Design Competition 02: FuturArc Prize 2012

EcoCity: Urban Architecture Landscape Narrative - Competition Entry

Architecture is a vehicle for life. In order to cater life, a mixture different elements are needed. For it to sustain itself and the city, it should have a mixture of different spaces, inhabited by different kinds people. One cannot make a new substance out of the same substance. Life, ecosystems, are compounds.

A sustainable building is a building for everyone. It should be mixed-used: a place to work, to rest and to have fun. It should adapt to environmental and spatial changes, but has the form that suggests permanence. It should be a compact roofed city. A building without boundaries. Architecture, urban design and landscape as one narrative.

Nature possesses characteristic, as part of its system, for us to build upon. Porosity and permeability will allow ecosystems to be part of architecture. A porous object tends to admit substances. This characteristic, porosity, if applied to a building, will allow the elements like light, wind, water, into its being. These elements are the sources of life. When integrated with architecture, the structure can be a birthplace of a new ecosystem, consisting of healthy beings, conscientiously and visually aware of the environment.

The structure will have the character of a stone: porous yet dense. It can stand the test of time.

Project 1201: White Haven Beach Resort Extension

White Haven Beach Resort Extension (Design Stage)

It is to be an architecture of breeze and shade. A logical response to the natural environment and desired atmosphere of the resort. The architecture should be contemporary but rooted in our own heritage. A building both fresh and familiar.

The roof structure should be prominent and welcoming. It is to be the building's humble crown. The fenestration at the facade will welcome the environment into the structure. They can be easily operated to control the passage of both sun and breeze. Its design is composed of triangles, a shape close to our memories. A ramp made of grass and earth leads the visitors to the lower units. A stair that is momentarily detached from the building by a bamboo courtyard is the access to the upper units. Both means of access acts as transition spaces between the the outdoors and indoors. Each unit can be combined and divided via a sliding partition. The lower units can be fully opened at front, allowing indoor-outdoor gathering. The second floor units are more private, with its own kitchen.

The main structure is made of concrete finished in lime wash. Local solid wood will be used for the roof framing, corrugated steel for the roofing, and bamboo for the lattice work. The flooring is made of polished concrete. The sea, white sand, bamboos and coconuts are additional palettes.

The structure may appear in contrast with the white sand and blue water, but its atmosphere will give a sense of association, lightness and peace. It is to be a play of light and shade, and of coolness and warmth.

Design Competition 01: Philippine Pavilion

3rd Bluprint AViD Design Competition - Shortlisted (Top 10)

Overcast

It is to be a village, a series of coherent pavilions. At its core is a plane, a platform. Above is not the sky, but water, reflecting everything it shelters. It will represent something that was and is never one, but someday will be. By law, it is inseparable. The key lies in its birthplace, on everyone’s birthright. It can be found in its streams, rivers and seas. It will make us remember. It will mirror our culture. It will reflect our soul.

The design is inspired by our former state architecture, only that it appears light and transient. The pavilion shall be bounded by our history, molded by its context and use, but shall be inspired by the environment of its time.

The plan takes inspiration from our ancestral villages and hispanic town centers. A village is a series of coherent houses on a sprawling site. For the expo, the site will be limited in size. While a city center has a plaza surrounded by buildings with their own courtyards, an ideal environment for the expo pavilion.

It is a 2-level village on a limited lot with stacked pavilion-like galleries. Their components are pre- fabricated, shifted, and  assembled on-site. The galleries at ground level will showcase our culture and history thru the 7 arts; architecture, visual arts, literature, dance, music, theater and cinema. While the galleries at second level will present our industrial and natural resources. Courtyards are incorporated as extensions of the outside environment and activities. Circulation connects the public from the street to the galleries. They shall be a continuation of the street, finished with either concrete or asphalt. Each pavilion will be supported by an integrated assembly of pre-fabricated structural members. A teflon membrane roof is suspended on steel tension cables anchored to RC columns. The polished steel ceiling of the performance hall will reflect the activities of the Philippine Pavilion to the outside. It will serve as an open invitation to all, reflecting our own hospitality. An LCD floor is installed at the performance hall allowing different presentation and performances. This is the centerpiece of the pavilion, providing a multi-sensory experience for the visitors.

Case Study 03: CCP Library

Libraries are no longer a place to store books. They are a place where one can read. On that basis, the CCP Library is designed as the “living room” of CCP Complex. It is to be a series of reading spaces the gives an interesting yet familiar reading environment. The library shall not be limited by the monumentality of its modernist context, but rather be influenced by it, imbuing a sense of familiarity of our lost state architecture. It is to be a radiant yet humble building, filled with light, expressing the culture of learning.

Case Study 02: Mass Housing

An irreducible house. All things that made up this house are essential. From structural to circulation, everything was achieved through simple means. The construction methodology, building systems and materials are all existing. Nothing is new. The house emphasizes the correct way of building, and that is to strip the building of the inessential.

Case Study 01: Private House

A suburban house lying on a flat, undisturbed lot. Its serene and secured site inspires the house. It is designed as a private house, disconnected from the outside, yet one feel the changing environment and the passage of time through the skylight. Through out the day, a play of light and shade is at constant, consistently reflecting the movement of sun, clouds and time.