The road to success isn’t always an easy way. Even more is the road towards succeeding in architecture, deemed as one of the hardest courses to take in college. But for a man who dreams, no road is tough enough to reach your own goals.
Architect Dennis M. Zonsa is a 2002 PUP CAFA (now known as CADBE) graduate, now working as a Senior Architect abroad, and owns his own firm, DMZ Creatives. Now making a name in the industry as an architect in Emaar Development, a UAE-based company known for famous infrastructures in the middle east such as Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa (known as the tallest building in the world). Being an architect for 15 years, he is very proud to be one of the products of PUP. The journey he embarked was not easy, but hardships are inevitable in order to reach success.
Architecture was a course known for being costly, and for someone who comes from the province and once struggled financially, Ar. Zonsa had to make ways in order to survive and build his career path. He recalls doing commissions and doing different art projects in exchange for cash or food.
“A lot of struggles came financially, naalala ko dahil galing ako sa province, yung allowance ko a month, I need to budget yun for materials, food, and transportation. Once lang ako nagkaroon ng 0.1 bc its expensive. Nung college, diskarte lang, tinutulungan ko mga kaklase ko sa paggawa ng esquisse then kapalit nun bibigyan nila ako ng free lunch.”
Even so, Ar. Zonsa did not give up on his journey. After graduating, finding a job was not easy, and he had to work somewhere to survive even if it’s not architecture related. For six months, he worked as an artist, cutting letters for signs of fast food chains. After receiving a call for an interview to work in ASYA Design Partner, which is awarded as one of the Top ten architectural firms in the Philippines since 2005 up to present, more opportunities came to him, and he didn’t ignore what only knocks once.
“May tumawag sa akin na architect from ASYA Design partner. Nagkaroon ng interest sa akin and nagkaroon ako ng interview,” Ar. Zonsa states, “Doon nagkaroon kami ng magandang relationship up until nagtrabaho abroad.”
After working for 5 years in the Philippines, he tried his luck in Dubai, and his career flourished from then on. He applied to big development firms and was accepted, and worked later on at Emaar Development, where he learned a lot about working on the client side. The first time he worked in the middle east, he worked as a 3D visualizer, but soon quit as he realized his passion is really at designing and making concepts in freehand.
“After coming to Dubai, I applied as a 3D visualizer, I realized na hindi ako masaya kasi ang passion ko talaga ay nasa freehand. Magaling ka nga sa 3D, kaso ang daming competition. Since maalam ako sa sketching sa design, sabi ko sa sarili ko what if I focus on this, so I applied as a designer in different companies.”
Studying from PUP made him learn that freehand skills are fundamental in this career, having the ability to render manually is something that’s vital, commonly overseen because of different modern software, but his skill of sketching and designing in freehand brought him to success. “I have different mentors from PUP na nagma-manual at that time, yung AutoCAD hindi pa ganon kagamit sa panahon namin, so kung talang nagma-manual ka nun, iba ka, yun yung standard noon. Yan yung nagdala sakin hanggang ngayon ginagamit ko kahit na marami ng software ang pwedeng gamitin.”
Ar. Zonsa did not foresee his future coming before, as his first choice was not architecture. Sure, he had the skills, but he was more drawn to enrolling in fine arts. After months of studying the course, he soon found the beauty in it and loved it, and then decided to fulfill his architectural career path from that day. Dennis Zonsa studied as a scholar in PUP with the help of his high school teacher, and got in because of his achievements from competing nationally in different art contests.
Now, he’s working on different projects abroad, and was part of the pioneer team for designing Dubai Parks and Resorts in 2014, which is the largest theme park destination in the Middle East. Not only that, but he was also featured in a book called Greater Sense of Power, which features Filipino men and women being successful outside the country and turning struggles into success. “Being a professional in middle east, my proudest moment would be yung nainclude ako sa libro about sa mga Pilipino na nagsucceed sa middle east.”
With years of experience abroad, Ar. Zonsa have seen how advanced architecture is outside of the country, and he encourages newly graduates to step up their game and continue learning. He talks about how his experience in Dubai lead him to this, “Nung nasa Dubai ako, narealize ko na nahuhuli tayo, nakita ko yung mga portfolio nila na talagang well organized. Dapat pagtuunan ng mga newly graduate yung mga portfolio, they need to step up pag maga-abroad kasi yung competition napaka-extreme. Pag gusto mong magtrabaho abroad, I-upgrade mo sarili mo.”
Competing abroad is never easy, but it comes with a lot of advantages as well. Ar. Zonsa was involved in first class projects and had wider knowledge about architecture due to working as a Senior Architect abroad. This is all possible because of his inspirations, mainly his mentors who cared for his welfare even after graduating and leaving the school, and of course, his family. “Pinakamasasabi ko na inspirasyon ay ‘yung teacher ko nung high school. ‘Di lang siya nagstop na turuan ‘yung student, tiningnan niya rin yung welfare ng students niya. Yung mga mentor ko na dating boss ko, malaking bagay rin ang naitulong nila sakin.”
Success doesn’t come easy, and behind every sketch Architect Dennis Zonsa made, there was a student struggling, and a son who wanted to make his parents proud. The road to being an architect is never easy, but for a man who dreams, failures are inevitable, and trusting the process, one will come to their goals someday. After all, mistakes are there for us to learn from them.
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