The APEC Architect’s Registry

“The APEC Architect Registry is a response to the strategic priority of facilitating mobility of qualified persons through the mutual recognition of professional qualifications among countries…It breaks down a major barrier that prevents Filipinos from practicing architecture abroad.”
- Edric Marco C. Florentino, FUAP, former UAP national president.
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The APEC Architect Registry is simply defined that way. This is also known as the APEC Architect Register and as the APEC Architect Project formed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), an international forum composed of twenty-one member economies with the objective to act collectively to promote economic and technical cooperation within the Asia-Pacific region. It was officially launched in September 19, 2005.

The APEC Architect project was endorsed by the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) at its year 2000 meeting held in Brunei as a direct response to the Groups’ strategic priority of facilitating mobility of qualified persons by developing a means for the mutual recognition of skills and qualifications.

It is said in the APEC Manual of 2006 that the registration as an APEC Architect “provides evidence of the achievement of professional standards that satisfy the requirements for the recognition of architects by host APEC economies.”

The APEC Architect Register is managed by the APEC Central Council through the respective local Monitoring Committees in the APEC economies. As of 2005 the participating member economies of the APEC Architect Central Council are Australia, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Hongkong China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Republic of Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and the United States of America, and the Philippines.

What it Takes to be an APEC Architect

An APEC Architect defined as a “person who is registered, licensed or otherwise professionally recognized as an architect in a participating economy, and whose name is enrolled on the APEC Architect Register maintained by that economy.”
From the standards stated in the APEC Architect Manual, the skills and knowledge required for admission to the APEC Architect Register are defined as follows:

An APEC Architect must be competent to create architectural designs that:
satisfy both aesthetic and technical requirements;
are informed by the history and theories of architecture and the related arts, technologies and human sciences;
demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between people and buildings, and between buildings and their environment, and the need to relate buildings and the spaces between them to human needs and scale;
respond to environment concerns and address sustainability issues;
show skill in land-use planning and the planning process;
take account of cultural and social factors and demonstrate an understanding of the responsibility of an architect to society.

An APEC Architect must be competent to translate a design concept into built form and be able to:
investigate and interpret design objectives and relevant issues and prepare the brief for a design project;
advise on project evaluation, feasibility studies and programs;
evaluate and determine structural, constructional and engineering elements of a building design and integrate the advice and design of specialist disciplines into a building project;
assess the physical influence on buildings and the technologies associated with providing internal conditions of comfort and protection against the climate, and coordinate and integrate services systems to control them;
meet building users’ requirements within the constraints imposed by cost factors and building regulations;
provide advice on issues of construction, procurement and contract administration;
generate the documentation and information needed to translate a design concept into a building;
manage the procurement of buildings, administer contractual arrangements and monitor their construction.

An APEC Architect must be competent in the practice of architecture and:
observe legal and regulatory obligations related to the planning and construction of buildings;
have adequate knowledge of the industries, organization and procedures involved in the management and realization of a design project as a building;
observe the standards of conduct expected of a professional by the community;
maintain competence in relevant aspects of the practice of architecture.

In the Philippine Section, candidates or applicants for registration are required to have achieved the following to acquire the right to use the title “APEC Architect” which also satisfies Central Council criteria for admission to the APEC Architect Register:

1. must have completed a degree in Bachelor of Science in Architecture obtained from a duly recognized and accredited educational institution. The educational degree must have a balance between theoretical and practical aspects of architectural training and lead to the acquisition of skills and knowledge necessary to underpin the required competence of an APEC Architect.
2. must have completed a prescribed period of practical diversified training for a minimum period equivalent to a total of 2 years.
3. must satisfy the home economy Monitoring Committee that they have completed a minimum period of professional practice of 7 years; after initial registration/licensure as an architect. This experience must be gained in all of the following categories of architectural practice:

Preliminary Studies
Design
Contract Documentation
Construction Supervision / Project Administration
At least 3 years of that period from the date of application must have been undertaken as an architect:
With sole professional responsibility for the design, documentation and contract administration of buildings of moderate complexity; OR
In collaboration with other architects, as an architect in charge of and professionally responsible for a significant aspect of the design, documentation and/or contract administration of complex buildings.

Professional practice that satisfies the above requirements undertaken in any economy may be accepted by the relevant Monitoring Committee.

4. All professionals with baccalaureate degrees must obtain 60 CPE (Continuing Professional Education) units for three (3) years, computed in accordance with the Matrix for CPE Programs, Activities or Sources of the same PRC Resolution.
5. must have a current and active membership in the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP), the Integrated and Accredited Professional Organization of Architects (IAPOA).


An APEC Architect Registration applies only to individual persons, not to architectural practices or firms.

APEC Architects must comply with obligations imposed by their home economies for observing codes of professional conduct and for maintaining professional competence and currency of practice through continuing professional development to retain their registration.
Host economies have the prerogative to impose special requirements for the recognition of APEC Architects for practice in their economies, for as long as any such requirements imposed must be fully transparent like what the Philippine Section did.

APEC Registry: Opportunity or Threat?

The APEC Architect Registry facilitates the mobility of architects for the provision of architectural services throughout the APEC region by reducing current barriers to the export of professional services. Registration as an APEC Architect defines a level of competence that will satisfy designated registration criteria in other participating economies without further assessment through the identification of the common aspects of professional recognition in participating economies and as reinforced also by a period of professional experience.

Quality control is also maintained through a Monitoring Committee in each participating economy which is responsible for ensuring the continued maintenance of required standards by confirming that candidates for APEC Architect registration have complied with criteria adopted by the Central Council and assessing the professional practice experience they have obtained as registered/licensed architects.
The United Architects of the Philippines, as posted on the organization’s website, finds the APEC Architect Registry advantageous for the qualified Filipino architects to be internationally accredited for the practice of their profession in member countries.
Architect Isidoro Malaque III, a professor in the University of the Philippines in Mindanao also viewed the APEC Architect Registry as more of an opportunity than a threat especially to the local architects for it gives them the chance to participate in the global practice without necessarily mean to work as an overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) which is the common faith of the Filipino architects who work abroad even though they are licensed architects.
The higher fees to be paid to be an APEC architect is also viewed by Architect Malaque positively for this is also a means to “control the level of quality of professional practice” aside from the fact that it is expected and required.
Although the APEC Architect Project may post a threat to the local architects that they may loose their local markets due to the coming of foreign architects offering professional services in the local economy through the globalization of professional practice in architecture, Architect Malaque is confident that Filipinos can cope up with this kind of challenge. According to him, since there is a claim that “magaling ang pinoy,” this is the chance to show and to prove that claim and stop complaining about globalization and ride with it instead.
Architect Malaque adds that welcoming of our country to the professional practice internationally also challenges the local architects to work in the local setting but with a global standard.
As a student and a future architect I second those opinions. It is about time that the professional practice in our country should not be an inferior to the developed countries especially in the western countries. We should take a big leap by first amending our laws to strengthen the Philippines’ architectural practice which was already done but still not totally implemented, through constant upgrading on both the architectural curriculum and the professional practice and last but not the least, take the risk to participate in the global practice and show the world what the Filipino architects are capable of.

Source:
www.united-architects.org
APEC Manual, the APEC Architect Project Philippine Section
Interview with Arch. Isidoro Malaque II