DA SETS AGRI-DESIGN COMPETITION FOR ARCHITECTS

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has teamed up with RE-TERRA, a youth organization, to conduct a design competition for future architects, designers, and developers to garner innovative and transformative designs that integrate agriculture into the urban setting.

“Time and again, I have emphasized the crucial role of the youth in agriculture. They are the source of many bright and fresh ideas, having a strong grasp of emerging trends and technologies,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

“We need to optimize the potential contributions of the youth in producing our own food, which has grown to be an enormous challenge especially during this continuing Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.

The design competition, dubbed as “RE-TERRA 2021,” aims to “re-terraform” Metro Manila back to its innate fertility and abundance, using technologies and practices that will address food production and food security.

“Through this competition, we aim to encourage our future architects, designers, and planners to include agriculture, from food production to food distribution, as an integral part of our urban infrastructure, landscape, and community settlements,” said Architect Kathleen Encorporado, founder of RE-TERRA.

“This means, inserting every means of agriculture into every mode of urbanity. Tactically, this involves strategies that mobilize every component and feature of our varied and dense urban landscape towards establishing lasting food security for every Filipino,” she added.

Registration for the competition closed on December 15, 2020, while proposal submission is due on January 22, 2021. At the moment, there are 149 officially registered teams.

The four finalists will be announced on February 20, 2021. They will present their design proposals during the final round on March 16, 2021 to a panel of nine esteemed judges including Secretary Dar and Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto.

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