Top design: School of Fashion and the Arts’ (SoFA) A-Team is a design force to reckon with — Dean and architect Toby Guggenheimer, Cynthia Almario, Lisa Salvador. Ivy Almario and Christine Laman. Photo by JOEY MENDOZA 

Now, the highly reputable School of Fashion and the Arts (SoFA) is not just about fashion. This year, it is expanding its programs to include interior design.

The Bachelor of Science in Interior Design (ID) course is The School of Fashion and the Arts Interior Design’s (SoFA ID) newly minted program that was recently granted its CHEd (Commission on Higher Education) accreditation. A full four-year degree program, which starts on July 23, it is geared to equip those who desire a career in ID with the proper design and technical skills.

Centered on design and the creative forward thinking process, it has all the right components to soon earn a place for itself as one of the leading ID schools in the country and quite possibly in Asia. The academic program focuses heavily on ID, ID technology and ID marketing while also incorporating general education/liberal arts into its course load. The program endeavors to be totally relevant to design while concentrating on the local market and abroad.

While the nation has several well-regarded and established ID programs, SoFA ID aims to carve a niche for itself. The founders and board members of SoFA ID realize that many of the strongest practitioners in the field have one major point in common a degree and/or work experience obtained overseas. They determined that while abroad, these minds rejected the status quo and embraced critical thinking and this is the factor that they tenaciously wanted to inculcate into the curriculum.

As explained by Dean Toby Guggenheimer, there are two key features that set this program apart from other design programs. Primarily, design is the absolute focus of SoFA ID to the point that all classes have been refocused to spotlight design. The second feature turns its focus on training the individual to transform into a designer. SoFA ID rejects group work as naturally some will excel and some will follow in this setting. The goal here is to develop leaders, not followers, and to highlight each student’s individualism and creativity. It aims to groom designers to work in the front office rather than becoming secondary personnel by pushing them to become strong designers and teaching them how to critique other designs. While design usually stems from the intellectual or emotional side, it is important to be able to critique from the opposing side to offer a different perspective. Each student is responsible for critiquing classmates’ work in an effort to make students more outspoken, developing critical method where students transform into leaders in their class by addressing, discovering and determining works of their peers.

Educators at SoFA take a step back and let their students step up by showcasing western individualistic traits while strengthening the Filipino cultural vitality.

As Dean Guggenheimer says, “We want to marry the Filipino with the global marketplace.”

Headed by the aforementioned dean and executive director for academics, architect Toby Guggenheimer, the team behind SoFA ID and the faculty have a wealth of education and experience abroad. An experienced practicing architect and interior designer for 20 years and president of his architecture firm in New York and in Manila, Guggenheimer helps redirect and redefine the school by drawing upon his experience at prior posts held as professor at Pratt University, Parsons School of Design and Fordham University in New York City.

When asked how the SoFA ID program will compare with the esteemed schools he has taught at, his reply was, “It’s difficult to compare as both Pratt and Parsons are well established, venerable institutions and we are a very new program. I would hope to emulate aspects of each. From Pratt the devotion to mastery of the process of design by each student. From Parsons the collegial, mutually supportive atmosphere.”

Hard at work: SoFA ID preps the creative individual to be a player in the global design market.

Interior designer Lisa Salvador acts as the academic department head for interior design. Holding a masters degree from Istituto Europeo di Design in Barcelona, Spain and a certificate from the Istituto Europeo de Design (IED) from Milan, Italy, Salvador with her young looks can easily be mistaken for a student headed to class.

Effervescent sisters-duo Ivy and Cynthia Almario honed their craft and wielded their talent in Los Angeles for 15 years, designing upscale residences, offices, hotels and restaurants before returning to Manila to set up their successful practice, Atelier Almario. Synonymous with chic and stylish, they are founders and board members who teach some of the lecture series.

Lawyer and entrepreneur Christine Laman boasts a resume one would be hard pressed to find an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, a law degree from University of the Philippines and a master of law from Columbia University. Part of SoFA’s board, she possesses fantastic business acumen and proper ethics as an attorney.

In addition to the board members, dean and department head, a topnotch faculty, most of whom studied abroad, serve as successful educators to mentor the next generation of designers. The lineup of professors hails not only from academia but also have their own practices or are associated with design related businesses to bring real world experiences into the classroom. They impart their global point of view and bring a different dynamic to lectures and classes.

In addition to the four-year degree it offers, SoFA ID also has a few interior design workshops and lecture series similar to continuing education classes ranging from a few weeks to a few months to a full year. There’s a course for those who wish to polish up on manual and computer drafting and rendering. A basic interior design lecture series has been created for design enthusiasts who would like to educate themselves with a basic foundation of interior design. There is also an intensive workshop and review course to prepare students who are about to take the licensure examination.

SoFA’s new location, designed no less by Ivy Almario, is on the ground floor of ENZO Building at 399 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue, Makati City. The campus comprises lecture rooms, drafting rooms, labs, studios, a student lounge and glass-enclosed library that is modern and reflective of what the school stands for: design and creative thinking.

By: Annelle S. Tayao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

1:04 am | Friday, June 1st, 2012

SOFA’S lobby at the new campus in Enzo Building, Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati

“Frimness. Utility. Delight.”

Written on a plain white card placed on our lunch plates were these words by ancient Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, quoted by another architect, Tobias Guggenheimer, the new academic dean of the School of Fashion and the Arts.

These three words are basically “shorthand to represent what a design needs to be successful,” said Guggenheimer. “Firmness means it has to be structurally sound. Utility, of course, is its usefulness; and delight, its beauty.”

LECTURE room

With these values Guggenheimer plans to reinforce SoFA’s fashion and interior design curriculums, to focus on building up students’ critical thinking in the design and creative process, before moving on to develop their technical and business skills.

Over dessert, Guggenheimer engaged media in a casual, classroom-like discussion at SoFA’s new campus in Enzo Building on Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati.

‘Prima donna’ of classes

Tobias Guggenheimer, School of Fashion and the Arts academic dean

The first part of SoFA’s curriculum, or the “SoFA Method,” happens in what Guggenheimer called the “prima donna” of classes—the Design Studio. Comparing it to the popular fashion design challenge show “Project Runway,” this course, a requirement for every semester, will have students critiquing each other’s finished works.

We start with design theory, culture and concepts, drawing and representation,” he said. “So we find the ideas, then we translate those ideas through practical courses.”

To add substance to students’ design concepts, one portion of the curriculum is devoted to General Education courses.

“Design is a cultural value, ultimately,” said Guggenheimer. “It represents ideas, community, economy, health and welfare. In order to be a designer, you have to somehow be able to challenge your preconceptions.”

SEWING room

One example he cited is the study of Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo,” which he said could be viewed from a more material perspective.

Finally, there are SoFA’s business and marketing courses, to give students a “sufficient set of skills and a level of aggression… to enter the global market.”

Aside from his architectural experience, running half of his firm here in the country (the other half in New York), Guggenheimer has taught at Parsons School of Design and Pratt University. He’s been teaching since 1991.

“It’s extremely rewarding to be in an academic environment because of the tremendous sense of optimism and enthusiasm,” he said.

Design guru: SoFA’s new academic dean, architect Toby Guggenheimer

Can design be taught? What makes a good design? These were some of the ideas that emerged during a press lunch held recently at SoFA Design Institute’s new campus. The occasion was not just to show off its sleek Ivy Almario-designed interiors but also to introduce its new executive director for Academics, architect Tobias Guggenheimer.

With a background as educator at Pratt University and Parsons School of Design, Guggenheimer is now strengthening both the fashion and interior design curriculum. The architect of American-Swiss background started by sharing an ancient quote from Roman designer Marcus Vitruvius (familiar to students of design) on the values that a successful design must possess: “Firmness. Usefulness. Beauty.” And although these seemed to address the subject on a philosophical level, we were soon led back down to earth, underscored by SoFA’s very own head honcho, bag designer Amina Alunan, who related that most Filipinos, when faced with the design process, still think on the level of, “How much does it cost to make this?”

As a teacher Aranaz relates how her Milan education (she and co-head honcho Loralie Baron were roommates at Istituto Marangoni) played a huge role in expanding design thinking and how she comes up with a new collection. Instead of starting with the materials and how she would use it, she learned to be at ease with starting with an idea, and let it evolve from there.

Window dressing: Designs from students and alumni can be seen along SoFA’s façade on Sen. Gil Puyat Ave.

“Design is the process of making something out of nothing,” said Guggenheimer. “People wonder if to be a good artist, do you need to be utterly creative and original each time? Creativity is the ability to bring together ideas in a unique way, even if the ideas are something we are all familiar with.”

SoFA’s vision is to encourage students to think bigger, more conceptually, with more research and creativity, instead of something merely based on a student’s personal reality, like, as Aranaz relates based on her teaching experience, something to the effect of how students would answer: “I made this design in pink because it’s my favorite color.”

The design school is thus taking on the challenge of elevating the way creativity is taught here. Guggenheimer’s vision is to inject a global standard to the local design educational landscape. As head of the SoFA Academic department for both fashion and interior design, he will steer its curriculum, teaching methodologies, and faculty development. The school believes design thinking is what is needed to “break barriers and allow innovative ideas to bloom and transform.” It signals a deeper commitment to offering courses in design inquiry.

“Why is design important?” the new dean emphasized. “Design is a cultural value. Students create this global, physical environment. Everything that has value, has meaning. Design represents ideas, community, the economy.” 

Furniture sculpture: Clear Kartell ghost chairs used for a wall installation

SoFA is also equally dedicated to finding tangible applications for design skills. To support its emphasis on design thinking, they encourage learning based on three pillars: technical skills, general education, and business acumen.

“Filipinos have a tendency to accept the status quo,” said Guggenheimer, an enthusiast of Philippine literature and married to a Filipina (and half the team for his own architectural firm is based in Manila). “Maybe what they had learned abroad is to challenge orthodoxes.”

So you no longer need to leave these shores to stimulate that creative mind. ]]> http://guggenheimerarchitect.com/news/design-thinking-at-the-forefront/feed/ http://guggenheimerarchitect.com/portfolio/hampton-getaway/ http://guggenheimerarchitect.com/portfolio/hampton-getaway/#comments Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:22:58 +0000 admin http://guggenheimerarchitect.com/portfolio/hampton-getaway/ http://guggenheimerarchitect.com/portfolio/hampton-getaway/feed/