BALAY BALAY TA!

(Photo credit: Team Acosta)

Coun. Mabel Sunga Acosta checking out the 3D puzzles (Photo credit: Team Acosta)

Last August 28, a prototype 3D Architectural Puzzle was introduced at the Abreeza Ayala Mall. The exhibit called “Balay Balay Ta!” (Let’s Play House!) was an educational event exhibiting the uniqueness of grand ancestral house of the Maranao royalty.

3D puzzle architecture model (Photo credit: Team Acosta)

(Photo credit: Team Acosta)

The Balay-Balay 3D architecture puzzle was designed by Kim Vale, a Fine Arts graduate of the Ford Academy of the Arts in Davao City. The puzzle design was based on published studies of the Torogan by the late Maranao scholar Dr. Abdullah T. Madaleas, as well as the architecture thesis, who just recently graduate from UP Mindanao, Henna S. Dazo, who surveyed the existing Torogan in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.

Puzzles (Photo credit: Team Acosta)

3D puzzle architecture model (Photo credit: Team Acosta)

Architect Gloryrose Dy, Balay-Balay 3D Architecture Puzzles project head, and also an alumna of the University of the Philippines-Mindanao, proposed the project to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) last year, with the main goal to create an educational toy that would engage children in learning and appreciating Filipino architecture and crafts.

In cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Swito Designs - children were taught about traditional architectural designs by the indigenous peoples such as the Maranao. The craft is also known for its intricately carved beam-ends called panalong with okir designs.

(Photo credit: Team Acosta)

Coun. Mabel Sunga Acosta (Photo credit: Team Acosta)