CREATIVE talent comes in numerous forms similar to different paint colors on an artist’s palette. This scenario is evident in the University of San Carlos’ School of Architecture Fine Arts and Design’s (USC Safad) annual Design Awards and Exhibit held recently at the Mountain Wing atrium of SM Seaside City Cebu.
Carrying the theme “Finding Your Hue,” the two-week exhibit, which is usually one of the culminating activities of the school year, highlights the cream of the crop among the creative outputs produced by the students of USC Safad. The event highlights the best student projects and plates from the different programs of Safad: Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Advertising Arts, Painting Arts, Fashion Design and Cinema. It also includes works from the various specializations of the Graduate School of Architecture: Urban Design, Interior Architecture, Architectural Science and Landscape Architecture.
“It’s all about the broad spectrum of color; effects on history, trends, emotions and all social movement embodied by the colorful and diverse personality of Safad,” relayed this year’s USC Safad Design Awards and Exhibit chairman Denis Judilla, based on the logo concept by his co-faculty members Carla Adlawan, Jaclyn Abregana, Araceli Culibra and Ryan Navarro. Judilla was assisted by architect Ralph Su, as co-chairman of this year’s activity.
With the shift in the school calendar of the university, USC Safad welcomed, for the first time in two years, new college freshmen straight from the senior high program last August. The so-called “new kids on the block” did not waste their time in showcasing their potential as future architects, artists and designers.
“It is such a great honor to be recognized and awarded for this year’s Design Awards. I feel beyond blessed, and I solely dedicate this to my loved ones and above all, God. This is indeed an achievement, given the fact that I have just begun my career as an aspiring architect,” said freshman Architecture student Lloyd Gabriel Curiba, the gold awardee for the first year Architectural Design (AR1100) classes. His winning plate, “Lagang: A Proposed Multi-Functional Pavilion,” aimed to foster efficiency in the use of space while taking into consideration the convenience of its users. The AR1100 classes used the Safad student concourse space as their area for development.
The exhibit was truly a celebration of artistic talent. Scaled models, building drawings and concept boards acted as interesting displays on the exhibit hall, which served as a huge canvas. For a student-designer, having one’s work displayed and recognized is the most fitting reward after days and nights of toiling on drafting tables and in front of computers. It was made more special for the students, who excelled in each class, as they were recognized in front of the faculty and their peers during the closing ceremony last March 1 at the exhibit venue.
This year, the annual exhibit becomes USC Safad’s way of joining the National Arts Month celebration, spearheaded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts with full support from the Arts Council of Cebu Foundation and SM Seaside City Cebu.