Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project (Manila)

Philippines / National Capital Region / Manila

Smokey Mountain is located in what was then Barrio Mandaragat and part of what is now known as Balut, Tondo Manila. It was once a quiet, clean and thriving fishing village until some forty years ago, when the government started dumping Manila's wastes onto the area.

Though a dump site and grand in scale (Wikipedia estimates that in its heyday, it consisted of some 2 million tons of waste) its massive size made it an ideal community for the tens of thousands of the most marginalized members of Manila's population, most of whom scavenged the dumps. It did not only become their home, it was also their source of livelihood.

It became an international symbol of everything that was wrong about the Philippine government and, therefore, became a cause for national shame.

In a related development, around middle of this year, the Guggenheim Museum and Google Sketchup invited professional and amateur designers to come up with 3-D designs of shelters that can be put up anywhere in the world. www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center/de...

A Filipino designer, Gonzalo Raymundo, was chosen as among the finalists. Kindly lick the following link to see his design.
www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center/de...

Below is the YouTube video of his design.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDQNvok4JrQ&feature=player_embe...

In two of the attached images, one can clearly see what "could" be this shelter on top of Smokey Mountain. Will investigate further.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   14°37'56"N   120°57'37"E

Comments

  • this is the place when i was born ..
  • It looks clear and clean today. I knew Smokey Mountain to be a dump site before back in the 90's.
  • A mountain that made of trash.
  • well thats really sadbecause we are reading a book named trash and its based in Manila smokey mountain, when I read this I couldnt believe that Manila was Eco friendly tidy and Quiet!!!!!!!!
  • iwq;ejwq;je wuqi
This article was last modified 7 years ago