<p><img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/rewriting-the-rulebook-lead-1-compressor.jpg/68ca7214-8894-4e9f-bc73-a04a9a608108?t=1526542212629" style="width: 1399px; height: 667px;" />In 2009, Dan Lichauco, founding partner and principal architect of Manila-based Archion Architects, stood in front of an audience in a darkened cineplex.&nbsp;</p> <p>It was an instalment of the local PechaKucha Night, the popular design-oriented gathering devised by Tokyo-based architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, and organisers had assembled a stellar line-up of speakers for the evening.</p> <p>The event’s signature format, a fast-paced style of presenting ideas (20 slides, 20 seconds each), required Lichauco to be brisk. He rushed through a quick succession of diagrams flashing on the theatre screen that dwarfed him: how the rainwater-harvesting feature of a current school-building project collects water into a 120,000-gallon cistern, to be used for toilet flushing; how a large-scale installation in collaboration with artist-couple Mona and Soler Santos doubles as sun-shading to cool the corridors, minimise heat gain, lower energy consumption.&nbsp;</p> <p>“By the time whole project is finished, the Far Eastern University campus in Cavite [a city just south of Metro Manila] will be the first completely green, totally environment-friendly campus in the whole of the Philippines,” Lichauco says.</p> <p><a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/a-conversation-with-interior-designer-to-the-stars-simon-rawlin-8" target="_blank"><strong>More:&nbsp;A conversation with interior designer to the stars, Simon Rawlings</strong></a></p> <p>Since then his seemingly boundless energy for community engagement on the subject has made Lichauco a poster boy for environmentally sensitive design in the country.</p> <p>Across Archion’s diverse portfolio — ranging from educational institutions, commercial buildings, medical facilities and private houses&nbsp; — individual projects share a common green-by-design DNA, taking functional cues from its immediate environment. “The site,” he says, “dictates form, materials that work best, how a building might function.”</p> <p>Indeed, his insatiable appetite for architecture has seen him criss-cross the archipelago and spread the design gospel through teaching work and social media engagement.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="Although sketching is, by his admission, not his strongest point, Lichauco is forever mapping out new and exciting projects for his practice Archion Architects" src="/documents/10204/0/rewriting-the-rulebook-2-compressor.jpg/85bde0d2-0a6e-492e-b39e-3851c395cbb4?t=1526542614508" style="display:block;margin:0px auto;" /></p> <p>In the aftermath of 2013’s devastating typhoon Haiyan, Lichauco signed up for the rehabilitation of Tacloban City on the devastated island of Leyte, volunteering the company’s services to building the government-owned Eastern Visayas Hospital, designing it for disaster resiliency.&nbsp;</p> <p>He teaches at his alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), and at the National University; he tweets his excitement over developments in the industry and the progress of specific projects; he engages with young designers through events like PechaKucha; he runs a Facebook page called Built Environment Banter where he lobbies for citywide improvements.</p> <p>Lichauco’s energetic approach expands much farther than his active online presence, however.</p> <p>“One night [in 2016], in traffic, I got out of the car and walked all the way home from Ortigas to Quezon City,” he says. “Remarkably, or maybe not, I made it home before my driver did. I started thinking about what could be done to improve infrastructure.”&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/a-chat-with-top-vietnam-architect-thien-duo-1" target="_blank"><strong>More:&nbsp;A chat with top Vietnam architect Thien Duong</strong></a></p> <p>As such he has found the time to propose and champion an elevated walkway and bike path to run from the Mall of Asia, right next to Manila Bay, all the way inland to Quezon City — along all 23.8 kilometres of the Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). The proposal includes a network of crosswalks and gardens not unlike the High Line in New York, or Seoullo 7017 in the South Korean capital.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lichauco moves as quickly as he talks and is now planning the first phase of the project, a stretch from Makati all the way to Bonifacio Global City on the other side of EDSA. If the dogged focus and imagination that have marked his career so far are any indication, the elevated walkway in its entirety could well become a reality in the next few years.</p> <p>Lichauco says that from an early age he always wanted to be an architect. “I consider myself lucky in that regard.”&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="According to his many admirers Lichauco has managed to incorporate traditional Filipino elements while forging a contemporary path" src="/documents/10204/0/rewriting-the-rulebook-3-compressor.jpg/40f98322-2a05-4999-ae87-10194916b442?t=1526542965847" /></p> <p>Towards the end of his university years he enlisted for an internship at the prestigious Leandro V. Locsin and Associates architecture practice.</p> <p>Lichauco recalls Locsin himself asking him whether he really wanted to pursue the profession. “The slightest hesitation and I would have been shown the door, but my answer was a firm enough ‘yes’ that I was taken in!”</p> <p>After graduating from UST in 1986 the budding architect relocated to Rome seeking “a more immersive experience of classical architecture.” Returning to Manila some years later, he joined Francisco Mañosa and Partners.&nbsp;</p> <p>Like Locsin, Mañosa, who championed a distinctively contemporary Filipino tropical aesthetic and the use of local materials, proved to be a significant influence.</p> <p>Yet, in the words of his admirers, Lichauco’s style remains very much his own.</p> <p>“Dan is one of the few architects who manages to incorporate Filipino design into his projects, and not in a clichéd way,” says Rachelle Medina, editor of decorating magazine Real Living. “The Filipino elements come out subtly — in the slope of a roof, the massing of a house, or in the interior and exterior details.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Lichauco and his partners established Archion Architects in 2000, and among their earlier projects were the John Gokongwei School of Management and the PLDT Convergent Technologies Center, both at the Ateneo de Manila University.</p> <div class="pull-quotes-container">The reason Archion is not called Dan Lichauco and Associates is because we wanted the firm to be known for a working philosophy, rather than a personality</div> <p>Lichauco’s ambitions however extend beyond the built environment and into the practice of architecture itself in the Philippines. One of his personal goals is to effect a change of values industry-wide.&nbsp;</p> <p>“When I started out, architecture in the Philippines was very much about the person; about who was behind a project,” he explains. “But the reason Archion is not called Dan Lichauco and Associates is because we wanted the firm to be known for a working philosophy, rather than a personality.”&nbsp;</p> <p>One of the most recent nods to Lichauco’s brand of modern Filipino design came from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. The body last year listed him as an honouree for the Haligi ng Dangal Award, a prized architectural accolade for individuals – not bad for someone who says he could barely draw he when he started out.&nbsp;</p> <p>“My sketches are ugly,” Lichauco confesses, chuckling as he points out a few of his recent drawings. “I had to teach myself how to draw when I was in the University of Michigan. I looked at what my classmates were doing and I thought, ‘I have to level up’.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="Archion's project list ranges from showpiece municipal buildings to environmentally sympathetic infrastructure for crowded cities in the Philippines and elsewhere" src="/documents/10204/0/rewriting-the-rulebook-4-compressor.jpg/c76fd94c-7bed-444e-a6a5-4f976fabbf6c?t=1526543245786" /></p> <p>“Even my handwriting is ugly – I write like a doctor! There’s a guy at my office who deciphers my handwriting and even he gets stumped sometimes!”</p> <p>Seventeen years from its founding, Archion is now a mid-sized firm of 55 employees, 48 of whom are architects with multiple specialties. “A team of 11 can produce initial schematics for seven 200,000sqm buildings in four weeks,” he says with pride.</p> <p>The company has also earned a reputation as a rigorous training ground that inspires a kind of versatility and sense of innovation, even if Lichauco’s self-test for design is a simple one: “If we’ve done it before, I’ll say let’s do something else.”&nbsp;</p> <p>That’s evident in Archion’s portfolio of projects across the Philippines and abroad — from the UAE, the US, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and East Timor. Asked which one, if he had to pick, is his favourite, he says, “The next one. Always the next one.”</p> <p><em>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.magzter.com/TH/PropertyGuru-International-(Thailand)-Co.,Ltd/Property-Report/Business/255811" target="_blank">Issue No. 145 of PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine</a></em></p>

<p><img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/New-lease-of-life-lead-2-compressor.jpg/c8acdc66-9a7c-4e5a-965d-8130b486aee7?t=1525410215442" style="width: 1399px; height: 627px;" />Bangkok is lauded by thousands of foreign residents for its high quality of life and low cost of living. There are caveats to this relative affordability: one of them being rent, or more specifically deposits. It is common practice for landlords — not only in the Thai capital, but across the country — to request a two-month deposit in addition to one month’s rent in advance when a lease agreement is signed.</p> <p>And it is the frequency with which mercurial landlords fail to return deposits — especially to foreigners who are less equipped and inclined to challenge the decision — that really rubs renters up the wrong way.</p> <p>“I think you almost have to accept that you are not going to see the full deposit again once it has been handed over,” Rob Lawson, a recruitment specialist and Bangkok resident of nine years, says. “I’ve lived in four properties during my time here and only ever received the total amount back once.”</p> <p>The fortunes of tenants such as Lawson may be about to change with the recent addition of stricter, consumer-leaning leasing rules. On 1 May, the government introduced a raft of new regulations under the country’s Consumer Protection Act that could potentially usher in much-needed transparency to the residential rental market.</p> <p>The law states that from 1 May it is illegal for landlords who own more than five residential properties in the same building to request multiple months of rent in advance, charge more than the actual rate for utility bills, enter properties without notice, and lock tenants out of a unit.</p> <p>Tenants will now also have the right to terminate a contract with 30-days’ notice without losing the deposit. The new law is not retrospective in application, which means that it will only apply to contracts signed from May onwards.</p> <p><a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/bangkok-vs-jakarta-where-should-you-inves-4" target="_blank"><strong>More: Comparing Bangkok and Jakarta, two of Southeast Asia's biggest property markets</strong></a></p> <p>The most significant change, according to analysts, is the introduction of a maximum one-month deposit clause, which will increase the risk factor for landlords.</p> <p>“Although lessors typically ask for a deposit equivalent to two months’ rent, a one-month deposit will now have to suffice to assure landlords that they will receive the final month’s rent when the lessee’s contract expires and they vacate the property,” says Bunthoon Damrongrak, head of residential sales and leasing at JLL Thailand. “There are however cases where lessees fail to pay rent for more than one month or, in fewer cases, fail to move out and pay rent after the leasing contract expires [leaving the landlord in debt].”</p> <p>The issue has inevitably caused uncertainty and unrest among landlords. No longer can they resort to such underhand tactics as pocketing deposits, changing the locks or seizing tenants’ possessions, all of which are now illegal under the Consumer Protection Act.</p> <p>“In practice, if the monies at stake are great enough, the landlord may still try to sue for illegal termination if they can identify a minor breach by a tenant and hold them to it,” says Desmond Hughes, senior partner at Thai law firm Hughes Krupica. “But disputes of this nature ought to be resolved in quick, inexpensive fashion.</p> <p>“The adoption of an online dispute resolution mechanism with a cyber court function would be ground-breaking as a step towards modernizing Thailand’s approach to these types of issues, yet there appear to be no plans at present to approach these issues in this way.”</p> <p>There are also other grey areas, such as how tenants can find out the total number of properties their landlord owns and thus whether the law applies to their rental property. As it stands there is no organization or entity responsible for collecting rental property information — apart from the Revenue Department, which will not make it public.</p> <p>“Citizens will not have access to such data unless they obtain a court order, which will require the filing of a case or special motion,” Hughes says.</p> <div class="pull-quotes-container">The flexibility and protection provided by the new law are likely to increase the level of rental confidence, regulating and adding long overdue standards to rental contracts</div> <p>With fierce competition in the leasing market, owners will be unable to raise rents to reflect the higher risks they face and the rental market will subsequently not be affected. The new law may even boost demand, according to Marciano Birjmohun, associate director, residential department at Knight Frank Thailand.</p> <p>“The flexibility and protection provided by the new law is likely to increase the level of rental confidence; regulating and adding long overdue standards to rental contracts,” he says.</p> <p>And as the law only applies only to landlords with more than five residential properties in one building, it is in fact the serviced apartment sector that will primarily be affected.</p> <p>“There are many serviced apartments in Thailand, especially Bangkok, but keep in mind that these operators conduct long-term leases and already screen their tenants,” Birjmohun adds. “But then there is the question of how many investors own more than five units arises—and this is difficult to measure.</p> <p><a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/thailand-real-estate-relentless-expensive-and-highly-desira-13" target="_blank"><strong>More:&nbsp;Thailand real estate is relentless, expensive, and highly desirable</strong></a></p> <p>“How many landlords are willing to declare that they are renting out units? To enforce the new regulations, the real estate market must be turned upside down. Still, the new law certainly provides significant and arguably fairer protections to tenants.”</p> <p>But what good news for Rob Lawson and the thousands like him in Bangkok and beyond who either don’t live in a serviced apartment or are not covered by the new rules?</p> <p>“Speculatively, the five-unit rule was perhaps designed to soften the impact and test the effect of the regulations amongst landlords who can ‘afford’ to suffer a little on terms,” Hughes says. “There is however no evidence that this was at all the case.”</p> <p>Whether the new law is indeed a pilot scheme as Hughes speculates or simply a measure to target business operators, it does mean at least that fewer tenants will be left empty-handed when the removal trucks arrive.</p> <p><em>For more on the burning topics affecting Asia's luxury property markets, subscribe to the next issue of <a href="https://www.magzter.com/TH/PropertyGuru-International-(Thailand)-Co.,Ltd/Property-Report/Business/" target="_blank">PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine</a>, out in June</em></p>