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zombie safe house = sustainable house

The 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition is an annual design competition to create the best safe house in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Imagine the world being run over by zombies, what’s the safest place for you?

The organizers believed that artists, designers and architects have the solution and will save mankind!

From over 200 entries, the designers have ingeniously incorporated sustainable design principles in their safe houses. From self-sustaining food production and water storage…

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… to utilizing pre-fabricated materials (container vans)…

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… to self-generating power (zombies in a giant hamster wheel), …

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… and even adaptive re-use of existing structures…

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… while staying perfectly safe and stylish.

Head on over to their website and vote for the best! Voting ends on October 31. – green guide

space matters: ‘slide’ house

It would be a dream for every child (and maybe for the child-at-heart) to have playtime all the time.

Good news! The guys from Level Architects, a design studio in Japan, just made that fantasy a reality by building this ‘Slide House’, a three-story house with a combination of a staircase and a slide that encircles the interior. With half of the loop in typical stairs and the other half in a 2-level slide, the occupants have the option to descend by the stairs or by slide.

Apart from the slide, the house also has a ball pen in the living room area to be consistent with the playground idea.

According to the designers, by placing the slide along the ‘daily flow line’ of the stairs, instead of just introducing a playground in the building, the home itself becomes one big playground and daily life is like a never-ending playtime.

Don’t you just love how the Japanese think?! They can turn such a profound idea into a fun and amusing design. I guess it also helps that they have an audience (clients) who are also willing to think out of the box.

*images via Level Architects. see the restof the photos here

barbie just passed the architecture board exam!

I was surprised to learn that in Barbie’s 52 years of existence, she has never been an architect!

In spite of winning the first “I Can Be” online voting competition in 2002, Mattel announced that they won’t have an architect in their “I Can Be” series. Why? Mattel said that their target audience (young girls) “could not understand the complexities of an architect’s career… a professional architect is not in their lexicon.” (Source)

But because of a campaign led by architectural historian Despina Stratigakos, Barbie is now an architect! Architect Barbie, which will be available this Fall 2011, will be wearing a hard hat, black-rimmed glasses, a blue-and-pink dress and will be carrying a drawing tube with a set of blueprints.

My thoughts:

1) A hard hat means that Architect Barbie will be doing some site visits. I don’t think her high-heeled boots (that might get stuck in the graba and buhangin) and pink-and-blue dress are appropriate in a construction site.

2) I have never seen an architect wear that much pink!

3) She looks too perky for an architect. Maybe she’s an interior designer???! (No offense to my colleagues.)

4) She’s like an architect version of Elle Woods (well, maybe that’s the point).

Read other interesting comments about Architect Barbie here. You can also find Stratigakos’s paper on her 2007 exhibit, Architect Barbie, here. -ardel

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design speak: what is ivatan architecture?

Green Guide tells us we need to visit Batanes soon. And fast! Unlike most people who primarily gush about the beautiful landscape of Batanes (I don’t blame them. I believe Batanes is REALLY beautiful, to say the least.), Green Guide is encouraging us to go to Batanes to see and experience their unique culture and architecture. He claims, with the influx of modern conveniences on the islands, the culture of the Ivatans, the residents of Batanes, is slowly disappearing.

The effect is predominantly felt in the architecture of their houses. The houses are shaped by tradition and the harsh climate unique to the Islands. Given that climate is a form-giver, it is no surprise that the houses of the Ivatans are as unique as its climate and landscape, and can be found nowhere else in the country (ever heard of a traditional Filipino house with an attic?).

Too bad, very few people know about the Ivatan architecture and the Ivatan house. In fact, I only came to know that there’s such a thing as an Ivatan architecture three or four years ago. While there are a lot of  studies made on the Bahay Kubo and the Bahay na Bato, very few researches were done on the Ivatan House. Two possible reasons for this are its remote location and unpredictable weather that make traveling to Batanes relatively difficult.

So, what is special about the Ivantan house?

The Ivatan House is made primarily of lime, stone, wood and thatch. It commonly consists of two structures, the house proper and the kitchen or storage area. The main house has the larger area and is usually made of lime, stone, wood and thatch. The heavier materials (lime and stone) provide better shelter from the constant rains. The kitchen or storage area is usually made of wood and thatch. Compared to the Bahay Kubo and the Bahay na Bato, the Ivatan House has significantly lower ceilings (around 1.60-2.00 meters high only) and smaller door and window openings to keep the interiors warm. Plus, there are Ivatan houses that have an attic!

There are two prevalent types of Ivatan Houses.

First is the Chivuvuhung (above) which is a wood-and-thatch house. I guess this is the Ivatan’s version of the Bahay Kubo. They are used primarily as the kitchen or storage area. They can also be used as a temporary shelter, but if the house is big and sturdy enough, it can be a permanent dwelling.

The columns are timber logs and posts driven to the ground. The walls are made of wood, reeds and two layers of cogon grass. To create windows and door openings, space is left between posts. The floor can be made of wood, depending on its use. The roof is made of alternating layers of reeds and cogon on an A-frame resting on the columns.

The use of masonry was brought to the Batanes Islands by the Spanish colonizers. The Ivatans in their houses adapted this new construction technique, where lime and stone are used for walls. The thicker and stronger walls also offered more protection from the harsh environment of the Islands.

As a result, the Sinadumparan was developed, a lime-stone-wood-and-thatch house. Masonry allowed the builders to increase the size of the house, even adding multiple levels. The lower level is used as a storage or shelter for their animals during typhoons. The upper level is the main living area. A wooden floor, supported by girders, divides the two main levels. The attic (oh yeah, the Ivatans have an attic!), right below the roof, can also be used as a storage area.

It is sad that, bit by bit, traditional materials are being replaced by modern ones. CHB is now being used instead of natural stone, thatch by G.I. sheets, etc.

We need to see them before they completely disappear! We’re also curious to know how the interior spaces of an Ivatan house look like. Besides, Design Folder wouldn’t be complete if we can’t feature both the architecture and interiors of the Ivatan house, right?

That’s why we’re sending this post as an entry to SEAIR’s contest here. Like our entry and help us win!!!

*top photos via wanderlust & philippinebeaches

**illustrations by lilli

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space matters: tiny apartment transformer

Here’s a design riddle for you: how do you fit 24 rooms in a 30-square meter space?

Change the walls to make the small space transform in 24 different ways!

This was the concept behind the design of this apartment. By incorporating moving walls and foldable components, Architect Gary Chang of Hong Kong has definitely made the most out of his small space. See for yourself in the video above.

The “one space fits all” idea is not new to us. The bahay kubo demonstrates a simple version of this concept where one space is used as a living,  dining, and a sleeping area by folding, unfolding, removing, and adding furnishings. However, Chang’s design incorporates more sophisticated strategies and components to suit today’s complex lifestyle.

I wonder if in the near future this would become the standard, as we see more and more condos being built in the city. I doubt it, though, because it would still be relatively expensive locally. Pricey steel tracks and lightweight wall systems were used for ease of movement. But Chang’s solutions are definitely ingenious.

Check out his other project The Suitcase House Hotel which used a similar design concept.

space matters: mid-century chic

For some people, it is already a challenge to juggle their work and their family life. What more if your professional life is a network of different roles and activities? This is true for Dr. Gerard Lico who is an architect and art historian.

Gerard teaches at the College of Architecture in the University of the Philippines (UP) at Diliman and practices architecture as the Campus Architect of the same institution. He is the author of Edifice Complex: Power, Myth, and Marcos State Architecture (2003), the video series Audio-Visual Textbook of Philippine Architecture (2007), Arkitekturang Filipino: A History of Architecture and Urbanism in the Philippines (2008) and a series of interactive cd-roms such as  “Arkitekturang Filipino: Spaces and Places in History” (2003), “Through the Lens of an American Soldier” (2004), and “Building Modernity: A Century of Philippine Architecture and Allied Arts” (2008).

For his research work in architectural history and cultural studies, he was conferred the UP Gawad Chanselor Para sa Pinakamahusay na Mananaliksik (Arts and Humanities) in the years 2002, 2004 and 2005, installing him to its Hall of Fame. He was one of the recipients of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in 2004. In 2010, was awarded the title University Artist by the University of the Philippines and Gawad Chanselor’s Natatanging Guro, attesting to his excellence as an artist-academic.  Apart from his academic and professional practice, he currently holds office as the Vice Head of the National Committee on Architecture and Allied of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Research Program Director of UP College of Architecture, the Curator of the Museum of Filipino Architecture in UP, and the Executive Director of the Professional Development Commission of the UAP. Simply put it, Gerard is a rare kind of contemporary Renaissance man.

How does a person like him keep his sanity? Apart from his natural talent for multi-tasking and pursuing several endeavors, I think having a relaxed environment in his home helps him take a break from his packed professional life and enjoy some quality time with his wife and two kids. Today, Gerard gives us a sneak peek of his 1950s-inspired home inside the UP campus. {Thank you very much Sir Lico!}

[The house was built in the 1950s as housing for the faculty of the University. Prior to my occupancy, the house was due for the wrecking ball given its dilapidated state. It was also a health hazard because of its asbestos roofing and tiles.]

[The house went through an overhaul to make it habitable. I retained the 1950s bungalow exterior but changed the internal configuration of the rooms to fit my 21st century lifestyle. As much as possible, the external skin is made of the original wooden material and stone works to stay true to the house’s architecture.

The idea was to recapture the mid-century nostalgia of the 1950s bungalow, somehow, staying true to the house’s history. For the interiors, our furnishings include reproductions of some of the period's popular upholstered chairs, such as Le Corbusier’s LC2 chairs and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair, together with a collections of no-nonsense ornamentation.]

[These are supplemented by framed archival clippings and photographs from the 1950s to reiterate a sense of longing for this glorious period which I became fascinated when I was child through my daily exposure to afternoon screenings of vintage Filipino movies on TV in the late 1970s. These photos and clippings are part of my personal collection which I accumulated since I was in grade school.]

Above & below: Gerard’s cozy entertainment room featuring his wide collection of CDs and DVDs.

[I have a personal affinity to the 1950s Filipino-Retro. Psychologically, Filipinos are uncomfortable to live in a modern minimalist environment that’s void of any form of history. This is because Filipinos are naturally sentimental who love to celebrate abundance. We collect objects and artifacts that attest watershed events in our lives and display these in our homes. That is why minimalism will not work with the Filipino because of the horror vacui, or the fear of empty spaces, embedded in our culture. I know this for a fact because my first house was a sterile minimalist which eventually became filled with objects I collected.]

conscious living: how green is green? (part one)

One of the difficulties encountered by designers in green design is specifying green building materials. How does one classify a material “green” in the first place? How does one measure the “greenness” of the material? How does one choose one green material over the other?

Luckily, a measuring system was developed to determine the “greenness” of materials – THE CARBON FOOTPRINT.

The carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions of a particular product. For simplicity’s sake, the greenhouse gas most referred to is the carbon dioxide (hence the term – carbon footprint).

To find out the carbon footprint of a particular material, one has to add all the CO² byproducts emitted during the extracting, harvesting, processing, transportation and installation of the building material. Fortunately, you don’t have to compute for yourselves, as most common building materials have already been derived. These figures can easily be found in the internet.

Next to wood, bamboo is the greener alternative.

One rule of thumb to gauge the amount of carbon footprint of a material is to discern the amount of energy used to process and transport it. The more energy was expended to create it, the higher is its carbon footprint number. That’s why wood is seen more as a greener material than steel. The amount of energy to smelt, shape and form steel is tremendously higher than harvesting wood. (Then of course, we’re talking about cutting trees. But that’s a topic for a different time.)

Also, the more distance the product has to travel from the factory to the site, the higher is its carbon footprint number. Say you found imported floor tiles from Europe that markets itself as green. It does not necessarily make it greener than local floor tiles, because it had to travel so far (and consume more amounts of fuel) to reach your space. Thus, one of the advocacies of green design is using locally produced materials. Most local materials have inherently lower carbon footprint due to their proximity to building sites.

The carbon footprint can also be used to assess one’s lifestyle.

Cascio’s cheeseburger footprint–do you eat green?

This carbon footprint calculator here can compute how much you’re consuming against the world’s average. Check it out and see if you’re really living a green life.

design trail: sariaya, quezon

The ancestral houses in Sariaya, Quezon have always fascinated Joyner Nuera, a UP Fine Arts graduate. For her thesis, she took photographs of these interesting homes in the place where she grew up and decided to share them with Design Folder.

Joyner says that what make these houses more interesting is how different they look from the rest of the houses in the area. Their designs were by the best architects of that time like Juan Nakpil and Andres Luna de San Pedro and are “showcases of the opulent lifestyle of old moneyed Sariayahins during the heyday of the coconut industry in the pre-War years.”

We’re glad to have discovered another town in the Philippines where architectural masterpieces are preserved. We hope we can visit Sariaya soon!

*additional info from sariaya.net, photographs by Joyner Nuera

space matters: a casa in metro manila

It all started with the acquisition of a comoda. The owner of this uniquely Filipino home started collecting antiques after falling in love with a single beautiful piece. We love how he turned his antique collection into a passion for recreating a 19th century Vigan-style bahay na bato right in the middle of the country’s busiest city.

Guided and inspired by Felice Sta. Maria’s Household Antiques and Heirlooms and Philippine Ancestral Houses by Fernando Zialcita and Martin Tinio, Jr., he collected materials and furniture from old houses in Ilocos and Binondo and from junk shops and garage sales to build his family’s dream house.

His wife left all design decisions to him but requested that he keep flamboyant and ornate carvings and details to a minimum. And it looks like he granted her wish. There are a number of intricate elements in the space but they don’t feel overpowering. The home is airy and light – true to the characteristics of an authentic bahay na bato.

There were just too many interesting details, like this medieval-looking Christmas décor in the picture below (inspired by Elton John’s collection of Philippine antique santos)  that fit the old world feel of the house, that we couldn’t fit them all in one post.

Watch out for the second part where we’ll show you the different furniture pieces and accessories that make this home unique. We’ll also share with you in the coming weeks this experienced homeowner’s guidelines on collecting and maintaining antiques.

i saw design: the mind museum

Last month, we attended a one-of-a-kind event at the NBC Tent. Kenji Williams, an award-winning director and classically trained violinist, with Ballet Philippines, wowed the 1500 plus audience with sights and sounds of Bella Gaia. Bella Gaia is an audio-visual trip showing the “beauty of the Earth as seen through the eyes of astronauts.”

The event was organized as a preview of The Mind Museum to the public.

The Mind Museum, “the first world-class science museum in the Philippines”, is set to open at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. The building is designed by a team of architects from Lor Calma & Partners, led by Ed Calma.

The audience at the NBC Tent, composed of designers, scientists, students, educators, sponsors and the press were shown 3D renderings of the different galleries that will be housed in the two-level structure.

Some of the main galleries are:

The Universe Gallery

The Earth Gallery

The Atom Gallery

The Life Gallery

Learn more about The Mind Museum here. The Design Folder team will be first in line when it opens in 2011.

*Photos and renderings courtesy of The Mind Museum