So what is my design value proposition?

Thawed from the writing deep freeze

“To create, one must first question everything.”

— Eileen Gray

Writing has been and always will be one of my deep passions. Fervently writing a mishmash of unpublished poems, composing and finishing several short fictions (soon to be compiled into a DIY booklet), maintaining a regular angst-y, multi-dimensional blog site, and penning straight-up news, feature story, and editorial columns for our quarterly university publication eight years ago, I can proudly say that this period in my life has been my writing heyday. This, while pursuing full-time studies in architecture and nose-diving into the world of design and the built environment for five years, and being sucked into this cavernous, transcendental realm (more about this on another post). Being a (self-professed) creative, I enjoyed writing very much as it has afforded me a venue to outwardly express my views, thoughts and observations about certain prosaic goings-on, hard-boiled social and political issues, and eccentric human behavior, and weave together simple and complex words into meaningful, and sometimes challenging, personal and non-personal narratives meant to stroke my ego. A big thanks also to the popularity of blogging and online publishing during this time, I gained some scintilla of legitimacy as a budding writer, despite my limited network and lack of acceptable training.

Having quite an elbowroom for learning, I was able to study and take inspiration from certain writing styles thanks to my consistent and omnivorous reading habit in the past, engaging in spirited discussions among my peer-scribes, and teetering between rigid journalistic writing for the university paper and masturbatory creative writing. And so my writing style back then was completely loose, where my non-linear thoughts, emotions, and the volatile pulse of my contemporaries prevailed and got the better of me, all resulting into a somewhat half-baked compendium of fluff that lacked cohesion, direction, and burned edges.

After my somewhat prolific stint as a student journalist (and finally getting an editorial box in my last year as a student scribe,) I became more neck-deep with work and serious in kick-starting my professional career. Other interests and extra-curricular endeavors divided my time until the fire on the wick guttered out. That one thing I was so enamored with, I woke up one somber day not doing anymore. That one thing I was so zealous about, I found my self fully detached and emotionless towards for reasons unknown. And the coldness and apathy dragged on, the pleasure became a banality, a taxing chore of sorts, and until the fuel has been exhausted, causing my writing engine to conk out.

Perhaps in the recent years, the closest semblance of serious writing I’ve gotten was intense research writing whilst undertaking postgraduate studies. The imposed discipline and imperative outputs got me back on my feet, although by brute force, but the charm and appeal of writing (from the days of yore) with flowing gusto had never been the same. Sure, I still do manage, from time to time, write something decently (with around 500 words or so) and garner flattering “likes” on my socmed account, but that’s about it. Nothing incendiary. No party poppers and piñatas in sight. No life-changing inward revelation that compelled me to embrace full-time writing again.

Making small inroads into developmental and voluntary work, I found deeper sense and vocation in my chosen field via its social, utilitarian, human-centered and non-profit side. It was not even deliberately planned at all. It’s just that my educational track, personal advocacies, and interests all aligned somewhat, and amazingly broadened my horizons as to how architecture and design can push the envelope of public good more than private interest. Let alone that our profession is geared to respond to the needs of those who can actually shell out money. And that begs the question, but what about those who cannot? Enthused about this prospect, I became more intentional and embarked on knowing more about how exactly can architecture and design help address the most pressing problems within my locality, if not the world; How can it become accessible to the non-traditional economic segment who very well have the same untapped, unsolved needs? Henceforward, I questioned the education I received and felt shortchanged by the fact that our academic curriculum was tailor-made to favor heavily private practice and for-profit enterprises. There was a clear-cut dearth in emphasizing the social, utilitarian, human-centered, and non-profit identity of architecture and design. Needless to say, I made a firm decision – a decision to go against the grain of current architectural practice (why, hello there, unstable paycheck, hello freelance life, hello anxiety attacks!) and pursue orthodoxy (*insert “we’ve got a badass over here” meme here*). I have gotten around to learning and touching upon vernacular construction, temporary and transitional shelters, humanitarian design, frugal innovation, permaculture, agrihoods, intentional communities, off-the-grid communities, urban acupuncture, incremental housing, earthships, design charrettes, guerrilla urbanism, woonerfs, cool roofs, bioswales, and building-integrated photovoltaics, among other noble and notable concepts. It’s still an unending journey, if one is committed to lifelong learning.

Now, as my knowledge starts to accumulate into one unwieldy mass, it will be a complete disservice to the true worth of my profession if I cannot preserve, much more diffuse, these compounded learnings and experiences into something bigger than myself. Which brings me back again to my newfound purpose: to spread and preach the gospel of architecture and design, all for the greater good.

Through writing, and focusing on one channel (through this blog site), I strive to consolidate my ideas, learnings, experiences, and increasing network into one wellspring of knowledge where students, professionals, enthusiasts, change-makers, and laymen (yes to inclusivity!) can tap into and learn from. I intend to write about meaningful and succinct topics that take up innovations in design, radical architecture, disruptive building technologies, sustainable planning practices, and the what’s hot and what’s not in the impact design scene.

So, there you go, I’m now signing on!

Rodelon Ramos, the author and owner of this specialty blog, has many dreams: One of them is to establish his own social design practice to serve unserved populations and marginalized communities, and mobilize a pool of design professionals from different fields who can pitch in their talents, expertise, and radical yet novel design ideas to uplift and improve the lives of communities and people in need.