As part of the last infrastructure development projects of the Tulin administration, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Leyte 5th District Engineering Office will take the lead in building the university’s Learning Resource Center (LRC) that includes a 1000-seater auditorium theater.

This state-of-the art project gets an initial seed funding of 40 million pesos from the national government through the support of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez that will be implemented by July this year.

Total project cost is estimated at 400 million pesos to be fully funded by the General Appropriations Act (GAA) and will be allocated in tranches in the succeeding years.

While the overall design was done in-house by the VSU Planning and Infrastructure Development and Monitoring Office, DPWH Leyte 5th District Engineering Office will be in charge of project implementation and will also work on augmenting the initial seed funding to be included in their upcoming budget calls.

Current and previous infrastructure projects implemented by the DPWH Leyte 5th District Engineering Office includes the massive Baybay City Hall building, the completion of the Binaybayon Convention Center, and the ongoing construction of the Baybay City Sports Complex and Stadium located at the Diversion Road.

The upcoming LRC Building is part of the priority infrastructure projects supported by Speaker Romualdez that also included the construction of a mega-classroom building that will be constructed adjacent to the Department of Horticulture (DoH) building this July 2024.

VSU’s first green building

Arch. Elvin A. Cabañero and Engr. Marcelo T. Abrera of the VSU Planning Office led in the design and development of the upcoming LRC building.

If completed, it will become the newest edifice in the university that incorporates green building design with an open to above atrium that allows daylight to pass through the whole central structure making it more energy-efficient and cost-effective in terms of its electrical needs.

Also as part of VSU’s commitment to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the LRC Building will use renewable energy through solar harvesting panels that will be installed on the atrium roofing including in some areas of the top floor of the building.

In an exclusive interview with Arch. Cabañero and Engr. Abrera, they shared that the location of the LRC building has already been agreed to be built beside the VSU Gymnatorium and will most likely be having the same base floor area of around 1,100 square meters.

Total floor area is estimated to be more than 10,000 square meters as the LRC building will include a basement and a three storey structure to house multipurpose spaces that includes smart classrooms, collaboration lounges for local and foreign students and for faculty members, and other extracurricular activity centers like an art gallery to be managed by the Culture and the Arts Center (CAC).

The LRC building will also become the new home of student and accreditation oriented offices of the university as it will soon house the VSU Student Center including the Office of the Dean of Students (ODS), the Gender Resource Center (GRC), and the Quality Assurance Center (QAC).

The basement of the LRC building will be allocated for important utility structures that includes electrical and mechanical rooms, centralized air conditioning control unit, access staircase for emergency evacuation, and an internet and CCTV station for security monitoring and building maintenance.

The Benjamin T. Romualdez Auditorium

An important feature of the LRC Building is a 1000-seater auditorium theater that will soon become the socio-cultural hub of the university for various academic and extracurricular events.

Named after one of our staunchest supporters in building the then Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA) that is now called VSU, the Benjamin T. Romualdez Auditorium will occupy an additional base floor space of 939 square meters.

This modern facility will be the first phase of construction of the LRC building that will be initially implemented using the 40 million seed funding from the national government.

In an inceptive sketchup by Arch. Cabañero, he explained that the Benjamin T. Romualdez Auditorium will also include LED wall multimedia systems with digital surround sound for a better viewing experience for #ProudViscans.

The 3D video render of the LRC building was first shown in public in the 70th VSU Commencement Exercises held on August 3, 2023. It was also presented to the VSU community in the 100 days kickoff program of the VSU Centennial celebration held on January 17 this year.

Dr. Edgardo E. Tulin, former VSU President and the current Vice President for Administration and Finance, expressed his thanks to the national government for their invaluable support to the university in time for the centennial celebration of the institution.

“We’re grateful to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez for realizing many of our future infrastructure development projects that are very vital in pushing VSU to greater national and global prominence. I’m equally grateful to the overwhelming support of our local leadership here in Baybay City via Congressman Carl Nicolas C. Cari and DPWH Leyte 5th District Engineering Office for all the assistance they’re providing to us so that we can immediately start this milestone project that will benefit our almost 10,000 students here in our flagship campus,” Dr. Tulin said.

The construction site of the upcoming LRC building is currently being utilized for the conduct of the annual Flower and Garden Show (FGS) that started their commercial exhibition on March 1, 2024.

This area will soon be cleared for site construction and implementation scheduled in July 2024.

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