August 2012 marked our 6th year in the rented apartment.
Living in rental houses is not a very common set-up in a typical Filipino family. more often than not, parents who work in the City would leave their children to wherever they permanently reside and rent a bedspace (or a cheaper, smaller apartment that might not be very accommodating to little children) to save on bills. I am used to the rental set-up. I've been living in rented houses/spaces since i started high school (7th grade). My husband and I wanted to stay in the community for the convenience of everything -- it's near the farmer's/public market, near a grocery store, near a laundry shop, near a mall, near a highway going to the airport, near the studio of my art teacher, near the yoga center. It's also one ride away from my gynecologist, my kid's school, my work, my alma mater. Plus, there's a volkswagen restorer in the neighborhood (specialty: the beetle). It's also less than 500 meters to another university that has a medium-sized football field where i used to do my runs.
the location is almost perfect.
but then the house is almost run-down. it's unsafe and we've been victimized by termites several times. plus it's too small to contain my mother's goods. it will get even smaller as the kids grow bigger, and as our book collection continuously expands.
we've found a handful of subdivisions (which roughly translates to: private housing in suburban areas, no , not projects) with affordable lots but we've been endlessly successful in making a purchase because of countless reasons, primary to which is the lack of (what else) a large sum of money for downpayment (although every one, including my father, if confronted by this problem, would always say that we have enough property to offset that need--but i dunno how true is that in my part).
Secondly, subdivisions here have weird rules, outdated and stuck in the 70's perspective--at the time when the Philippines was sending majority of its engineers to the middle east which resulted in so many concrete, mansionic housing constructions in all parts of the country.
Given that there is almost a global following on green building (if not global "policy"), it is a wonder why developers still choose to have this kinds of houses in their properties. this is one energy hoarder of a house, and clearly is not adherent to the Filipino culture. So, one would think that if you by ONLY lots in subdivisions you would, at least be freer to decide on the kind of house you'd build.
WRONG.
We've been disappointed too many times once we're handed the subdivision rules and regulations. the picture of a house above remains to be the "ideal, recommended, suggested, preferred" house that subdivision developers want on their property. it makes my face hurt. it makes me want to cry. (The fact that i've been working on projects related to sustainable urban development does not help at all, it makes it the more frustrating to know that all the "advocacy" on green building and sustainable living we've been screaming resulted to nothing but an epic failure, exemplified by the picture above.)
but there might be hope. i found a feature in archdaily that COULD make our wants and needs possible, albeit with a little compromise here and there. Presenting, another picture of a building:
This isn't just a house. it's a meditation area (dojo) and some other things. I would have wanted an umbrella house, or something similar to what Mori makes (especially the House on Gulf of Mexico, a refurbishment of a space designed by Paul Rudolph in 1957) but those are the things that we cannot afford. Also, we have yet to find very skilled builders to bring these kinds of things to life, and that again, the skills and expertise, require tons of money.
But this one, this one might be it.
Incidentally, when i mentioned this to Keith, he told me he has thought of similar design weeks earlier, actually sketched it somewhere. that might be a good sign--that we're similar birds in this aspect--err, "birds of the same feather"--and the dojo building above looks simple enough to be built by my artists friends, myself and Keith. Maybe the kid could help paint the screen or the louver so he'd know how to build a house by the time we enforce on him the COMPULSORY moving out.
(besides, don't they look like they complement, built side by side. certainly, if ever we do end up in the "modern house" kind of suburban neighborhood, we won't come with names like: "that weird family living in the dojo house.")
FIN.
Living in rental houses is not a very common set-up in a typical Filipino family. more often than not, parents who work in the City would leave their children to wherever they permanently reside and rent a bedspace (or a cheaper, smaller apartment that might not be very accommodating to little children) to save on bills. I am used to the rental set-up. I've been living in rented houses/spaces since i started high school (7th grade). My husband and I wanted to stay in the community for the convenience of everything -- it's near the farmer's/public market, near a grocery store, near a laundry shop, near a mall, near a highway going to the airport, near the studio of my art teacher, near the yoga center. It's also one ride away from my gynecologist, my kid's school, my work, my alma mater. Plus, there's a volkswagen restorer in the neighborhood (specialty: the beetle). It's also less than 500 meters to another university that has a medium-sized football field where i used to do my runs.
the location is almost perfect.
but then the house is almost run-down. it's unsafe and we've been victimized by termites several times. plus it's too small to contain my mother's goods. it will get even smaller as the kids grow bigger, and as our book collection continuously expands.
we've found a handful of subdivisions (which roughly translates to: private housing in suburban areas, no , not projects) with affordable lots but we've been endlessly successful in making a purchase because of countless reasons, primary to which is the lack of (what else) a large sum of money for downpayment (although every one, including my father, if confronted by this problem, would always say that we have enough property to offset that need--but i dunno how true is that in my part).
Secondly, subdivisions here have weird rules, outdated and stuck in the 70's perspective--at the time when the Philippines was sending majority of its engineers to the middle east which resulted in so many concrete, mansionic housing constructions in all parts of the country.
 |
| houses that developers prefer to build for a typical Filipino middle class. from here. |
Given that there is almost a global following on green building (if not global "policy"), it is a wonder why developers still choose to have this kinds of houses in their properties. this is one energy hoarder of a house, and clearly is not adherent to the Filipino culture. So, one would think that if you by ONLY lots in subdivisions you would, at least be freer to decide on the kind of house you'd build.
WRONG.
We've been disappointed too many times once we're handed the subdivision rules and regulations. the picture of a house above remains to be the "ideal, recommended, suggested, preferred" house that subdivision developers want on their property. it makes my face hurt. it makes me want to cry. (The fact that i've been working on projects related to sustainable urban development does not help at all, it makes it the more frustrating to know that all the "advocacy" on green building and sustainable living we've been screaming resulted to nothing but an epic failure, exemplified by the picture above.)
but there might be hope. i found a feature in archdaily that COULD make our wants and needs possible, albeit with a little compromise here and there. Presenting, another picture of a building:
 |
| isn't that lookin really nice? ain't too radical for middle class taste and the tasteless developers? this was designed by UMWELT; site is somewhere in Chile, and can be read through archdaily, here. |
This isn't just a house. it's a meditation area (dojo) and some other things. I would have wanted an umbrella house, or something similar to what Mori makes (especially the House on Gulf of Mexico, a refurbishment of a space designed by Paul Rudolph in 1957) but those are the things that we cannot afford. Also, we have yet to find very skilled builders to bring these kinds of things to life, and that again, the skills and expertise, require tons of money.
But this one, this one might be it.
Incidentally, when i mentioned this to Keith, he told me he has thought of similar design weeks earlier, actually sketched it somewhere. that might be a good sign--that we're similar birds in this aspect--err, "birds of the same feather"--and the dojo building above looks simple enough to be built by my artists friends, myself and Keith. Maybe the kid could help paint the screen or the louver so he'd know how to build a house by the time we enforce on him the COMPULSORY moving out.
(besides, don't they look like they complement, built side by side. certainly, if ever we do end up in the "modern house" kind of suburban neighborhood, we won't come with names like: "that weird family living in the dojo house.")
FIN.
