Justin T.

Cua
ARSERCH

Research Methods for Architecture (ARSERCH), a class that many

architecture students from Benilde fear, is the class I am taking this term.
From accounts of the 118s ARSERCH, it sounds scary because this is every
student first taste of what thesis will be like. I do not believe that
researching in architecture is tough or uneasy; it’s the idea of thesis is what
looms over everyone’s heads. We all have heard of stories of people
repeating ARCDES9 because the panels rejected their ideas while others
just dropped the course mid-way. Things like those scare us of what our
academic future holds for everyone in my batch and the batches to come.
The professor who is accompanying my class through this journey in
researching is Ar. Ferdinand Isidro dela Paz, also known as Nandy. Sir
Nandy prefers to be called Nandy without the “sir”, he believes that there
is no need for formalities between a professor and a student. He
graduated at University of Santo Tomas in the Bachelor of Science in
Architecture on March 1992. He then pursued his masteral at University of
the Philippines on Urban and Regional Planning Coursework (Urban
Heritage Studies + Campus Planning) from June 1996 to March 2006. At
the same university, he followed through with another masteral from June
2006 to March 2016 which is on Archaeology Coursework (Urban Heritage
Conservation + Generational Studies). And as the Nandy who loves to
learn new things was not contended with just those three degrees and
went ahead to have a masteral in International Business (Organizational
Creativity + Business Model Innovation). He now practices “urban
archaeologist with a passion of Architecture”. And he is also the director
of design in Foundree, a progressive learning center for architecture and
the built environment.
Taken from Philippines Star (August 3, 2019)

With Sir Nandy’s long portfolio of experience with researching. This

reflects his way of teaching ARSERCH and this makes everyone in my class
enthusiastic for the subject. In ARSERCH we are tasked to do research on
our thesis with that here are topics I would find interesting to explore for
my thesis: Chinese Architecture (fengshui), Urban Design and its scope on
Philippine Public Transportation, or Public Housing in the Philippines. All
these topics are very broad and may sound like an arduous task. However,
I do believe I have the set of skills in research to overcome this.
From the beginning, I was not so experienced in research, but it was
through my past experiences that help honed it. Thanks to my former
ARCDES classes; they taught me to research critically and carefully. For
ARCDES1 under Ma’am Agustin, I researched on biomimicry and the
cognitive and mental function of a child. The reason behind this was we
were told to design a pavilion in the middle of a village in Nuvali, Laguna.
In Nuvali, it’s very common for families to be living here, thus I thought of
children. If one creates an environment safe and fun for children this will
attract other older age groups as well. The biomimicry inspired by a
mangrove was later adapted to the design to bring awareness to everyone
on what’s happening in our environment. This is one of the many great
projects from ARCDES I am proud of being tasked to design, develop, and
research on.
Bibliography

Dela Paz, F. (2023, January). Ferdinand de la Paz’ Educational Background

[Profile]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdinand-de-la-paz-
827001169/details/education/

Foundree launches pro­gres­sive learn­ing hub with the big­gest names in

ar­chi­tec­ture. (2019, August 3). Pressreader.com. Retrieved from
https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-philippine-
star/20190803/282286731881770.

arknaku. (2023, January). Ferdinand Isidro dela Paz. Instagram.com.

Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/arknanu.