“Buildings only become architecture when they are shared,” said William Ti Jr., founder of the Anthology Festival and WTA Architecture and Design Studio, as he introduced the latest edition of the Anthology ASEAN Architecture Festival.

Over the past decade, Anthology has developed from an architecture

festival into a platform for exchange among designers in the Philippines. Its seventh edition expands that conversation across Southeast Asia, bringing regional perspectives into dialogue through the central theme of “Shared Ground: Architecture of Care, Culture, and Collective Futures.”

William Ti Jr., Festival Curator, Anthology Festival and Founder and Principal Architect, WTA, discusses the themes of Anthology Asean Architectural Festival 2026.

From Local Dialogue to Regional Exchange

Anthology’s development in the last ten years reflects a broader understanding of what an architectural festival can do. It does not only function as a showcase of completed projects, it has also become a setting for architects, designers, and even the public to exchange ideas around a built environment.

Its pilot edition took place in 2016, bringing together more than 2,000 guests and 65 built environment practitioners from seven countries, including the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Held at Plaza de Roma, in front of the centuries-old Manila Cathedral, the festival centered on the theme “Stories About Architecture,” establishing a platform for conversations across different architectural contexts.

The following year, Anthology 2017 expanded both its audience and its roster of participants. More than 4,000 guests attended the festival, alongside 83 lecturers, speakers, and exhibitors from 11 countries. The lineup also grew to include practitioners from Japan, Singapore, China, Thailand, Belgium, Denmark, and Vietnam, broadening the exchange beyond the countries represented in its inaugural edition. The increase marked an early indication of Anthology’s potential as a regional platform, bringing architectural perspectives from different parts of Asia and beyond into conversation in Manila.

Anthology 2026 returns to Intramuros through a partnership with the Intramuros Administration, and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). L-R: Jose Marie Tan, Press Conference Host; Atty. Joan M. Padilla, Administrator, Intramuros Administration; Eric B. Zerrudo, Chairman and Executive Director, NCCA; and Ar. William Ti Jr.

In 2018, the festival moved to Fort Santiago and turned its attention toward the central theme of “Social Architecture,” placing greater emphasis on the relationship between the built environment and the communities that inhabit it. The shift in theme reflected Anthology’s expanding scope, moving the conversation beyond architecture as a discipline or profession and toward its social implications.

From there, Anthology continued to develop its programming and broaden the ways in which architecture could be discussed, exhibited, and experienced.

Its latest edition marks another shift in this trajectory. Rather than simply bringing architectural practices and perspectives from Southeast Asia into the Philippines, the Anthology ASEAN Architecture Festival positions Philippine architecture within a wider regional exchange. The festival looks outward as much as it looks inward, creating a platform where Filipino architects and ideas can engage with—and contribute to—conversations taking place across Southeast Asia.

Care, Culture, and Collective Futures Define the 2026 Theme

At the center of the 2026 festival is a question of how architecture can respond to people and places beyond the physical requirements of a building. Its themes of care, culture, and collective futures frame architecture as a practice shaped by the communities it serves, the contexts in which it operates, and the people involved in making it.

The idea of care, in particular, begins with an attentiveness to the people and circumstances that architecture is intended to serve. Co-Founder and Principal Architect of BAAD Studio Benjee Mendoza describes it as an ever-present part of design, emphasizing that one cannot be a good designer without it. “It’s always omnipresent. It doesn’t always have to be literally translated or vocalized, [but] you [should] feel it in a space.”

Bringing “Shared Ground” to the table, the panel of architects explored how Care, Culture and Collective Futures shape the way we build and imagine our cities.

Rebecca Plaza Ti, Managing Director of WTA Architecture and Design Studio, echoed this philosophy, highlighting that architecture should be measured successfully not just by how cost-efficient it is, but also by how it affects the people who use it. This shifts the consideration of a project beyond its physical or economic requirements and toward the experience and needs of those it is designed for.

Research and empathy are therefore part of the design process, rather than additions to it. AJ Javier of Javier Design Studio Manila emphasized this connection, describing care as the source value of empathy, or the Filipino value of malasakit.

For Mendoza, this begins with understanding the people and communities for whom a project is being designed. “Every designer needs to have a deep understanding of the community of people they’re building to,” he adds. Care, in this sense, is not only a principle applied to a finished building, but an approach that informs how designers respond to the conditions of a particular community.

If care asks architects to understand the people who inhabit a space, culture asks them to look more closely at the contexts in which those spaces are used.

Ti explains that designing for culture goes beyond architectural motifs, and should be more about how people use the space and how it impacts their lives. “Culture is really about how people interact with each other,” she says.

This understanding of culture also extends beyond the boundaries of a single project or country. Paulo Alcazaren, Head and Co-Founder of PGAA Creative Design, encourages architects and designers to look toward neighboring countries and observe the cultures they share.

In a Southeast Asian context, where histories, traditions, and ways of living often overlap, this broader view allows culture to be considered not simply as something represented in architecture, but as something experienced, exchanged, and continually shaped by people. It also reinforces the value of looking outward, where understanding architecture through the relationships between communities and cultures rather than treating each context as isolated.

L-R: Press Conference Host Jose Marie Tan, Ar. AJ Javier, Managing Principal of Javier Design Studio Manila, Ar. Benjee Mendoza, Co-founder and Principal of BAAD Studio, Ar. Rebecca Plaza Ti, Managing Director, WTA, Ar. Paulo Alcazaren, Principal of PGAA Creative Design and BluPrint Editor-in-Chief, Ar. Jose Pedro “Bong” Recio, Principal of RCHITECTS, Inc., and Ar. William Ti Jr.

This broader understanding of architecture sets up the third theme of the festival, collective futures. If care calls for a deeper understanding of people, and culture calls for greater attention to shared experience, then imagining future spaces and communities also requires looking beyond the architect as a sole author.

Alcazaren explains that for cultural authorship to be fruitfully realized, it needs to stem from collaboration. “Architecture often is an individual project, but collaboration often [is] fostered by planning with the community or consulting with fellow architects and stakeholders.”

Jose Pedro “Bong” Recio, Principal Architect of RCHITECTS Inc., echoes this emphasis on understanding and collaboration, stating, “You really have to boil it down to the essentials. And once you have it recognized, that’s where you’ll establish your project. How you will design in the community will transform people’s lives for the better.”

Anthology 2026 Programming Across Intramuros

The ideas of care, culture, and collective futures extend beyond the discussions themselves, taking shape across the 2026 festival’s installations, exhibitions, dialogues, and gatherings.

Over 4,000 participants are expected to attend, joined by 128 speakers from around the world. Together, they expand Anthology’s scope as a regional platform for conversations on architecture, urbanism, and the built environment, bringing different perspectives into dialogue over the course of three days.

The festival unfolds through a range of programs, including Ground Works, Anthology Talks, Shelter Dialogue, Anthology Raw, Living Anthology, The Anthology Gathering, Anthology After Dark, and Shared Ground Assembly. For the first time, the festival will also take place across the whole walled city of Intramuros, with events distributed throughout the area.

The festival is no longer concentrated within a single venue, with a new format that places its conversations, installations, and gatherings within the historic fabric of the city. This also extends the experience of Anthology into the public spaces and architectural settings of Intramuros.

The Anthology ASEAN Architecture Festival will be held from October 2 to 4, 2026, with general admissions at Intramuros, Manila City, Philippines. The festival features a curated program of talk series, lectures, panel discussions, open forums, exhibitions, and interactive installations.

About Anthology ASEAN Architecture Festival

Anthology ASEAN Architecture Festival is an architecture festival founded by William Ti Jr. and organized by WTA Architecture and Design Studio. Established in 2016, the festival brings together architects, designers, and built environment practitioners through talks, lectures, exhibitions, installations, and public discussions. Over the years, Anthology has expanded its scope from a platform for architectural exchange in the Philippines to a regional forum connecting practitioners and ideas across Southeast Asia.

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