Miguela Mae Sabay didn’t just design a building. She answered a question many young athletes in her hometown have silently carried: Why do we have to leave to be seen?
Her thesis, “A Sports and Training Complex in La Carlota City,” isn’t just about courts and bleachers. It’s a love letter to a city pulsing with cultural pride, untapped talent, and the kind of community spirit you can’t really measure—but you can feel.
“I kept noticing it during local games and school events,” Miguela recalls. “We have amazing athletes, but they’re often training in spaces that weren’t designed to support their growth. Some even have to travel to other cities just to access decent facilities. That felt wrong.”
So she asked herself a bold question: What if the solution came from within?
Drawing from the colors and textures of the Pasalamat Festival—La Carlota’s grand celebration of gratitude—Miguela crafted a design that doesn’t just sit in the city; it belongs to it. Think rooflines that echo the rhythm of drums. Façades textured like woven baskets. Organic spaces that bloom like the flowers carried in street dances. Her design doesn’t borrow culture—it breathes it.
But the vision wasn’t without its hurdles. Translating something as vibrant and intangible as a festival into bricks and beams is no easy feat. “I didn’t want it to be purely decorative,” she explains. “It had to work—functionally, emotionally, socially.” The result is a space that flexes with purpose: modular training zones, open-air gathering areas, green design strategies—a place that trains athletes and welcomes communities.
This isn’t just about sports.
It’s about home—a hub that hosts not just tournaments, but reunions, workshops, cultural shows, and conversations. It’s about building pride, generating income, and setting a sustainable standard for how small cities can grow—without losing themselves in the process.
“I wanted it to be designed by someone who understands this place,” Miguela says. And she did just that. Her complex is more than infrastructure. It’s identity. It’s potential, poured into a blueprint.
In a world where big cities often get the best facilities, Miguela’s work reminds us that greatness can grow in local soil. You just have to design for it.
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