An award winning thesis project.

LIKHA: A Museum for Contemporary Art in Bacolod City

Design Rationale
The Filipino word “Likha” which means “creation” has been chosen as the name of the museum, for it resembles the process of bringing ideas into existence by means of expression or application of creative skill of imagination that in the latter would result into art. The museum was named in the national language, for the museum is mainly dedicated to the Filipino people and artists in order to both express and perceive new forms of Filipino art.
The art breathes life into the neighborhoods in which it is prominent. Artists infuse an area with creative energy and can play a significant role in urban revitalization efforts—bringing vibrancy to a community, enriching the quality of life and developing the creative workforce that is a hallmark of the 21st-century economy. 
Bacolod as a cultural and economic destination in the country is a city that is vibrant and active in the art scene. One of the existing shortcomings of this highly urbanized city is not having a contemporary art museum with enough facilities to preserve and display art. With a lot area of more than 2.6 hectares, the proposed art museum is planned to fill the gap for the scarcity of function-oriented facilities and amenities such as exhibition halls, stores, restoration workshops, archival storage room, film screening room, function halls, multimedia research room and lecture halls taking into consideration the future expansion for the success of the museum. 
The museum creates an environment that promotes creativity, expressing cultural aspects that may otherwise seem intangible, to become something that can be perceived. It gives the public an immediate access to advanced education about the arts, with the vision of bringing art to the community by means of publicizing art museums, particularly intended for the underprivileged youth.

Design Objectives
The objectives of the architectural design of Likha contemporary art museum are as follows:
1. To provide a venue with complete facilities that could accommodate the community’s present needs and future increase in demand for art related activities. 
2. To provide a venue to continuously promote local art market, educational advancement, tourism and economic growth.
3. To provide a place for new art to evolve and encourage public interest in arts.
4. To create a market for higher learning by means of providing art education, and stimulate people’s creative potentials.
5. To design a museum that could become a symbolic element for the developing metropolitan city.