Interview with William Jr Ti

WTA is a 120 strong group of architects and designers based in Manila, Philippines focused on developing a social architecture that helps connect and nurture our communities.

Design is creating new ideas for a changing world.

Cultural and institutional public spaces that have a huge social impact.

The Emergency Quarantine Facilities that provided a quick and scalable response to the need for medical space during the pandemic.

An outdoor karaoke bar.

I love using stone and sketching on my notebook.

Late at night when its quiet and I can just keep sketching out ideas.

I focus on finding the core purpose instead of mere function.

I can't help but smile when I hit an idea that I've been looking for for some time.

Awe. I feel in awe of the scale that our work takes and when I see people using the spaces we design.

The people who use them.

I look for purpose and social impact and what new idea it introduces.

We are the primary caretakers of our built environment and ensure that humanity progresses and does not keep using oild ideas.

Design is becoming more collaborative and more personal.

2023 in Budapest. We hope to do one in Feb 2025.

From watching people and how they interact with each other and the spaces they occupy.

Social architecture is our design agenda focused on creating socially intimate, barrier free spaces that help grow our communities.

I live in the Philippines and the density of our cities forces us to come up with new ideas to help address the incredible need for public space.

We collaborate with various engineering and design firms to deliver our projects.

Have a good idea of what you want not just in terms of form and function but also the purpose.

We like breaking down a project into various components and reimagining how they can be evolved and come together to better use and purpose.

Drawing Pen
Notebook
mobile phone
work table
lounge sofa

I wake up late in the morning at around 9-10am and answer my messages and emails. Have external meetings after lunch till late afternoon. Close the day with meetings in the office. Play with my daughter and have dinner. Relax for a bit then work from 12am to 3am.

Don't just ask what else you can do but also look for what more you can achieve.

Being a designer allows us to change the world but also gives us many more failures and frustrations than wins and triumphs.

The best designs and plans are those that seem so natural it is not evident where the design input is.

Passion and ambition. Listening to and understanding people.

Just usually my pen and my notebook and colleagues I can throw my ideas around with.

I compartmentalize my projects and work so I can check off items one by one.

The initial design takes 1-2 months and another 6-8 months to develop.

How much will this cost?

Learning how to make custom components in the machine shop.

Most of our clients are government agencies and real estate developers.

Sketching out initial ideas.

We plan to get more international projects and become more involved in various design festivals abroad.

We work as a team.

We're currently working on the tallest church in Asia and the largest exhibition center in Southeast Asia.

You can contact us at contact@wtadesignstudio.com