CONTRASTS between architecture and food are astonishingly shared, and some architects have discovered them rather utterly. Dumaguete City-based architect Menell Carlos, for example, has found cheer in preparing tables for her family’s personal parties. Architects habitually design the decorations of eating—dining tables, chairs, dishware, glasses and cutlery—so conceivably it was unavoidable that she would ultimately take on the food itself.

While pandemic events were just good fun to aid a good cause, it became yet another occasion for her to show off her signature style, in this case interpreted into an alternative medium—one that happens to be palatable.

This Christmas, architect Menell is set to prepare yet another tablescape for her family’s Noche Buena and it seems likely that her creative spirit will spark yet another beautiful work of edible art. Comparisons between her works of architecture and food are surprisingly rare but her taste and style have one thing in common: It’s vogue!

Menell, together with her architect-hubby, designed the first gourmet cake house in Dumaguete City some 25 years ago and, since that time, has found inspiration in equating architecture with her table arrangements.

“I want to take diners on a voyage so that they could discover how borders between food and design diminish when every wisdom of the diner is provided for,” she said.

She added that the emphasis is not only on the food, but moderately to every detail stimulating your senses as a whole; from the ceramics and the furniture to the ambience.

For architect Menell, a graduate of Architecture from the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, the dining table presents interesting possibilities when looking at how she can expand Architecture through the way we live, eat, move and more.