Our Crowdfunding Groups
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The Philippine Nationality Room Task Force, comprised of members of the local Filipino community, has been working for more than sixteen years to create a Philippine Nationality Room (PNR) in the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. We have raised 78% of the funds required to build the room, and we hope to raise the remaining 22% to enable construction to begin in the Summer of 2018 with completion and dedication by November 2018.
This room will be the 31st Nationality Room which represents ethnic communities in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. These museum-quality rooms are functioning classrooms that enhance the learning experience of students as well as the public for generations to come. Trip Advisor has ranked the Nationality Rooms as one of America’s top tourist attractions!
Please help us sprint to the finish line and reach our goal. Your donation will bring us closer to completing the Philippine Nationality Room. While the Filipino community in the Pittsburgh area is relatively small, Filipino and American people share an important part in each country’s history. It is thus fitting that we construct a Filipino room in the Cathedral of Learning to permanently commemorate our heritage and culture.
We have created different levels of giving, each named after a Philippine hardwood. Donations at the Mahogany and Narra levels may be designated for specific room elements such as the China cabinets, Entry Door, Mural, Lectern, and Mirror. Please email us at PNRtaskforce@gmail.com to so designate your donation.
The room, set in the style of the Filipino “Bahay na Bato” (House of Stone), was designed by Architect Poppi Laudico 
from the Philippines using the Quema House from the UNESCO World Heritage city of Vigan in the Philippines for inspiration (right).
The design, which incorporates the middle section of the “Bahay na Bato”, is an appropriate metaphor for the Filipino culture during the Spanish era, incorporating both Filipino and Spanish influences. Its highlights include Capiz shell windows, ventanillas (small windows), wide floor planks, solihiya (cane) chairs, and an outsized multi-faceted mirror.
Paintings representing local populations, costumes and lifestyles of the time, with special emphasis on the Letras y Figuras style, are planned. Artifacts from various regions of the Philippines will be displayed in the cabinets.
Officially called the Philippine Nationality Room Task Force, we represent three of the formally organized Filipino community associations based in Pittsburgh.
Two representatives each from the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh, the Philippine American Medical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the Philippine American Performing Arts of the Greater Pittsburgh comprise the task force which is chaired by Fr. Manny Gelido, a Filipino priest based in the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia.
A moderately hard reddish wood, tanguile is one of the seven local woods often referred to as Philippine Mahogany
Few exotic trees are as widely cultivated and versatile as the Acacia tree.
Kamagong timber is extremely dense and hard and is famous for its dark color..
The Molave tree in the Philippines is known for its extremely hard wood.
The Niyog (coconut) tree is often used as the posts for the traditional native houses
