative Industries, which considered design professionals like architects as active participants in the task of nation-building.

The group worked on the requirements for developing the Benilde architecture curriculum and strategised to fulfill the five characteristics set. These included adding business classes as specializations, the inclusion of Design Foundation courses tailored for architecture, and the early introduction of digital computing, starting with CADD (Computer Aided Drafting and Design in first year. In April 2008, Dean Torres presented and was able to get the approval of the Academic Council. The following month, Benilde President Br Vic Franco FSC and Vice President for Academics Robert Tang presented and secured the go signal of the Board of Trustees. After the approvals, Dean Torres and Ar. Carandang worked together to prepare the papers for accreditation by the Center for Higher Education (CHED.) The application was forwarded by the Registrar in October 2008, followed by three accreditation visits between November 2008 to February 2009. In March 2009, CHED approved the application. Benilde’s architecture program officially started in May 2009, making Architecture the 13th degree offering of the School of Design and Arts. It would be merely a week before the 2009 Benilde in Focus, a college-wide event where new programs were introduced to potential enrollees and two weeks prior to the enrolment period for schoolyear 2009-2010. In spite of the short time for marketing the new program, the first batch boasted 30 students with five faculty members, namely Dean Torres, Ar Carandang, Ar Javier, and the new additions to the faculty, Ar Choie Funk and Ar Noel Nicholas. Within five years, the program, also know by its acronym, SDAAR or SDA Architecture, grew to over 800 students and more than eighty teachers.

Early Milestones

In 2011, the School of Hospitality, Restaurant, and Institutional Management (SHRIM) hosted a Restaurant Design competition, a collaboration between students of SHRIM and SDAAR. The the team of Alyssa Yvette Par won and their design applied to the present Br. Andrew Gourmet Café, located at the Main Campus. In January 2013, the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA) through its student arm, the PIASA (Student Auxilliary), organized and hosted the first Inter-school architectural rendering competition. This one-day event was held in SDA and was divided into two categories, CADD and Manual. Carlo Estado won in the CADD division while Nielsen Uy placed 1st runner up in Manual Design. In 2014, the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) sponsored an Interschool Design Competition where Alyssa Yvette Par won first place for her ‘Baduy’ Olympic Coliseum. In the same year, De La Salle University- Manila organized its 1st Inventors and Innovators Design Competition which was participated in by La Salle schools nationwide. There was a triple tie for 1st place in the Innovation Category. The winners were Gienah Guevarra, Yna Dimaculangan, and Ellizelle David, all from SDAAR. For the Invention Category, Mark Jervoso, also from SDAAR, garnered 3rd place.

Board Exam Successes

In June 2014, the first batch of SDAAR graduates took the Architecture Licensure Examinations (ALE) given by the Professional Regulation Commission Board of Architecture (PRC-BoA). Nielsen Uy landed 10th place in the examinations. In January 2017, the SDAAR examinees performed higher than the national passing average with a success rate of 83.33%. Before the program’s 10th anniversary in 2019, the program produced two more top-ten finishes starting with Ria Angelica Catimbang Zamudio who garnered 82.30% and tied for the 8th place in the June 2017 licensure examination. This was followed by the most recent success of Angelo Ezekiel Pallorina Nuestro with a rating of 83.40% placing him among the top three during the January 2019 licensure examination.