Since the first civilizations, nature has been a fundamental pillar to serve humanity as a natural habitat, offering shelter, food, and medicine. In modern times, industrial and technological revolutions have taken over the landscape, reshaping the way humans interact with nature. However, today and due to the events that we have experienced as a society, it is necessary to focus on creating cities and spaces that integrate nature into everyday life.
One of the trends that are gaining more and more strength in the world of architecture and interior design is "biophilic design", the term 'biophilia' translates as 'the love of living things' in ancient Greek (philia = love to / tilt to). Biophilia was used for the first time by psychologist Erich Fromm in 1964, to be later popularized in the 80s by the biologist Edward O. Wilson, when he detected how urbanization was beginning to promote a strong disconnection with nature.
What is sought with this principle is to connect humans with nature to improve well-being. This has been achieved by integrating nature into the spaces. Due to the climatic conditions in some countries, such as Mexico and the Philippines –which share very similar conditions–, it is very common to integrate patios into spaces, since it is a way of bringing sun and rain into the house, opening the chance to other trajectories and coexistence that do not happen entirely in interior spaces. That is why, on this occasion, we present a selection of works in the Philippines that seek to connect with these principles to offer a better quality of life to its users, some of them focus on the interior of the building, while others, seek to integrate terraces and elements such as the "sibi" to the common places of the set. Read on for the full list.
House of Screens / PXP Design Workshop Co
"Often regarded as the “screen house”, this tropical home in a private village in Quezon City, Philippines was designed for a small family of 4— the couple, both businessmen, and their two children who are both in college. The Screen house will be the second house of the family. They felt that their first home was inadequate for their growing lifestyle, so they decided to build a second house. This time, addressing a new design brief according to the lifestyle that they want to achieve; a tropically responsive, relaxing vibe, and bigger spaces. This resulted in the conception of the “Screen House."
CG Villa (Calatagan Gym Villa) / 8x8 Design Studio Co
"Located in Calatagan, Batangas, CG Villa was designed to be an addendum structure to the Client’s existing Home and would house wellness activities and social gatherings for family and friends. The Villa’s footprint was designated in an existing clearing between the grid of mango grove clusters to establish a linear program space enveloped by nature. The vertical gestures of the tree lines were the initial cue of the Designers to highlight 2 bold horizontal slab planes (floor and ceiling) that become a midground element to the layer of silhouettes of the mango trees."
ET New Manila House / PXP Design Workshop Co
"The house sits on a 2,000 sqm property, primarily facing west. It is divided into quadrants – the north and south quadrants are dedicated to a vast garden, while the guest house and main house occupy the west and east quadrants respectively . All are strategically placed so each house can enjoy the view of the spacious garden. The client’s brief was for a house that embraces the landscape – a space that blurs the boundaries of exterior and interior spaces where one cannot distinguish if they are in or out of the house, as if creating an indoor urban villa. This design brief could have been easily resolved with full height glass windows, but the challenge was the site orientation as it is facing west with the afternoon tropical sun. Since the site almost sits in between two townhouses, privacy was seen as an issue due to the neighboring apartments."
B Residence / Sim Ateliers
"The first entry point of the house is an open foyer connected to the main courtyard. The foyer gently divides the house to two volumes, to the left is the entertainment room, where the users greet their guests and to the right is the main living space. Once you enter the living room, you are greeted with a double volume living room embraced by a garden at the back and the courtyard at the front, this gives the space maximum light and ventilation. Adjacent to the living room is the dining room where the courtyard is intimately framed as one enjoys the space."
Bahay Sibi House / Platform 21 Architecture
"To create a house representative of the Filipino archetype is what Platform 21 Architecture’s intended for Bahay Sibi. The sibi, an extension of the roof over a window, is a key component of the bahay kubo—a well-known Filipino vernacular home. The sibi acts as primary weatherproofing, from heavy rains to intense sunlight, and is an important component for architecture in tropical locations. Guided by this principle, Platform 21 Architecture molded the sibi into a modern home, breathing their own interpretation for a more contemporary approach. With the property primarily facing North and East, ample light from the morning sun was taken into consideration. Major spaces such as the living and dining areas were respectively situated along the East and North sides of the property, with the garden and lanai situated along the northeast."
Children's Learning Center, Mas-in Village / Native Narrative
"While running architectural practice for nearly 2 years in rural Philippines, Scandinavian Design studio Native Narrative designed a series of after-school facilities, this project is their second completed. Native Narrative worked in close collaboration with local NGOs and the local government to develop prototypes for after-school facilities that had to be technically undemanding and constructed with well-tried locally available materials so buildings could be easily assembled by relatively unskilled (while supervised) workers. The project collaboration is a response to the newly approved Children’s Emergency Relief Protection Act in the Philippines, that increases the accountability of local and national agencies to prioritise the protection and development of children by establishing child-friendly spaces."
Streetlight Tagpuro / Eriksson Furunes + Leandro V. Locsin Partners + Boase
"On the 8th of November 2013, super-typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons to ever hit land, devastated the central regions of the Philippines destroying more than four million households and depriving thousands of lives. The waves caused by the typhoon flattened the informal settlement of Seawall and the Study Center that they built together with the NGO Streetlight and three architects students in 2010. Streetlight supported the families and children throughout the disaster, and soon after resumed their vocational and educational programme. Alexander Eriksson Furunes was invited back together with his two partners Sudarshan Khadka and Jago Boase to rebuild Streetlight’s office, orphanage and study center within the relocation zone, Tagpuro. Once a small village of 200 households, the population was scheduled to increase tenfold according to the relocation plans initiated by the city government. This growth did not account for livelihood opportunities or infrastructure providing basic necessities such as water, sanitation and electricity. Tension and conflicts were increasing in the area, as several families lacked a sense of belonging to their new house and their new community. The question became how we could work together, and collectively use the programming and design process to build something appropriate to the current situation within the relocation zone."
Would you like to publish your work, post an article or send comments? Contact us through our form here. If you want to explore our entire library of more than 300,000 architectural images and find the references you need, we invite you to explore ArchDaily's new Image Finder. Filter by image type, drawings, project category, building elements, materials, and more.
