Tropical Design Theories 44m60

TROPICAL DESIGN THEORIES, CONCEPTS AND STRATEGIES Vernacular Architecture  Vernacular Architecture or folk or popular architecture/  Vernacular Architecture may not so much be defined in of style, but rather in of process, how it is design and built.  The process of vernacaular design is adjusting an existing model to particular needs and results to variations of the original.  (e.g. Primitive dwelling to adapts to local climate, thus, bahay kubo) Bahay Kubo In the tropical setting of the Philippines, ive cooling techniques have ben in use since pre-historic times.  Bahay kubo is designed as an adaptation to its tropical environment.  Among the bahay kubo’s adaptations:  The living platform is elevated on stilts.  The flexible framing system and materials allow the bahay kubo’s frame to sway during earthquakes.  The Bamboo flooring material creates gaps between the slats which allows air to breeze. upward into the living

space.  .Among the bahay kubo’s adaptations:  Large windows facilitate cross ventilation.  Operable window awnings provide shade from sun and rain.  Roof provide wide overhangs for the windows to protect them for solar radiation and rain.  The walls and roof are constructed of thatch(nipa) with low Uvalues.  Time lag for the porous materials becomes negligible. Bahay na Bato  When the spanish colonization of the Philippine began, numerous construction projects had to be undertaken by the colonizers.  Successive earthquakes destroyed many building forcing the designers to rethink their structures.  Over a period of time, their architecture evolved in order to adapt to local environmental conditions in the Philippines. To some extent, the designers had to”copy” some of the adaptive features of the bahay kubo.  This became the evolutionary birth of the Philippines Ancestral house or more commonly known as the

Bahay na Bato Characteristics:  The bahay na bato’s living platform was elevated from the damp ground by a stone base on the ground floor.  The roof has a high pitch just like the bahay kubo so that rain water can be drained quickly  The high pitch roof created a large air space between the roof and the ceiling.  The Bahay na Bato has wide eaves (alero) that provides the necessary sun shading for its window openings.  The Bahay na Bato has large windows and ventanillas below the windows to take full advantage of cross ventilation.  The underside of the wide eaves was fitted with latticed vents that allow breeze to enter rof cavity preventing hot air fro accumulatuon within the cavity.  To further protect the space from heat gain, a double wall system was built into the Bahay na Bato  This feature is now known as a DOUBLE LAYERED FACADE system used in many of our moderm buildings  While the venting of its cavity between the DOUBLE LAYERED FACADE (volada) is now known as VENTILATED DOUBLE FACADE (VDF)  In certain cases, the volada had operable louvers or

jalousies on its exterior.  The operable jalousies operate on the principle we now recognize