UAP NAW Greenlight Movement

Being part of the Committee for the United Architects of the Philippines, National Architecture Week Celebration, our Chapter, Manila Corinthian was assigned to the Opening of Exhibit and the Culmination Night.  The National Architecture Week is celebrated yearly during the 2nd week of December.  This year's theme is:"Filipino Architects at the Forefront of ASEAN Integration 2015".  The challenge for was to come up with a culmination night that's both fun and meaningful.  Fun in the sense that it celebrates the profession, and meaningful so that its something that the participants will remember.

The culmination night falls on December 13, 2014, abbreviated as 12/13/14.  A date in succession of numbers that will never happen again in this lifetime.

It was during our barnstorming that I came up with the idea of the GREENlight Movement, inspired by the Pink Dot assembly in Singapore.

People gather at an area in Singapore with pink lights in support of Gender Equality and LGBT Rights for the Pink Dot.  In our case, I proposed, that we gather as many Architects and supporters of the profession in one area with GREEN lights in support of Green Advocacies in Architecture, Professional Unity and Empowering the Aspirants of the Profession.

For the venue, I immediately thought of the Central Park at the Greenfield District as the perfect location, but has no idea on who to approach.  I took a chance on writing a message at their official Facebook page and was ecstatic to receive a positive response.  They will not only let us use the venue, but will also let us use their sound system, the musicians, LED screen, on top of the weekend market with their biggest merchants to date.

To promote the gathering, I have created an event page and 166 people and groups confirmed their attendance.

Fast forward to the day itself.  The rain was pouring hard that afternoon and water was everywhere.  Although, they have shades made out of parachute fabric, the rain would affect the traffic and our attendance.  Fortunately, the weather improved 2 hours before the opening of the weekend market, and 5 hours before my scheduled program.

One by one, participants to the event started showing up consisting of the National Board with the National President Ar. Beth O. Regala, Professionals, suppliers and Students.  All in all, we were able to gather 167 attendees.

During the program, awards and tokens were given to the people who helped organised the activities for the National Architecture Week celebration and a Pageant was staged by the UAP Student Auxillary in search of Mr. and Ms. NAW.  It was also during the program that winners for Pundasyon, A Scale Model Making competition organised by the UAP MAGS Chapter was awarded.

The winners of Pundasyon 2.0, UAPSA UST

Mr. and Ms. NAW Contestants

Winners for the Mr. and Ms. NAW

The main highlight of the night is the GREENlighting Ceremony, which was scheduled at exactly 11PM.

We started the countdown 2 minutes before, and at exactly 11, everybody at the centre of the park were flashing their green light as we profess our commitment to the GREENlight advocacies.

In spite of the low turn-out brought about by the rain and the Christmas Rush traffic, the celebration was successful in making the culmination night both fun and meaningful.  I am hoping to make this an annual celebration, and hope that we continue to grow in numbers, and gather as many supporters who will commit themselves to the protection of the environment through the practice and love the professional and aspirants of the profession.