The Makahiya Pod, designed by Lester Umali and Sergio Velera, was born out of Designer’s United: Shelter for Displaced Humanity – an interdisciplinary competition hosted by SoFA Design Institute and Goethe Institut in 2017. Mentored by esteemed architects, interior designers, industrial designers, and fashion designers (Rajo Laurel, Arch. Tobias Guggenheimer, Arch. Sudarshan Khadka, Arch. Joey Yupangco, Rita Nazareno, Amina Aranaz, & Rey Soliven), highly selected designers were tasked to design for displaced people in tropical Asia.
