As we stood there by the banks of the Red River on a hot June afternoon in Shreveport, Louisiana, my friend John Selloriquez blurted out: “By the way, I will be joining a competition for the design of a pedestrian bridge across this river. Para kung manalo, makilala man lang ako ng mga architectural firms dito”. Yeah, I said, good luck to you and didn’t give it much further thought.
After I got back to Kuwait, I sent him pictures of our trip there as well as those that I took in Europe. He casually mentioned that he particularly liked one shot I had taken in Rotterdam with a bridge as a background. Okay, I said, here’s more for inspiration and emailed him different pictures of more bridges taken in Spain, Sweden and Denmark. And again, I didn’t think much about it.
The rendered image with the "pelican" support structure
Then about a month ago, he sent me the drawings of his design presentation including renderings of the bridge. He explained that the tower that carried the supporting cables was shaped like the outline of a pelican which was the Louisiana state bird. Well, it looked pretty good and the concept was sound. I told him he had a fighting chance. The least I said he would get would be a commendation. And that was that.
Yesterday, as I was driving home, he texted me that he was at the awarding ceremony because he won! They were whooping it up there and he invited me to come and join the celebration party later that night. I would have loved to but being stuck 6,000 kms. away, I knew that when I got there it would all be over. I just texted him back my congratulations. I sure was happy for him and proud of his achievement.
John was one of several close friends whom I hated to see leave for the proverbial greener pastures (they say) of America. When his wife, Leah, who’s a nurse, got a job offer there two years ago, they packed up and migrated with their three sons – with him leaving a good-paying job at one of the big architectural firms here. We visited them last summer after a back-breaking 17-hour drive from Denver (Shreveport was actually out of the way in our itinerary but what the heck!), and it was good to see that they were doing alright. Well-adjusted to their new place, they had bought a 3-bedroom house in a nice cul-de-sac of a quiet neighborhood in the suburbs close to the hospital where Leah worked. The boys were all in school and though they missed their old househelp, they somehow managed to get through the daily routine of work-school-home. Even being able to have frequent barbecue parties with fellow Pinoys over the weekend just like when we were there.
I think the professional quality of presentation made a lot of impact
On my last day, he brought us to the shopping mall by the river and that’s when he told me about the bridge competition as we looked over the old, long steel-truss bridge linking Shreveport to neighboring Bossier City. The competition was sponsored by the State’s Urban Land Institute whose brief was to “stimulate imaginative design proposals that respond to site context, pedestrian safety and community awareness creating a focal point for bridging the two cities”. There were three categories open to: 1. professional designers, planners and engineers, 2. students and 3. the general public.
Having bested close to 20 other entrants in the professional category, John scooped up a cool $2,500/- not to mention the chance of having his design adopted when the construction of the bridge begins.
Good job, friend!
