FEATURED INTERVIEW
IFI Interviews: Maja Olivares
Calm Modernity: A Conversation with Maja Olivares
Maja Olivares, principal of Sonia Santiago Olivares & Associates (SSOa), has built a practice rooted in attentive listening to places, to people, and to the stories that spaces carry over time. Her work spans scales and typologies, from intimate residences to large-scale hospitality and civic projects, yet a consistent thread runs through all of it: design as a lived experience rather than a visual statement.
Design as Civic Responsibility
When asked how interior architecture is evolving in relation to leadership and civic contribution, Olivares is direct about the gap she sees in the Philippine context.
In a country where resources are limited, community and civic spaces take on outsized importance as gathering points for ordinary citizens. Yet these are precisely the spaces that local governments tend to underinvest in. For Olivares, this represents both a failure of recognition and an opening for designers to step forward.
“ As designers, we have an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation, to be more proactive in reaching out to communities, helping them maximize outcomes for the greater good. “
Her work on Paco Market is a tangible expression of this belief, a project where design serves the collective rather than the individual.
Grounding Global Practice in Local Identity
Navigating the tension between cultural heritage and contemporary relevance is something Olivares approaches with a clear philosophy: respect the past, design for the present, and build for permanence.
Rather than treating heritage as something to be preserved under glass, she sees it as a living thread, one that can be woven into contemporary work without erasure. Her projects in historic contexts reflect this, finding ways to let cultural narratives evolve rather than simply freeze them in time.
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