Seasons of practice: Timing, culture, and continuity
Development today unfolds in an increasingly borderless environment. Design standards, investment structures, and project teams now routinely extend across jurisdictions.
Yet beyond systems and credentials, professional practice continues to be shaped by something more enduring: Timing, culture, and the beliefs that influence how spaces are imagined, built, and sustained.
A season of renewal
Across much of Asia, the Chinese New Year marks a season of renewal—an intentional pause to reflect, recalibrate, and set direction. It is a period shaped by ideas of alignment, balance, and continuity, where decisions are made with an awareness of both present conditions and long-term implications.
In professional practice, this sensitivity to timing is familiar. Many development decisions, particularly those involving Chinese clients and families, continue to be informed by feng shui, an approach that considers orientation, spatial sequence, use, and long-term intent. Increasingly, these considerations are also respected by Filipinos, reflecting how belief systems cross cultures and become embedded in local practice.
Often misunderstood as a set of generic prescriptions, feng shui is in fact highly specific to individuals, households, and moments in time. Its application requires an understanding of context rather than a formula.
Meaningful designs
In this way, it closely parallels architectural practice itself, where no two projects are the same and meaningful design emerges from responsiveness to people, place, and circumstance.
It is within this broader context of timing and belief that regional professional collaboration takes on added meaning.
On Feb. 17, coinciding with the Chinese New Year, design professionals will gather for the conferment of new Asean architects. The timing is more than ceremonial. For many practitioners across the region, this period represents renewal, alignment, and the deliberate setting of direction—principles that closely mirror how long-term development decisions are made.
The Asean architect title is not an honorary label. It is a professional recognition granted to architects who have demonstrated sustained competence, ethical practice, and leadership, and who meet regionally agreed standards set by Asean professional bodies. It reflects years of practice, peer review, and accountability, enabling architects to engage confidently in cross border work.
‘Dekada Laurentes’
The conferment of the “Dekada Laurentes” batch marks the 10th year of this regional recognition and welcomes 18 new professionals from the Philippines.
Their inclusion is both a personal milestone and a point of collective pride, reflecting the growing credibility and maturity of Philippine architectural practice within a regional context.
As projects become more complex and interconnected, architects increasingly serve as coordinators of diverse systems, cultures, and expectations. Regional recognition strengthens this role while affirming that local knowledge and cultural sensitivity remain central to good practice.
When timing is respected, culture is understood, and professional commitment is sustained, development becomes more than the delivery of projects—it becomes a shared endeavor that connects people, place, and purpose over time.
The author is a USGBC LEED fellow, UAP Notable Architect Awardee, Asean architect, educator, with more than 25 years of experience in architectural and interior design, corporate real estate, construction, property, and facilities management
