Every August, the city of Davao blooms in a celebration of life. The streets blossom with colors and come alive with music, dances, and parades, painting a portrait of the locale’s cultural heritage. This week-long festival known as Kadayawan is the Davaoeños’ way of paying tribute to the gifts of life and nature, the bountiful harvest of the land, and the various cultures that give the city its identity. Harvesting the spirit of this iconic festival as a design concept is no easy task, which is what DEQA Design Collaborative set out to do for the Kukun Food Hall in Davao City.
“Kukun” translates to kusina at kultura ng Dabaw, a name that the design team wanted the space to live up to. The food hall occupies 644 square meters within the commercial center, and basically acts as a communal area for visitors in both function and spirit.
“We designed a space that is not just a dining destination but an experience that invites people to connect, celebrate, and savor the flavors of Mindanao in a setting infused with meaning, tradition, and a deep sense of place,” says primary architect Denise De Castro.
The savoring of Mindanaoan flavors begins from the interior design itself. Most dining spaces are designed to stimulate diners’ appetites and enhance their dining experience, and the Kukun Food Hall achieves this through the tasteful use of colors and materials that evoke familiarity, comfort, and reverence for Mindanao heritage.
From the entrance alone, the indigenous influence can be seen and felt through the wood ceiling treatment that leads the eye through the wooden arch built over the glass doors. Okir carvings line the surfaces of the wood, providing a glimpse of the cultural experience for guests inside the food hall.
The playfulness of the Kukun Food Hall is supplemented by its strong connection with Mindanao culture, which was a particular focus of DEQA during the design process. The okir carvings on the ceiling treatments pay homage to traditional Maranao designs, specifically from the intricate shell inlays found in Maranao chests.
Symbolizing power and status, the okir carvings are hand-carved by local artisans themselves to further strengthen locals’ ties to their heritage. “We had to be culturally sensitive with the use of the ornament, especially in our choice of color,” says De Castro.
The Kukun Food Hall did encounter challenges in its construction, stalled right before the COVID-19 lockdowns despite design development already finished. But like any flower, it simply needed time to bloom into a garden of Mindanaoan heritage and culture, one that Davaoeños can savor like any of the delicacies it offers.
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Photos by Ed Simon.
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