This Filipina literally brings Filipino pride to new heights.
Filipino Architect Mitchelle Gorospe Ignacio is one of the designers of Malaysia’s Merdeka 118, known as the ‘world’s second tallest skyscraper’ following Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Ignacio, who is currently the Chapter President of the United Architects of the Philippines Kuala Lumpur Chapter (UAPKL), was hired by the architectural firm RSP KL – the architectural firm behind Merdeka 118 – after she went to Kuala Lumpur in 2013.
Ignacio shared that she was assigned to the 118-story Merdeka Tower project along with three other Filipino architects, proclaiming herself as the “last Filipina standing” in the enterprise.
The said skyscraper is the highest structure in Malaysia which is taller than the 88-story Petronas Towers in the country and is posed as the second tallest structure in the world following the 163-story Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
According to Ignacio, the name of the skyscraper comes from the Malay word for “independence,” with its design being inspired by Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, as he proclaimed the country’s independence in 1957 while shouting “Merdeka!”
Moreover, this is only one of Ignacio’s reputable projects in the country, she is also said to participate in designing and constructing railway projects, including the Gemas-Johor Bahru Electrified Double Track project and the Sentral MRT Linkway in Kuala Lumpur.
“I feel extremely proud, not only for myself, but I feel proud that as a Filipino, we get this recognition to be part of projects as significant as the Merdeka 118 [Tower] when not all are given such opportunity,” she said last July 26 when she was invited by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to a gathering with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Malaysia.
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