In Bohol, an architect works with local artisans on transformative placemaking Written by Anna Canlas enablePagination: false endIndex: Filipina-German designer Charlotte Lao Schmidt spends her time in Bohol looking for meaningful ways of utilizing space for the community. In photo, details of her personal project called Soft Spot. Photos courtesy of CHARLOTTE LAO SCHMIDT In the lush coastal village of Larapan, Bohol, new resident Charlotte Lao Schmidt plays with what appear to be hollow blocks. Instead of gray cement, they are the color of buttered toast, compact and with a pleasant grain to them. With raised rims on one side and a depression on the other, they can stack like Lego, making the heavy lifting of construction seem so effortless, which Schmidt’s fingers in chipped red polish demonstrate during our Zoom meeting.